Preparing to Write Settings That Feel Like Characters

by J. Lenni Dorner

This reference guide is a tool to help you organize your thoughts and ideas to obtain the goal of making a setting that feels like a character. This valuable reference guide is useful in revealing a simplified way to create settings that feel like characters by using an organized sketch sheet. This practical approach will help focus your writing. The challenge of making a setting into a character is easily conquered with this informative guide. Make your story more interesting in today's competitive fiction market by giving your writing this edge.
The Setting Character Sketch (to copy and use with the book) is on the blog of J Lenni Dorner.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction

39 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 26, 2015

About the author

Author of the Existence Series.
Fractions of Existence and Proof of Existence are now available.

#atozchallenge



Former Operation Awesome team member who ran the Debut Author Spotlight.
The Creative Writing Institute held writing contests that resulted in J Lenni Dorner being published in "WRONG!: A themed anthology 2014" and LOST!: A themed anthology 2017. J self-published "Preparing to Write Settings That Feel Like Characters," in 2015. Winner of the Write Edit Publish Now (WEP) flash fiction "Youthful Frights versus Adult Fears" Halloween challenge 2015 and "Antique Vase" April 2020 challenge. Signum University's Mythgard Institute held a creative writing contest in the autumn of 2015 called "Almost an Inkling" in which J Lenni Dorner was the Popular Vote Winner of week 6, resulting in publication in The Soul of Wit. The Operation Awesome Flash Fiction Contest 12 win in April 2016 went to J Lenni Dorner. The reference book Writing Book Reviews As An Author: Inspiration To Make It Easier was published in 2019. J published a short story, Lumber Of The Kuweakunks, in 2020. Novella Jewels of Darterra was published in 2025.
A to Z Challenge co-host as of 2017.
When not reading or writing, J enjoys video games, laughing at funny cat videos, finding drawings of dragons on Pinterest, and watching movies.

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Useful Resource

World building is one of the trickier aspects of writing fiction. Making a place feel real and engaging - especially if that place only exists in the author's mind - can take careful planning. This book may help authors develop their fictional worlds by asking questions about culture, setting, landmarks, etc. Not a comprehensive resource, and doesn't get into the craft of how to write setting. But still definitely worthwhile for beginning authors who are looking for help in creating believable backdrops for their stories.

[Juneta Key · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is short read. I read a lot of book about the writing craft. There is not quite one out there like this one. Definitely worth adding to your library.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

It takes great writing skill to make a setting/place feel real and dynamic, so that it "comes alive" for the reader.
This book provides tons of information on how to incorporate the setting into the story, so that it becomes an integral part of the characters' experience.
This is a reference guide that any writer can turn to again and again, for various writing projects, and as the need arises.
A handy resource!

[Ronel Janse van Vuuren · Rating 5 out of 5]

“If the main character can achieve the same outcome in any place, the setting is not important.”

The character sketch sheet provided for settings is much the same as what one would fill out for any traditional character – and it opened my eyes to some things one glosses over as unimportant to the story, but extremely important to the “character”.

The author expounds on each point, showing the reader how they can easily make their setting vital to the story and the main character.

Concise and to the point. A must-have for any author’s library.

*This was the IWSG book club selection for February 2021.

[Jemima Pett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was intrigued with the idea of treating a setting like a character. I wondered how to do it. This useful guide outlines a worksheet and then takes you through all the various opportunities you have to populate it, showing that a boring old place has its own unique style and presence.

As I read, I constantly thought of my Viridian System series, checking that I had considered or included elements of Dorner’s ideas. I don’t think I’ve done too badly, but I’d class my attempts as world-building. I wonder what the difference is? Maybe the thought that the setting gives something to your characters; you need to consider their interaction. It’s not just that the person is influenced by his or her surroundings, (s)he may be the product of them also. So what is it about the setting that makes that happen? How does it show in what the person does, how they react to the surroundings?

As I read I drifted off into my own worlds, checking–yes, that applies, I think I do that. No, maybe that doesn’t apply–but should it?

As with character bibles, Dorner suggests a character sheet for each setting you have. Even if they are all on Earth, 2021, the differences in their history of settlement, climate and customs will make them different from each other.

So, as with other writing aids, this is one to dip into, over and over, because there is always something else to spark your ideas and add a nuance to your plot. Dead flowers around the house, for example. What does that tell the reader?

[Jerry Walch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Preparing To Write Settings That Feel Like Characters by J. Lenni Dorner takes a new and innovative approach to creating fictional settings. The old saying is that you can’t judge a book by its cover, or, as some put it, you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. But what reader/writer among you doesn’t. I did! The first thought that crossed my mind was, how could a setting feel like a character? For me, settings were the places where the story took place, places where the characters interacted. I’d never deconstructed or reversed engineered a setting to discover why one setting worked and another didn’t. thanks to Dorner, I now know why and know how to use that knowledge in my writing.

 Preparing To Write Settings That Feel Like Characters begins with a template that the reader can download as a text file and then used when creating settings that feels like characters. The rest of this book’s 39 pages explains what each of the templates fields means and why they are important. The thing that grabbed my attention was how Dorner treats settings like they were sentient beings. I’ve read many craft books on creating settings, but never one where the author gave those settings a life of their own. Dorner turns setting into characters that interact with and influence the other characters in the story.

 If you are a writer of fiction or are an aspiring writer of fiction, you need to buy and read this book. Every writer, old pro or neophyte needs to have this book on his/her reference book shelf.

[Tyrean · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent dive into world-building, this book is a good place to get started really rounding out the edges of any setting, real or speculative. Seeing the setting as characters is a new twist on world-building and I really appreciated it.

[Toi Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating 4.5

This was an IWSG Book Club read.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book because it didn't waste my time. The Setting Character Sketch introduced is a simple and practical approach to writing better settings. I agreed with every insight shared within these pages to some degree and know I will return to this book as a reference guide quite often. My only complaint is that I wanted more of it. It was a very short read and lacked the one thing I always look for in a "how-to" or "self-help" book- that personal touch. I wish the author had given more specific examples of how they work out some of their advice, such as showing how a simple setting they created was improved by applying the points mentioned in the books. Still, I want to be clear, the book is very effective even without these additional explicit examples, it's just something I always want to see. If you don't need to see that, this could easily be a 5-star read for any writer genuinely wanting to write better settings.

Highly recommended to writers at any level.

[Steph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent easy advice

This is a super handy guide. It is easy to create a setting in my mind and even to write about events happening in that setting, but to truly have an amazing story the setting needs to become something more. This is especially true for sci fi, which is my passion. This books contains great advice for doing just that.

[A Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short but informative

This book was very helpful in informing me on how to world build. I do feel better prepared to write settings that feel like characters after reading this book.

[J. Dorner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wrote it, so of course I love it!