The selection of a setting (or creation of one if it has not yet been created) can have a significant impact on the scene. When selecting a setting, the transmedia narrative’s author should consider the role that setting will play in the overall scene or sequence. Settings can play one of seven roles (Hodgins, 2001, pp. 79-85):

  • Generic: The setting is without unique features, implying that the story could happen anywhere. The problem with this is that all real places have their own cultural and physical characteristics and these characteristics influence characters. A generic setting will not seem real and may actually detract from the story.
  • Backdrop: The setting merely provides us with a way of knowing where we are and, though it may have unique characteristics, it does not affect the characters or action. It is a place, but it doesn’t do anything.
  • Local Color: The story is flavored by attention to the unique details of the setting, which may give the impression that the story could not have happened anywhere else. The writer may be tempted to make the setting entertaining without really giving it any significance.
  • Atmosphere/Mood: Setting can be used to set the mood or atmosphere for the whole story or novel. In addition, the settings of individual scenes may reflect the state of mind of the characters.
  • Action and Character: Characters are more real if they have a historical and geographical context; the place where a person grew up will affect their attitudes and behavior for their whole lives. For example, someone raised in a big city will think and act differently from someone raised in a tiny rural village.
  • Place as Character: One example of this is in the old “man versus nature” plot, where the main struggles the protagonist faces are with the environment. In this situation, the setting itself is the antagonist. In stories of this sort, changing elements of the setting would change the entire story. Can you imagine a story about a woman’s struggle to climb a mountain unaided being set on the prairies? That story wouldn’t work without a mountain, and so the mountain becomes a central character. The story’s plot, then, is largely determined by its setting.
  • Metaphor/Symbol: The setting becomes symbolic of the theme of the story.