Scene Setting Quotes

“Light from an almost full moon bathed the flat expanse of land in a milky glow. A scraggly coyote trotted into sight, and when it stopped a few yards in front of his pickup, Lincoln wrapped his arms around the steering wheel to study the animal.
Seconds after hearing the report, bullets pinged off his pickup.”
― Kimber Silver, Bullets in the Briar

“The purple haze of the wych elms; the blue flash of a kingfisher’s wings; the statuesque rightness of the milch cows in that green place chomping on the rich flood-grass.”
― Ronald Frame, Havisham

“The staircase was a mass of rotting wood, carved with such cruel-looking mermaids that Mr. Jelliby was afraid to put his hand on the banister.”
― Stefan Bachmann, The Peculiar

“Far beyond the trees, the sun peeked its carroty face over the dark blue water, sweeping away the silvery darkness.”
― Kien Nguyen, The Unwanted: A Memoir of Childhood

“Finally, the rain stopped. The sky draped like a large, starry blanket over the world. The moonlight painted the tiny waves around me the color of my grandfather's hair. I lifted my hands and laughed hysterically. My fingers dripped lustrous, metallic water like mercury. Specks of light danced on the ocean surface, beckoning me to join them. Time melted into space, letting me flow with it into oblivion.”
― Kien Nguyen, The Unwanted: A Memoir of Childhood

“As young readers like to know 'how people look', we will take this moment to give them a little sketch of the four sisters, who sat knitting away in the twilight, while the December snow fell quietly without, and the fire crackled cheerfully within. It was a comfortable room, though the carpet was faded and the furniture very plain, for a good picture or two hung on the walls, books filled the recesses, chrysanthemums and Christmas roses bloomed in the windows, and a pleasant atmosphere of home peace pervaded it.”
― Louisa May Alcott, Little Women : Fully Illustrated and Adapted

“Below us, the ocean moved like a giant dish of blue Jell-O under the sweeping winds.”
― Kien Nguyen, The Unwanted: A Memoir of Childhood

“Me da vergüenza recordar cómo grité, con qué voz tan estridente, hasta desesperada, «¡Cochero!», cuando lo tenía a dos pasos de mí.”
― Tolstoi Lev Nikolaevich

“For generations Ashton had taken pride in its grass-roots warmth and dignity and had striven to be a good place for its children to grow up. But now there were inner turmoils, anxieties, fears, as if some kind of cancer was eating away at the town and invisibly destroying it. On the exterior, there were the store windows now replaced with unsightly plywood, the many parking meters broken off, the litter and broken glass up and down the street. But even as the store owners and businessmen swept up the debris, there seemed to be an unspoken sureness that the inner problems would remain, the troubles would continue. Crime was up, especially among the youth; simple, common trust in one’s neighbor was diminishing; never had the town been so full of rumors, scandals, and malicious gossip. In the shadow of fear and suspicion, life here was gradually losing its joy and simplicity, and no one seemed to know why or how.”
― Frank E. Peretti, This Present Darkness