Nature's Narrative The Impact of Setting on Story

Fate threw a curveball that had us scrambling from the flames of my cousin's house fire to the tranquil embrace of a dense woodland retreat. As I share the harrowing details and our impromptu relocation, you'll feel the weight of the narrative's backdrop—the enigmatic allure of the woods—taking center stage. It's in this unexpected haven where I ponder the profound influence of setting on storytelling, drawing parallels between the haunting whispers of the forest and the tapestry of genres it can paint, from spine-chilling horror to gritty survival epics. Battling against the odds, with the local bar's lively chatter as my makeshift studio, my dedication to keeping our community connected and inspired endures. 

Venture with me beyond the airwaves as I lay out the avenues to stay updated on my latest escapades and literary musings. From my personal website to the rich tapestry of social media, your support breathes life into our creative journey. The vibrant community on Patreon rises as an emblem of this solidarity, much like a hearth in our digital woodland. As the anticipation for the next episode's guest bubbles, rest assured, the conversations we foster will continue to bring light to the craft we cherish and the shared experiences that shape us.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hi and welcome to the Writing and Marketing Show
brought to you by author Wendy HJones.
This show does exactly what itsays on the tin.
It's jam-packed with interviews, advice, hints, tips and news
to help you with the business ofwriting.
It's all wrapped up in onelively podcast.
So it's time to get on with theshow.

(00:23):
Welcome to episode 194 of theWriting and Marketing Show with
the author, entrepreneur Wendy HJones.
As always, it's an absolutepleasure to be with you.
You're probably wondering why Iwasn't here last week again,
after I promised you I was back.
Well, you are never going tobelieve my tale of war this week
.
You could not make this up.

(00:44):
If it was in a novel, peoplewould say they didn't believe me
.
After my flood, I was stayingwith my cousin.
As you know, I was reallyunwell the last time I did the
recording, but I did it anyway.
And then what happened was mycousin's house went on fire.
I kid you not.
So we've all been moved.
We are currently in a holidayhome in somewhere near where he

(01:09):
stays.
It's part of a holiday complex,beautiful area, and it's
actually why I want to betalking about setting tonight,
and you'll find out why in amoment.
So we're currently staying inan area that's acres and acres
and acres and acres of woodlandlocks.

(01:30):
It's got a gym, it's got a spa.
It's got a.
It's got a.
I also got fishing swimmingpool.
It's great here, it really is,and absolutely stunning,
stunning setting, which is whatgot me thinking about setting.

(01:50):
Before I do that, I would liketo explain why it's a bit noisy
on this recording tonight.
There is literally no Wi-Fi inany of the lodges none of them
and I have no signal.
We're trying to do everythingon a glimmer of my cousin's 4G

(02:11):
and it's all a bit difficultreally.
So it's hard for me to dothings.
So I've had to come down to thebar.
Now, while that's nice becauseI've got a nice glass of wine,
it's obviously a bar.
There are families down here,there are people down here
having a relaxing drink, thereare people down here playing
their children, having games ofpool, eating their dinner, and
of course they're here and theyare making a noise, and quite

(02:34):
rightly they should be.
They're enjoying themselves.
So I'm just explaining why thebackground noise and I apologise
for it, but there is literallynothing I can do.
It's either that or no podcast.
Before we get on to the actualtalking about setting.
I would like to say that it's apleasure to bring you this
every week and I do so willingly.
However, it does take time outof my writing.

(02:55):
If you would like to supportthat time, I would be extremely
grateful, especially at themoment with everything going
wrong.
And you can do it at patreoncomforward slash wendahjowns.
That's P-A-T-R-E-O-N dot comforward slash wendahjowns, and
you can support me for as littleas $3 a month and I would be

(03:17):
grateful and it would mean thatyou like the show and you want
it to continue, and I do want tocontinue with it.
Despite all the breaks recently, I do intend to be a bit more
regular with it.
So what of setting?
Well, I'm going to talk aboutone setting in particular and
that is a woodland setting,because that has got my brain

(03:39):
going in all sorts of differentdirections.
First of all, when we drovehere, we drove in the dark and
the rain and it was reallywintery and there are some
lights but not many, because itis a woodland setting.
As I said, it's acres and acresand acres of Scottish woodland
and it's beautiful, but it's inthe middle of nowhere.
And when we drove up and it wasdark and we didn't know where

(04:02):
we were going and we were goingaround different turns in the
road and all different sorts ofthings.
I thought, my goodness, I feellike I'm at the beginning of a
slasher movie.
Honest goodness, I expectedFreddie Kruger to leap out in
front of the car any minute.
It was really spooky and I gotme thinking about all the

(04:23):
different genres that you coulduse in such a setting.
Well, obviously we've done onealready the slasher stroke,
horror stroke, serial killergenre.
This lends itself to thatbeautifully.
It's got a real Friday the 13thvibe and tonight I was walking
down a very dark lane with justthe light from my phone, because

(04:46):
I don't have a torch with meand I was using the light from
my phone and it was arious, heck.
The fact that it had also beensnowing gave it an even arier
effect.
It's pitch black.
You've just got one light.
You could fall over stones androcks.
I mean, I was taking in thewhole setting, although it does
look stunning, you know, I wastrying to take in as much as I

(05:10):
could and, of course, the rockson the path, which isn't a
proper path, it's just a mudpath, a woodland path all the
rocks and tree roots andeverything.
Seriously, they're all hiddenby the snow.
I could have gone flying, whichwould lend itself to a real
survival tale, and you couldjust imagine being there

(05:33):
although I'm quite close to theactual bar and things, and
somebody would come down at somepoint If you really were out in
the woods here, not justheading down towards the bar, it
could be a real survival taleor a real Friday the 13th type
tale.
And so I was taking in all thetrees, all the.

(05:56):
There was no moonlight, the skywas heavy, heavy, heavy with
snow, and you know, I'm sittinghere thinking, oh, my goodness,
it could be a blizzard.
When I try to go back and I'vecome down here especially to do
this podcast because I didn'twant to let anybody down, excuse
me, I've still got the remnantsof my cough.
So it's a real.

(06:18):
You know, I love the vibe.
But survival tale, it couldlend itself to horror.
It could lend itself to crimefiction.
Obviously, my mind turns tocrime fiction because it's a
real.
You know, crime fiction is mygenre, so I can always think of
things like that.
But what a romance.

(06:39):
What of actually strollingthrough the woods with a torch
hand in hand, taking in the snow, taking in the ambience, the
peace, because it is extremelypeaceful, apart from my brain
racing, it is extremely,extremely peaceful here.
And you could.
You know it does lend itself toa romance.

(06:59):
So you know I was thinking, oh,I could write a nice romance
short story or even flashfiction here.
I can't see myself writing anentire romance genre, a book,
sorry, should I say.
But I could write, I couldimagine a short story, and I've
got one going through my headWith the snow.

(07:20):
It also lends itself to aChristmas story.
So a Christmas book, christmasromance, christmas crime fiction
, you know, christmas cosymystery, all lends itself to
that.
And as I'm actually going to berunning an anthology, a cosy
mystery anthology, I'm doing itthrough my publishing house and

(07:43):
giving contracts to people.
Then I actually apologies forthe screaming.
There's a child screaming inthe background.
I'm sorry, I can't control that.
Really, as I say, it's forfamilies and I am in a public
bar.
So I'm thinking of a cosymystery that I could set here
and I'm really my brain'swhizzing with that.

(08:04):
But what about science fiction?
Do you know what?
It wouldn't surprise me, withthe sky heavy with snow, if
suddenly there was, lights cameand somebody a spaceship dropped
down into a clearing.
And last night there reallywere, when we were walking down,
there really were greenflashing lights and I don't know

(08:26):
where they came from.
I still don't know what theywere or why they were there, and
again, that gave me a realscience fiction, fantasy type
vibe.
And this is all one setting.
Also you could do, you know, itcould be something about
fishing.
You could do non-fiction onfishing.
You could do non-fiction aboutsourcing holidays, travel

(08:48):
fiction or travel non-fiction.
In fact, all of these, thewhole of this setting could be
used for that just wanderingfrom place to place, things to
do when you're on holiday,places to go on holiday, you
know, the world's your oyster,really, and I would challenge
you, what I would like tochallenge you to do.
This is not a long episode forobvious reasons because, as I

(09:11):
say, I'm in a public bar and Idon't want to be bothering
people for too long.
But what you could do is what Iwould like you to do is find a
setting any setting and then sitdown and jot down as many
different stories as you couldwrite using that setting, and I
think that could do be a reallygood exercise and I'm going to

(09:34):
do it tomorrow.
I'm really going to jot down,you know, the beginnings of
different stories I could writeusing different genres, using
this one setting, and I've neverthought about that before, I've
never thought about doing that,but I'm really, you know, I'm

(09:54):
really looking forward to doingit and I think, while I'm here,
I might as well use it and I'mgoing to see how many different
short stories and flash fictionI can do based on this genre.
So that's what I'm doing thisweek think about your setting,
think about one area and whatyou could, how you could weave
it into all different types ofgenres.

(10:16):
So that's it for another week.
Guys, I will be back next week.
I will try and introducesomeone, but it's all dependent
on Wi-Fi and where I can be,whether I can borrow someone's
house and their Wi-Fi.
I'm pretty much guided by allof that at the moment as to what
I will be doing, but theredefinitely will be something

(10:37):
next week.
So thank you for joining me andI look forward to being with
you again next week.
That brings us to the end ofanother show.
It was really good to have youon the show with me today.
I'm Wendy H Jones, and you canfind me at wendahjjonescom.

(10:57):
You can also find me on Patreon, where you can support me for
as little as three dollars amonth, which is less than the
price of a tea or coffee.
You go to patreoncom, forward,slash wendahjjones.
I'm also Wendy H Jones onFacebook, twitter, instagram and

(11:18):
Pinterest.
Thank you for joining me todayand I hope you found it both
useful and interesting.
Join me next week when I willhave another cracking guest for
you.
Until then, have a good weekand keep writing, keep reading
and keep learning.