Write Things: On Making Setting Work For You

Hello {{ first_name }},

One of the fastest ways to elevate your writing is to rethink how you use setting. Most of us learn early on that setting answers two questions: Where are we? and When is this happening?

But setting can do far more than establish time and place.
Used well, it becomes a subtle but powerful tool that shapes the emotional experience of your story. It can add meaning, reveal something about your characters, and guide your reader into the heart of a moment without ever announcing itself.

Let’s look at how.

TECHNIQUE SHIFT: Making Setting Work Harder for You

1. Let the setting reflect your character’s emotional lens.

What a character notices tells us how they feel long before they ever say it.

• A nervous character might tune into the flickering light, the draft under the door, or the hum in the walls.
• A hopeful character might catch the warmth of the sun, the colour in the sky, or the softness of a breeze.

Same location.
Different emotional truth.

2. Use sensory details to create atmosphere.

Atmosphere isn’t created by announcing an emotion — it’s created through details that make the reader feel it.
A metallic taste in the air, a distant thud, the weight of humidity, a shadow that falls just a little too long… these choices set the emotional tone without explanation.

3. Let the environment shift when the story shifts.

Even a small change in the world can signal that something internal or external has moved.
A sound stops. The light changes. A door is now closed. Clouds gather. The room feels suddenly still.

These tiny adjustments cue the reader that the story has turned.

Setting is never just where your story happens — it’s how your story lives on the page.

A Quick Note on Drafting vs. Revising

If you’re still working on your first manuscript, here’s something important to remember:

The inner critic loves using new techniques as bait to drag you back into revision.
But you will be a different writer by the time you reach the end of your draft. The real learning happens by writing forward, not looping endlessly through what you’ve already done.

You can revise a finished story.
You can strengthen and shape it.
But you can’t revise what isn’t written yet.

So take this in gently.
Experiment if you want.
And keep moving forward.

The gift of finishing a story — of building the confidence and self-trust a writer needs to truly live the life of a writer — can be a turning point in someone’s creative journey. If there’s a writer in your life who could use that kind of support, guidance, and encouragement, this might be the perfect season to offer it.

In January, I’ll be teaching Enhance Your Storytelling live again. You can give the course on its own, or offer someone access to the Write Things Community, where they’ll receive the course plus an entire network of writers walking alongside them — a place to learn technique, stay accountable, and feel supported from first draft to finished work.

And of course, if you’ve been wishing for this kind of structure and support yourself, you’re welcome to step in as well.

Writing isn’t a destination.
It’s a journey taken one story at a time.
And sometimes the most meaningful thing we can offer — to someone else or to ourselves — is the chance to begin that journey with confidence.

Thank you to everyone who’s shared this newsletter with a fellow writer or friend. It means the world to me.

Wishing you and your stories all the best,
Trevor Martens
Founder, I Help You Write Things

P.S. Whether it’s a gift for another writer or something you choose for yourself, joining the community this January offers three full months of support — and the opportunity to earn the entire cost back as credit to continue that support even longer.