Discovering the Unexpected in Everyday Settings
Aberdeen, Scotland. Taken 2024
Even the most mundane of settings can be riveting if it is used to communicate a good story. Often, the world on the page becomes compelling through the characters who inhabit it. Their journeys bring life and interest to the everyday places a reader might not otherwise be inspired to explore.
There is another trick that can be helpful to remember should you find yourself bored with the setting of your story. The trick is: supplement the setting with something unexpected.
A busy train platform… Oh, and there’s a polite young bear cub with a red hat and suitcase wandering about. A high school in Manhattan… Oh, and watch out for the ancient Greek goddess waiting in the principal’s office. A children’s nursery… Oh, and don’t mind the boy who flies in through the window.
Now, these examples all represent major plot points in their respective stories. That’s all well and good; however, it’s helpful to remember that you don’t have to advance the plot every time you include something unexpected in a setting. Sometimes, it adds humor or provides an opportunity for character development. Other times, it may simply be a way to draw your reader’s interest back into the scene.
This strategy is effective because it is true to life.
Here are a few unexpected things that I have personally encountered in everyday settings:
In front of my house: An unfamiliar truck on the street where my car was supposed to be parked. It took me a moment of staring out the window in confusion before I understood what had happened. Turns out the truck had smashed into my car from behind, totaling it and sending my vehicle halfway down the street. The sound of the crash was harrowing.
A country road: A GIANT hound. Like, Hound of the Baskervilles vibe. Or maybe Cerberus from the Underworld, just without the extra two heads. I was with my friends, driving back from their wedding venue the night before they got married. This massive hound came bounding out in front of the car. It was there briefly, then gone, like something out dream.
At my university: Rattlesnakes. They closed off part of the campus during final exams because there were rattlesnakes making nests. Sadly, exams themselves weren’t cancelled.
In a dark hole: Baby pigeons! They were off to the side, just below eye level. This hole was deep and stank to high heaven, but the sound of little birds twittering in the dark was magical.
A parking lot: An airplane’s shadow. It was a summer day and I was sitting in my car during my lunch break, feeling exhausted. I remember looking over and seeing the shadow of an airplane passing right beside me. I was near the airport, and the plane was low to the ground. I’d never seen an airplane’s shadow before and I was amazed at how distinct it was. The plane had passed that precise spot for only second in time – but it was a second that I got to witness.
The hole smelled awful! Don’t know what it was for. I found it when I was exploring a castle in Scotland.
But look - baby pigeons!
Here are a few more examples that I have encountered in literature recently:
Two workers are decorating the lobby of the hotel when, out of nowhere, the ceiling falls in (The Wake-Up Call, Beth O’Leary)
The young leader of a street gang is walking down a dark alley when he is attacked by someone walking through the wall opposite him (Six of Crows, Leigh Bardugo)
A seventy-year-old janitor is cleaning up a break room and finds a Giant Pacific Octopus tangled in the power cords (Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby Van Pelt)
All this to say: unexpected things are happening in the real world, every day, in thousands of different ways. Those moments make our stories – both real and imagined – richer and more compelling.
Writing Challenge:
Think of the ordinary places you go. What are the most unexpected things you have encountered in those places? List them.
Have you ever BEEN the unexpected variable in a setting (somewhere you shouldn’t have been, somewhere you wound up by accident)? Write what the situation was.
How could you spice up the setting in your WIP with something unexpected? Either go back and add something, or plan to include something later on.