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Writing Active Setting #3
Anchoring, Action, as a Character and More
Learn to use Setting to quickly anchor the reader into the world of your story.Use Setting as movement through space effectively.Explore Setting in a series.Learn the most common Setting pitfalls.Readers usually remember the plot and characters of a story, but Setting is every bit as important in creating a memorable world. Discover the difference between Ordinary Setting that bogs down your story, and Active Setting that empowers your story -- creating a compelling story world, regardless of what you write."Mary Buckham has created a treasure for writers. This is a fabulous craft book for the writer who does not want readers "skimming" over chunks of their story because the setting bogs it down. And for the writer who wants to draw readers deep into their world. And for the writer who wants to use setting to show emotion or reveal details about their characters. Need I go on? Kudos to Mary on producing a book that shows how top authors write great setting and easy steps for any writer who wants to improve setting in their stories." NYT Bestselling Author, Dianna Love"I am amazed how much can change in one paragraph of my manuscript with the manipulation of Setting. This book spells out how to do just that in clear, easy to understand, small steps."Judy Wirzberger. Women's Fiction Writer
- GenresWritingNonfiction
87 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 27, 2013
41 people are currently reading
193 people want to read
About the author
Mary Buckham
29 books178 followersUSA Today bestselling author Mary Buckham credits her years of international travel and curiosity about different cultures that resulted in creating high-concept urban fantasy and romantic suspense stories. Her newest Invisible Recruit series has been touted for the unique voice, high action and rich emotion. A prolific writer, Mary also co-authors the young adult sci-fi/fantasy Red Moon series with NYT bestseller Dianna Love. Mary lives in Washington State with her husband and, when not crafting a new adventure, she travels the country researching settings and teaching other writers. Don’t miss her latest reference book Writing Active Setting.
Currently she is neck-deep into writing an Urban Fantasy series centered around five women drafted to combat preternatural beings agitating for world domination. The INVISIBLE RECRUIT series combines a fantasy/paranormal element with high stakes and the pace of action adventure stories. Mary loves creating thrills, spills and spells as she follows the ups and downs of fascinating characters starting with Alex Noziak, the heroine of INVISIBLE MAGIC, INVISIBLE FATE and INVISIBLE POWER.
Currently she is neck-deep into writing an Urban Fantasy series centered around five women drafted to combat preternatural beings agitating for world domination. The INVISIBLE RECRUIT series combines a fantasy/paranormal element with high stakes and the pace of action adventure stories. Mary loves creating thrills, spills and spells as she follows the ups and downs of fascinating characters starting with Alex Noziak, the heroine of INVISIBLE MAGIC, INVISIBLE FATE and INVISIBLE POWER.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
October 18, 2013
Simple, To the Point, Yet Profound
Thanks to Writing Active Setting Book 3: Anchoring, Action, as a Character and More by Mary Buckham, I have an enhanced understanding of the many essential jobs skillfully written settings accomplish in creating a real and active world for the reader. Through the use of excellent examples across a variety of genres, Mary dissects the techniques used by best-selling authors to draw the reader into a specific story-world at a specific time. Additionally, she provides meaningful assignments to anchor an author, new or seasoned, in mastering the various techniques.
Note: I received a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. However, I decided to purchase the complete series (including Book 3 again ☺) once I finished reading it so I can highlight my *own* copy.
Thanks to Writing Active Setting Book 3: Anchoring, Action, as a Character and More by Mary Buckham, I have an enhanced understanding of the many essential jobs skillfully written settings accomplish in creating a real and active world for the reader. Through the use of excellent examples across a variety of genres, Mary dissects the techniques used by best-selling authors to draw the reader into a specific story-world at a specific time. Additionally, she provides meaningful assignments to anchor an author, new or seasoned, in mastering the various techniques.
Note: I received a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. However, I decided to purchase the complete series (including Book 3 again ☺) once I finished reading it so I can highlight my *own* copy.
January 29, 2017
Mary's third book in her series follows the same structure as the two before it and is quite well written. This time around, Mary's lesson consists of Anchoring, Action Sequences, Setting as a Character and other Setting Details.
Again, assignments are added for better and more effective learning at the end of each section.
One thing I realized after reading this novel, is that many times in my writing, I tend to forget about anchoring the reader in each scene. The third book allowed me to think over this and apply it to my editing process.
Again, assignments are added for better and more effective learning at the end of each section.
One thing I realized after reading this novel, is that many times in my writing, I tend to forget about anchoring the reader in each scene. The third book allowed me to think over this and apply it to my editing process.
May 4, 2023
This book series on setting is truly amazing. It's a must-read book on writing craft. I'm excited to apply all that I've learned in my manuscripts!
October 15, 2013
I’m a compulsive reader of how-to books and have always learned more easily from multiple instructional manuals than from teachers in a classroom. The problem in some spheres is finding manuals which don’t just cover the relevant material but inspire you with the author’s insights, that have information relevant to the modern way of doing things, and deliver this information in a way that is easy to absorb and use without confusing or overloading the reader.
Writing today is nothing like the writing in the classical books of the last two centuries; it is not even like the writing popular in the 60’s or 80’s. Everything has changed with the popularity of home video and DVD movie libraries. With the greatest movies so readily available, the public has developed a more demanding, discerning taste. Readers want stories that move rapidly with no long dull passages of description or lengthy soliloquies, with characters they can believe in doing realistic things in some exciting way, but they also want to empathize with the characters and feel their emotions.
Mary Buckham’s Active Setting series teaches the modern novelist how to extend the ‘show not tell’ rule to the Settings of your story: the locale, and the background Setting of each scene, and how to move your characters through that Setting in a way that also reveals character development and anchors the reader in place unobtrusively.
She explains when it is advisable to paint a fuller picture of the Setting at the places where your reader may have put the book down, so that on picking it up again, they are immediately pulled into the new setting and caught up in the story. She also suggests keeping all setting description to a minimum—just enough to give the reader the basics which they can then build on in their imaginations, and to weave that minimum in while moving your characters through the scene, so the setting details enrich but never get in the way of the story.
Ms. Buckham packs a lot of important information into these short books. Each concentrates on a different aspect of Setting. She uses examples from the works of many modern authors to illustrate her ideas, deconstructing those examples to reveal the many other functions the authors have packed in so their Settings do double and triple duty and she shows how any writer can use these techniques to enrich her own work.
I already owned but haven’t yet read the two previous books in this series, so jumped at the chance to get this one free for an honest review. And I am impressed. I had read several of the books she used as examples and had never even noticed the setting material except vaguely. But I did notice how my attention was grabbed and pulled along and how difficult it was to put those books down even to make a cup of tea. So I would hope that after I’ve read the other two books, I might capture some of that reader-gripping expertise too.
Writing today is nothing like the writing in the classical books of the last two centuries; it is not even like the writing popular in the 60’s or 80’s. Everything has changed with the popularity of home video and DVD movie libraries. With the greatest movies so readily available, the public has developed a more demanding, discerning taste. Readers want stories that move rapidly with no long dull passages of description or lengthy soliloquies, with characters they can believe in doing realistic things in some exciting way, but they also want to empathize with the characters and feel their emotions.
Mary Buckham’s Active Setting series teaches the modern novelist how to extend the ‘show not tell’ rule to the Settings of your story: the locale, and the background Setting of each scene, and how to move your characters through that Setting in a way that also reveals character development and anchors the reader in place unobtrusively.
She explains when it is advisable to paint a fuller picture of the Setting at the places where your reader may have put the book down, so that on picking it up again, they are immediately pulled into the new setting and caught up in the story. She also suggests keeping all setting description to a minimum—just enough to give the reader the basics which they can then build on in their imaginations, and to weave that minimum in while moving your characters through the scene, so the setting details enrich but never get in the way of the story.
Ms. Buckham packs a lot of important information into these short books. Each concentrates on a different aspect of Setting. She uses examples from the works of many modern authors to illustrate her ideas, deconstructing those examples to reveal the many other functions the authors have packed in so their Settings do double and triple duty and she shows how any writer can use these techniques to enrich her own work.
I already owned but haven’t yet read the two previous books in this series, so jumped at the chance to get this one free for an honest review. And I am impressed. I had read several of the books she used as examples and had never even noticed the setting material except vaguely. But I did notice how my attention was grabbed and pulled along and how difficult it was to put those books down even to make a cup of tea. So I would hope that after I’ve read the other two books, I might capture some of that reader-gripping expertise too.
Read
October 14, 2013Mary Buckham’s three book series “Writing Active Settings” Books One, Two and Th“Book Three” covers the last third of “Active Setting” possibilities. She shows empowering techniques for writing Settings, enhancing the reader’s engagement in the story. We learn how to make a manuscript shine. Her examples demonstrate not only the effect of well-written settings on the reader, but clarify what not to do when writing Setting. We see the difference between a book that might be just okay, and a book that shines!
Mary Buckham anchors the clarity of the teaching points. She shows examples of bland settings that tell, and then fixes the setting, transforming it from tell to show by adding characterization, action, power words, emotion, mood, and specifics of time and place; with amazing brevity using the strong components she teaches. The setting emerges as art, capturing the reader on a deeper level.
Her before and after examples provide a visual, showing the emotional impact of a well-written setting for every type of story. Am I excited when I check, analyzes and revise the settings in my manuscript? Oh my, yes! Thank you Mary Buckham.
I highly recommend “Writing Active Setting: Book Three” by Mary Buckham whether for instruction or review.
ree, have earned a place of honor on my “how to” writing craft shelf.
Mary Buckham anchors the clarity of the teaching points. She shows examples of bland settings that tell, and then fixes the setting, transforming it from tell to show by adding characterization, action, power words, emotion, mood, and specifics of time and place; with amazing brevity using the strong components she teaches. The setting emerges as art, capturing the reader on a deeper level.
Her before and after examples provide a visual, showing the emotional impact of a well-written setting for every type of story. Am I excited when I check, analyzes and revise the settings in my manuscript? Oh my, yes! Thank you Mary Buckham.
I highly recommend “Writing Active Setting: Book Three” by Mary Buckham whether for instruction or review.
ree, have earned a place of honor on my “how to” writing craft shelf.
October 14, 2013
Any Mary Buckham's book on writing is an insurance of great teaching skills. I was lucky enough to get an advanced reader copy so I could read it before it was even out. I enjoyed it thoroughly and I know it will be, together with its companions, one of the books I return once and again.
What I find most useful is the process she describes as examples from first draft to second draft and published version. It is a very pedagogic way to understand that your first draft just needs the facts and you can better it draft after draft.
Another interesting tool is the dissection of the final fragments while showing what each word or part of the sentence accomplishes. It makes me think about descriptions and using setting in different ways and spins my mind towards my story not once but multiple times while reading it.
What I find most useful is the process she describes as examples from first draft to second draft and published version. It is a very pedagogic way to understand that your first draft just needs the facts and you can better it draft after draft.
Another interesting tool is the dissection of the final fragments while showing what each word or part of the sentence accomplishes. It makes me think about descriptions and using setting in different ways and spins my mind towards my story not once but multiple times while reading it.
October 13, 2013
This book helped me so much. I was in the middle of final edits looking for the missing pieces. This book just drove home what was missing: the incorporation of setting into action and character. I could adjust the settings depending on the scene to really strengthen the scenes and the characters.
All three books deal with active setting. It's an unusual point of view for writing craft books. I had thought of setting as just window dressing, its not. It's a powerful tool to strengthen your story.
All three books deal with active setting. It's an unusual point of view for writing craft books. I had thought of setting as just window dressing, its not. It's a powerful tool to strengthen your story.
October 15, 2013
Mary is amazingly talented and sharing how to capture the same talent with her books. This book has been added to my collection of writing books to help me with my own travels in becoming a better author! A must pick up!
July 1, 2015
Another solid installment from Buckham. I would recommend adding this series to your writing library.
May 18, 2021
Another Great Craft Book
This book should be important to every writer who needs a little more zap in their writing. Get it as soon as you can along with the other two Active Setting books😀
This book should be important to every writer who needs a little more zap in their writing. Get it as soon as you can along with the other two Active Setting books😀
February 27, 2014
This is another great tool for writers by Mary Buckham! The book details how to use Setting to reveal your characters, to show emotions, to create complications and conflict, to show back story with slowing the pace, to show action, to use the setting as a character, to anchor the reader, to show action, and to show emotion. Examples of how setting is used in each of these ways are given using some of my favorite books and authors. The examples also show you how to get from a first draft of “nothing but the facts,” to a final draft that effectively and efficiently utilizes setting to grab the reader. After reading this book, I know why my favorite books and authors are my favorites – they each use setting to allows me to really connect to the story and characters! This book would be an effective tool for new and seasoned writers alike! This ebook was gifted to me by the author, but I really thought it was such a great resource, that I have to go buy the paper version for my reference shelf!
April 26, 2014
While all of the active setting books are related, they do focus on specific aspects of active setting. This one deals with providing appropriate levels of setting depending on the feel you're trying to achieve. For example, if you're writing a heavy hitting action scene you don't want to slow the reader down with long sections of description. However, you can add to the tenseness of the scene by giving a quick view of a room as a character attempts to hide or flee. Other items, such as anchoring a character to a time and place are handled, as well as a character's feelings about a place. Essentially, the setting becomes an additional character in the story and how the human characters interact with it builds emotion and drama.
All of the books in this series are pretty short, so be aware that what you are paying is for less than a 100 pages of information. That being said, the presentation is very well done, the examples are pertinent and contemporary, and I felt that my money was well spent.
All of the books in this series are pretty short, so be aware that what you are paying is for less than a 100 pages of information. That being said, the presentation is very well done, the examples are pertinent and contemporary, and I felt that my money was well spent.
August 1, 2015
Clear, concise, easy-to-read tutorial outlines how to elevate ho-hum, setting descriptions into dynamic narrations that seamlessly move your story forward. Not only does the author give great examples of published setting descriptions, but also, she gives sample texts of what NOT to do.
Better still, she gives examples of how the published passages might have read if handled by a less skilled hand. Her "good-better-best" examples and her get-to-the-point style help make an often complicated, frustrating process all the more clear to working writers and students of fiction.
Apply Mary Buckham's lessons and your readers will remain interested, engaged and turning pages non-stop until the close of your story. There's lots of sage, well-honed advice here, and you'll quickly see that the lessons covered involve more than "just" settings. It's a quick read and worthy of rereading again and again. Money well spent.
Better still, she gives examples of how the published passages might have read if handled by a less skilled hand. Her "good-better-best" examples and her get-to-the-point style help make an often complicated, frustrating process all the more clear to working writers and students of fiction.
Apply Mary Buckham's lessons and your readers will remain interested, engaged and turning pages non-stop until the close of your story. There's lots of sage, well-honed advice here, and you'll quickly see that the lessons covered involve more than "just" settings. It's a quick read and worthy of rereading again and again. Money well spent.
April 25, 2014
Fascinating
I didn't realize setting could be used in so many ways. I knew there was something lacking in my scenes and no other book has ever presented active setting in such an enlightening way. I highly recommend this three book series for those serious about improving their skills as a writer.
I didn't realize setting could be used in so many ways. I knew there was something lacking in my scenes and no other book has ever presented active setting in such an enlightening way. I highly recommend this three book series for those serious about improving their skills as a writer.
May 9, 2016
A winner!
This is another excellent book by Mary Buckham. Never have I been so impressed with an how-to series of books. I'll be referring to these books often because they're that good. If Setting is important to you, and it should be, then read these fine books. You'll be glad you did.
This is another excellent book by Mary Buckham. Never have I been so impressed with an how-to series of books. I'll be referring to these books often because they're that good. If Setting is important to you, and it should be, then read these fine books. You'll be glad you did.
February 4, 2014
I've enjoyed this entire series. Super helpful info for any writer.
August 11, 2016
I didn't find too much in here that wasn't already covered in 1 and 2. I wouldn't consider this a must-buy.
March 30, 2014
Outstanding craft series. Clearly guides writers (new or experience) in techniques to use to enhance setting in their writing. If you're a writer, you need the entire series.
May 28, 2014
Awesome, I learned a lot
This us the best book on writing an active setting I have ever seen. I have read a large number of writer skills books and this one surpasses them all.
This us the best book on writing an active setting I have ever seen. I have read a large number of writer skills books and this one surpasses them all.
July 23, 2014
An elegant end to a decent series of books. I thought it might be redundant, but it made me have a few "Aha!I see!" kind of moments. Worthy of a read for any author serious about the craft.
August 20, 2015
Valuable resource!
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May 4, 2016Setting in short form
This is a very nicely formatted and informative book for the emerging writer. Good breakdown and helpful examples of setting.
This is a very nicely formatted and informative book for the emerging writer. Good breakdown and helpful examples of setting.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews