Setting as a Character

BB commented that she didn't quite understand what it means to build a setting in such a way that it actually becomes a character. Some examples of books where the setting is a character might be To Kill a Mockingbird, where small town Southern living in the 1930s is more than just a place, it creeps into characters such as Scout, Jem , and Atticus, impacts how they behave and who they become. Edgar Allen Poe's House of Usher is a place and a family--both dark and decaying--and the two are intertwined.

Carl Hiaasen, one of my favorite contemporary writers, is a born and bred Floridian, and Florida is central to his books. Steve Kroft of 60 minutes had this to say about Hiaasen's setting: "Whether he's writing fiction or journalism, Carl Hiaasen's main character is always Florida, that axis of weirdness that gave us the sagas of Elian Gonzales, and dimpled "chads." It's also where developers build homes around gravel pits advertised as "lakefront property," and where marijuana falls out of the sky."

Pretty heady company, I know, and I don't presume to be up to Poe's or Lee's or Hiaasen's caliber. Still, I get this concept; I understand it. I love when I stumble on a setting that touches a character in such a way it moves the action along and defines the people. That's what I'm shooting for.