Creative Writing Journal #6

David Colon

Chapter 7 in Gotham offered unique point of views regarding setting and time. One of the things I found captivating in this chapter was how well the author described where she lived: “I grew up in the shadow of the Yonkers Raceway in Yonkers, New York, my neighborhood hemmed in by squat WPA houses and freeway overpasses” (150). The author uses her own advice that she discusses later on in the chapter. When writing, you don’t need to use long, flowery descriptions because that can prolong a scene or even bore a reader. By choosing what to emphasize in a setting, one can paint a scene, set a mood, and narrow one’s focus on themes illustrated throughout the story.

Another interesting suggestion I found in the text occurs on page 166 relating to time in one’s story: “…instead speed through or skip over sections of time that are irrelevant to the story, while slowing down and expanding the sections that are most important” (166). I never really considered how time can impact a story on a minute scale. Writers can skip over periods of time in order to narrow a story and focus on what is important. What a writer decides to include can impact a story significantly. Can you imagine if Tolkien decided to narrate Frodo’s journey step by step? Instead, he decided to focus on specific events that each main character embarked as time progressed. By slowing and narrating a character’s setting, one can build tension and set different moods without having to explicitly say what the character is feeling.

The last piece of information that really stood out to me was how the author described how time and place affects a character. Although it is important for a reader to understand where and when a character exists, it is also important for the reader to understand how time and setting affects characters. How a character acts, what the character wears, and how the character looks is largely influenced by where and when the character lives. If you want to bring your main character to life and to give your character a three-dimensional existence, setting and time greatly influence the character’s complexity.