This past July, I got married at my childhood farm in Northern Michigan. This region of the country is riddled with one stoplight towns, thick woods, crystal clear fresh lakes, and rolling hills. Tourism is a major industry in my hometown and the surrounding areas.
My husband and I tied the knot in the same field I ran through as a child. We enjoyed our first dance, a tango, in the barn where I had tossed bales of hay down a shoot to feed my horse. And took pictures in the spacious backyard where I’d play hide and go seek with my siblings.
The experience of marrying in my childhood home was special, as every field and hillside, every room in the farmhouse, and every original section of the barn conjured a variety of childhood memories. At my nephew’s wedding, my family reminisced about the many adventures we experienced in the barn.
Dancing the tango in our barn
The value of setting in a non-fiction work is just as invaluable as in a fictional story. Whether you’re writing a memoir, devotional, or blog post, your setting helps tell the story of your life.
My husband and I strolling through the fields of my childhood home. Photo Dan Stewart Photography
Using setting in your non-fiction is important, for it can:
- Draw your readers into the work.
- Share sensory details on your journey of discovery.
- Help provide understanding to your own journey.
Many gifted memoirists tell their stories as though you’re reading a novel. They have the basic elements of a fictional work- characters, setting, inciting incidents, and other tools to help their memoir come alive. When they elaborate on setting, they draw the reader into their world as if experiencing their hometown or residence alongside the memoirist.
Jeannette Walls in The Glass Castle does an excellent job of describing the various places she lived growing up. One example is the Nevada’s desert as though it was another character affecting her dysfunctional, transient family.
“Battle Mountain had started out as a mining post, settled a hundred years earlier by people hoping to strike it rich, but if anyone ever had struck it rich in Battle Mountain, they must have moved somewhere else to spend their fortune.” She describes the main street and scarce businesses to give a feeling of desolation and despair.
I not only can imagine the rural town, but the feeling of poverty and loneliness Jeannette felt as a child of an alcoholic, irresponsible father and free-spirited mother.
Through sensory details of setting, you can share more poignantly without sentiment, your personal journey of discovery. For setting influences us and gives clues about ourselves. Someone raised in the heart of Boston might have a different political view than someone raised on a farm in Iowa.
Erin Garcia, who’s guest posted here, wrote a memoir about her journey of recovery from anorexia. She incorporated her hometown in Omaha, Nebraska to help explain her childhood. She shared special memories like playing in the streets, going house to house as families watched out for them, and playing on a tree behind their house.
“We could feel especially bonded whenever we were in the presence of a big, beautiful, gnarly tree at the top of the hill behind our house. That tree became a kind of focal point, representing a sense of support, the very thing we could not receive from our own parents.”
She goes further to explain how bonding moments with her sister were “intellectual and definitely spiritual, lending a sense of meaning to our chaotic lives.”
And setting like for my wedding, provides understanding to you as well. For me, while I spent two weeks in Northern Michigan for my wedding, I became more awakened to what has influenced my values and beliefs. Raised in a small town where the outdoors was a companion in my life, I discovered my love for water especially wide, open waters like the Great Lakes, my need for the woods and wildlife, and rolling hills.
By understanding this, I’m more inclined to find these scenic sights whenever I can. My husband and I hiked Oxley Nature Center this past weekend and walked through acres of woods and sat near a man-made lake. We spent our mini-moon on Mackinaw Island, and I was content just staring at Lake Huron. I feel like my mind is clearer in these settings.
If I were to write a memoir, I’d incorporate Northern Michigan and my childhood home to help me understand my personal journey.
Now that we’ve covered the three ways setting can enhance your non-fiction work, let’s dive into applying these tools into your own story.
Activation:
- Take five minutes to jot words, scenes, and memorable settings from your childhood or important time in your life.
- Using a mind map, an outline, or journal, write down the connected thoughts, feelings, and memories these settings conjure up.
- Take the journal entry and write how this setting helps you either understand something in your life currently or taught you a valuable lesson.
- Feel free to share an excerpt in Comments below. Thank you.
Featured Image from Dan Stewart Photography. The image is of my wedding venue that was also my childhood home.