Setting: Apartments
“You know—because you see and hear and smell it— that there are other people around you who are trying to figure out life, the same as you.”
By their very nature, apartment buildings offer endless possible scenarios that could become either the catalysts or accelerants of a good story. They can provide a detail-rich environment for your characters to inhabit. Take a ton of people, line up their front doors side-by-side down a long hallway, and oh-ho-ho, the stories that emerge! Add to that the fact that even MORE people are living above and below that single row of front doors and now our possible stories have exploded exponentially.
Human beings are endlessly quirky, delightful, destructive, messy, wonderful creatures. When you live in an apartment, you are quite literally surrounded by them, even when you’re relaxing in your own personal space. You can hear them through the windows and walls. You can smell their cooking from down the hall. Even when you’re lying in bed, trying to nod off for the night, there is the ever-present awareness that there are other people all around you. This can be both comforting and disconcerting—sometimes both at the same time.
You may live in an apartment yourself and have plenty of first-hand experience to draw from when writing this setting into a story. However, if you have never lived in an apartment—or if you would like to compare your experience3 with mine—here are a few things I can share with you that might give you some ideas when writing your own apartment setting.
People stink
Literally. I have smelled all sorts of different odours in the hallway and stairwell. Home-cooked dinners, laundry soap, marijuana, and of course, those weird smells that you can’t quite put your finger on. In general, smelling other people’s business—even if it’s a yummy, homemade meal—grosses me out. I don’t want to smell other people’s lives. Period. However, you might have a character who finds the communal smells comforting. I assume this is just a personality thing.
2. People are noisy
The walls in my building actually do a pretty amazing job of dampering the sounds that bleed out from each unit. However, some sound is inevitable.
Footsteps (or pawsteps) from the unit above. A vacuum dragging overhead. Voices and doors closing in the hallway. Coughing. (My neighbours and I were sick at the same time once. It was strangely comforting to hear them hacking away on the other side of the wall.)
Sometimes, I hear couples fighting, their shouting matches making it all the way down the hall and through the door to where I sit horrified on my living room couch. When I hear shouting, I usually go and poke my head into the hallway to listen for a minute, just to make sure everyone is alright.
Other common apartment sounds include:
cars and car alarms from the parking lot outside
sirens down the street (Once, I had my headphones on in the evening and happened to glance out the window. I was stunned to find six fire trucks outside my building—I had completely missed their approach.)
pets (There is a cat living on my floor. I’ve never seen it, but I hear it meowing regularly.)
children (playing, screaming, etc.)
music (and people singing along)
the unexplained sounds that drive you nuts because they are invasive, but you have no idea what’s causing them (knocks, crashes, bangs, etc.).
One of my favourite sounds that I often hear from inside my apartment is the sound of one of my floormates taking their dog outside in the evenings. This dog makes such a ruckus as it goes by, it’s nearly impossible to miss it. It always sounds like he’s sprinting full-tilt down the corridor. I picture him dragging his owner behind him, like Pongo and Roger at the beginning of 101 Dalmatians.
One of the most heart-wrenching sounds I’ve ever heard from my apartment was a woman crying on the other side of my bedroom wall. I have no idea why she was so sad, but it was very moving to hear her.
3. People are messy
Last year, I was awoken out of a dead sleep in the middle of the night by a woman screaming for help in the hallway outside my door. I went out to see what was going on, joined by a few of my neighbors. The woman who was screaming for help seemed terrified, but did not seem wholly lucid. Eventually, someone phoned the police. Later, after the woman had left, there was this surreal quiet—the kind that comes after something frightening and out of the ordinary, when the world switches back to normal and you’re left wondering if you imagined the whole thing.
Once, a fight between a couple who lived on my floor moved from their unit to the parking lot outside my window. There, one of them tried to drive away while the other stood physically in front of the nose of the vehicle, stumbling backwards as the driver nudged the car forward.
People are messy. Full of emotion. Selfish. Loving. Frightened. Doing their best. In an apartment, you see glimpses of it all.
4. People are beautiful
In an apartment building, you witness moments in the lives of other people—whether you want to or not. There’s a certain sense of community that comes from it. You know—because you see and hear and smell it— that there are other people around you who are trying to figure out life, the same as you.
“Home” is the place where many people experience their most vulnerable moments. In an apartment, those moments can be overheard by others who are just sitting on their couch, minding their own business. The reality of this is crazy and awful and beautiful all at once.
Writing Challenge
Describe an apartment setting that a character might live in. Feel free to use any of the ideas from my post, and see if you can add your own. Remember, specific details are more interesting than general statements.
How does living in an apartment setting impact your character? List as many ways as you can think of. Think: personality, health, stress, relationships, etc.
What does your character do that their neighbours would notice/pick up on in an apartment? (For example, I am 1000% sure that my neighbours have heard me belting out musical theatre songs on more than one occasion.)