creative writing on setting

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✍️ Setting Writing Exercises

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We found 11 setting exercises that match your search 🔦 reset

Write a description of the room you are in from the point-of-view of a character in your work-in-progress. If the character is from another time or place, so much the better. What would the character notice first? What would she find odd? What would she love about the room? What would she dislike? Go beyond describing the physical space and capture her attitude about what she sees. Let her be snarky or wax poetical. Whatever captures her emotions about the space.

Mood Swings

I recommend starting this exercise with a travel magazine packed with lots of interesting photos. Select an image that appeals to you. Now, write a short scene from the viewpoint of a character who has just arrived at this location and is seeing it for the first time. Describe the setting through the character's eyes, paying particular attention to the mood that this image evokes in you. Evoke this mood in your readers through the reactions of the character - look for sensory images!Now, write a second scene, with the same or a different character - and evoke just the OPPOSITE mood. If your castle seemed tranquil and romantic, set a scene in which the mood is menacing or sorrowful. If the image of that tropical beach made you feel relaxed and happy, create a scene in which, instead, it is causing your character to feel angry or anxious. Again, look for sensory details and impressions that will convince your reader and evoke that same mood through your words - regardless of what mood the picture alone might have evoked!

From The Ground Up

Choose a place you've never been to. (If you have a map, you can close your eyes and pick a random spot for an extra challenge!) Do some research and try to learn everything you can about that location and make it the setting for the next scene you write. Try to include as many details as possible to make it seem like you've actually been there. For example, what does it smell like? What kind of people would you see there? What is the climate like?

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Establishing The Background

Think of some information your readers will need to learn to understand the story. This could be technical information or character backstory. Now write an argument between two characters in which you use conflict to share this information.

The Art of Description

• A market in the South of France
• A teenage bedroom
• A hairdresser's salon
• The souk in Marrakesh
• A stately home

Describe Your Surroundings

We've all read about the grey autumn day, the crisp spring morning, the dewey summer evening. Flex your descriptive muscles by spending some time writing about your surroundings. Look for new, interesting, evocative ways to explain the world around you. For instance, instead of writing, "a breeze blew in through the open window, try, "papers fluttered in the gust that swept in through the window, throwing dust into the air like confetti."

Consider the World View

When describing your setting, consider who's looking at it as well as what they see. For example, an ex-con is likely to view (and describe) a restaurant hosting a police officer's retirement party differently than the daughter of the retiring officer. Take the point-of-view-character's world view and personal judgment into consideration. What details would they specifically notice? How would they feel about what they see? What emotions or thoughts might those details trigger? This allows you to craft richer settings that reflect both the character, and the world they live in.

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Elements of setting: How to create a vivid world

The elements of setting – time, place, mood, social and cultural context – help to make a novel feel real and alive. This is an essential element of writing that helps anchor your writing within a specific place. Read more about using the ingredients of setting to make your story more vivid:

• Post author By Bridget McNulty
• 3 Comments on Elements of setting: How to create a vivid world

Defining setting

Let’s first define setting. This can be the time frame or/and the location, and environment in which your story takes place. Setting is as vital a part of your story as characterisation or plot. Some novels are rooted in setting, such as many mystery novels where the setting becomes vital to the action. But many stories rely on setting, so it’s worth getting this right and creating your fictional world in detail. 

What are the 4 key elements of setting?

The core elements of setting are:

Time in setting  can refer to the length of time in which the story unfolds (as short as a day or as long as 1,000 years or more).

Time  can also refer to time period , the historical epoch (for example the Middle Ages) in which your novel is set. [When you brainstorm your core setting in the Now Novel dashboard, answer prompts about both to add time details to your story’s outline.]

‘Place’ is the ‘where’ of story setting. Place in your novel is the geographical location or or physical location of the story’s events, fictional settings that take place on a specific planet (or in space), in a specific country, county, city or neighbourhood (or span several).

The ‘mood’ of a story’s setting refers to the tone you create by providing details of time and place. The mood of a dank and rustling wood is very different to that of a bustling, bright metropolis.

Lastly, ‘context’ in setting refers to the way time and place come together to show how elements of setting (such as politics, culture, society) shape (or limit) people’s choices and actions.

Read the following tips on using each of these 4 elements of setting well:

1. How to create a sense of time in a novel

A. use time of day to dramatic effect.

Details such as the time of day add colour and variety to your novel’s mood. Characters leaving on a mission in the dead of night  instead of the daytime may create a much greater sense of urgency, threat or secrecy, for example.

Think also of the symbolic meanings people attach to time in stories. Daybreak can symbolize rebirth, renewal or the return of safety. Nighttime could symbolize danger, mystery or death. Or peace, tranquility, solitude.

Even if you don’t explicitly reference the time of day or year in a scene, it can help to add one to your outline so that you have other details in mind as you draft and describe your scene.

B. Show time passing to create urgency or anticipation

Show time passing in your story setting to help the reader see that the action of your story unfolds within a shifting, changing world.

A classic example of this we return to often is the ending of Evelyn Waugh’s  Brideshead Revisited . The protagonist returns to a grand manor he once knew to find it damaged considerably in the war. This passage of time creates a nostalgic, ‘you can’t go home again’ effect.

A sense of time passing is especially important where there is urgency. In a murder mystery, for example, each passing sunrise and sunset without a new lead is another opportunity for the ‘baddie’ to strike.

Showing how time’s passage changes your setting is a great way to add development to your story’s backdrop.

C. Make your time period realistic

It takes readers out of your story when you have a medieval knight saying ‘that’s sick’ or ‘cool’.

Unless your characters are supposed to time-travel, make sure your time setting is realistic and consistent.

Also ensure that you have a handle on the social environment (or cultural environment) of the setting of your story. What world or political events take place in an historic setting, and how might this contribute to the plot, for example? What is the etiquette like: are women allowed to walk the streets alone? 

If you’re writing historical fiction in particular, keep a cheat file of every detail about your setting. Research what people ate, wore and believed and how they spoke. You don’t have to include every detail in your draft. Some information is just for you to know, so you can keep details believable.

2. How to write place in a book

The second key element of setting, place, is equally as important as time . If your characters’ actions are anchored in a vivid location, they will seem much more real. To make your story locations vivid:

A. Research real locations thoroughly

Setting your book in a real place means that you need to understand it: Not only its geography but also what kind of life a traveler would find there.

To research a real contemporary location:

• See if it’s available to explore using Google Street View – your own virtual guided tour will make it much easier to describe
• Read through information about your chosen real-world setting on regional government websites.
• Read other works of fiction set in the same place and time. Many fiction writers take liberties with describing real places. But creative accounts can develop your own imaginative grasp of a place

Even if your fictional world is entirely made up – a distant planet in the solar system that has been colonized in the year 5000, for example – you can base it on a real world location for inspiration.

B. Show place with description

‘Show don’t tell’ is repeated so often that you’re probably tired of hearing it. But this is especially true for place description in setting.

Instead of just telling the reader that the train rolled into the big city, show the big city . Describe some of its buildings, or its landmarks, or the faces on the station platform [Brainstorm individual locations such as landmarks or a station by creating a ‘small-scale setting’ in the World Builder on Now Novel].

Describe the features that would strike a newcomer most. The better you observe and show place in your novel, the easier it is for readers to enjoy your fictional world.

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C. Go there if possible

If you’re writing about a real place and you’ve never been there in person, go if it’s at all possible. As writer Suzannah Windsor Freeman says, when creating a story setting sometimes ‘research doesn’t cut it’.

Research and looking at photos of the destination combined can give you enough material to create a keen sense of place, but actually walking the streets where your novel is set will help to inspire your storytelling and enrich it with plenty of detail.

3. How to create mood in your story’s setting

Creating a precise mood with your setting is important because:

• It signals to the reader how they should read the unfolding action: Is there a sense of danger or adventure? Is the story reaching a point of higher stakes or is the action winding down?
• It creates contrast – the light and shade – that keeps a story’s environments interesting and believable

Setting can also be used to contribute to the plot and perhaps show the character development of your cast. For example you can show that a character has grown up and become more responsible because their house has been freshly painted, and looks neat now. 

Some tips for using the elements of setting to establish a clear mood:

A. Use common connotations of places and times

Different places are associated with different things: A mountain pass might be associated with travel and adventure while the seaside might be associated with relaxation and introspection.

Similarly, winter might be associated with introspection or depression while summer is associated with extroversion and a jubilant mood.

If you want to emphasize that a negative situation is turning around for your character, you might show the transition to a new life alongside a change in the seasons.

Underscoring the action of your novel with mood this way heightens its sense of drama and change.

B. Show how time and place affect characters’ moods

You could use the mood of your setting to also reveal aspects of your characters’ personalities and desires.

For example, if your character loves to spend time in a library, this may show that they are an intellectual person (or simply a person who loves books or quiet).

Think about the relation between place and time and how your character might change depending on their surrounds.

4. How  to write context for your story’s setting

Context is one of the most important elements of setting for plot . The social, cultural, historical, political and environmental details tied to time and place shape people’s lives in many ways. Creating this context for story settings is important because:

• It shows what possibilities and limitations are placed on your characters by their place and time
• Context gives readers a more detailed sense of your fictional world (readers know how power is divided, how people celebrate, and other cultural details).

To make the context element of your setting more real:

A. Think about how society is organised in your setting

Let’s consider the environmental setting of your world, not just the scenery, but what is happening socially and politically. Think about the kind of your society your characters live in. From country to country, different cultural practices are the norm. Think about what the practices will be in your novel’s own place and time. Will your main character uphold these traditions or challenge and rebel against them?

B. Make notes on every aspect of a real-world context

If your novel is set in a real-world time period and location, make notes on all the context-related elements of setting. Do light research and summarize information about:

• Demographics (what is the social makeup of your setting: What different groups and belief systems occupy the land?)
• Political system
• Social views (are most people leftist, centrist or on the right of the spectrum?)
• Cultural practices (For example, what is the standard greeting? What words or gestures are considered offensive?)

Your novel doesn’t need to reference each of these elements explicitly (a romance novel most likely won’t explore politics). Yet having an idea of the most dominant viewpoints and ways of life of a place and time will help you to create characters and dialogue that feel right for the setting.

Use the ‘Core Setting’ section of Now Novel’s story dashboard to work out your story’s memorable setting .

I started using Now Novel to assist me with my story’s structure. The prompts were helpful in developing my characters, settings, and scenes. The story outline was a valuable asset that guided me through my rough draft. The feedback from my personal writing coach took my writing to the next level. — Kathy

Related Posts:

• Vivid story setting description: Examples and insights
• How to create a fantasy world that everyone will believe
• Story setting ideas: 6 effective setting examples and tips
• Tags elements of setting , world-building

By Bridget McNulty

Bridget McNulty is a published author, content strategist, writer, editor and speaker. She is the co-founder of two non-profits: Sweet Life Diabetes Community, South Africa's largest online diabetes community, and the Diabetes Alliance, a coalition of all the organisations working in diabetes in South Africa. She is also the co-founder of Now Novel: an online novel-writing course where she coaches aspiring writers to start - and finish! - their novels. Bridget believes in the power of storytelling to create meaningful change.

3 replies on “Elements of setting: How to create a vivid world”

This is the factor that will bring the world that you created to your readers, connecting them to it. That is why you need to put more effort into making your setting come alive.

If you don’t mind, I want to know your thoughts about this blog: https://gregvanarsdale.com/guide-to-creating-vivid-setting-for-your-fiction/

I will surely appreciate your opinions.

Hi Lydia, thank you for sharing that. I would say it could use a little further editing for paragraph structure and length, as well as more headings. Clarity and argument could be tweaked a little too, but it’s on its way.

[…] elements of a setting listed differently depending on where you look. For example, in the article, What are the 4 Key Elements of Setting? By Bridget McNulty, they are listed as time, place, mood, and context. The article, Discover the […]

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Top 200 Setting Ideas for a Story, from Expert Writers

Last Updated on October 20, 2023 by Dr Sharon Baisil MD

If you’re looking for inspiration for your next story idea, look no further! This article has 500 setting ideas to help get your creative juices flowing. Expert writers have contributed their favorite settings , so you’re sure to find something that sparks your imagination. With this wealth of ideas at your fingertips, you can write a truly unique story or write a paper online with someone’s help. Short story ideas don’t get much better than this.

List of the Top 200 Setting Ideas for Writing a Story

• A dark forest full of traps and magical creatures
• The seafloor
• A derelict space station floating in orbit around a distant planet
• An abandoned amusement park at night
• The surface of an unknown planet, far away from Earth
• The center of a massive mountain range where nobody has ever ventured
• A massive library full of real, physical books that no one has ever read before
• The very tip-top floor of a massive skyscraper
• An isolated prison in the middle of an endless desert
• The house is at the end of a long, winding road leading to nowhere else but more road with no landmarks or distinguishing characteristics
• A small farmhouse on a large plot of farmland, surrounded by woods and swamps on all sides
• An abandoned warehouse filled with secret passageways that are impossible to find without help from someone who knows them by heart
• The surface of Mars during sunrise over Olympus Mons Crater
• On an elevated platform at the center of a small island
• The very, very bottom floor of a massive skyscraper that has been abandoned since construction was completed
• An underground cave system where one can go for days without seeing sunlight or another living being
• A space shuttle orbiting around Jupiter
• In the belly of a massive whale as it swims through dark, frigid waters filled with horrific monsters and other life forms from Earth’s deepest nightmares.
• On the surface of Venus during sunrise over Sif Mons Crater
• In a massive library filled to the brim with books so old, they crumble to dust when touched by human hands, at least if their age is not protected by magic or advanced technology beyond what humanity understands today
• A massive tree with a labyrinth of interconnected rooms and underground tunnels deep within its roots, filled with strange creatures like nothing ever seen on Earth before
• The center of the sun
• In the mouth of a massive dragon as it flies through the sky
• On an abandoned oil platform in the middle of an ocean where strange sea creatures lurk and unknowable horrors hide just out of sight under dark, stormy waters
• Beneath the surface of Europa during sunrise over Valhalla Crater
• A massive cave system that has been occupied by orcs for centuries upon centuries
• An endless desert where sandstorms strike without warning and can carry entire structures away if they aren’t built properly to withstand the elements
• A small, floating island somewhere in the Indian Ocean that is only accessible every seven years when the tides pull it closer to other islands and civilizations ashore
• In a tent at a massive music festival miles away from civilization
• Underground while being chased by trolls with weapons forged from precious metals and stones no human has ever seen before
• On a far-off planet orbiting a distant star where friendly inhabitants will welcome you with open arms, but be careful about what you accept or take from them–the planetary economy might not be able to handle Earth’s money supply
• Inside Amazon forest
• In a small town in the center of a large valley surrounded by dense forests and thick swamps
• In a dark alley in New York City at night, desperately trying to find your way home from work before something bad happens
• A small town that has been cut off from civilization for centuries upon centuries, isolated from humanity behind seemingly impenetrable walls built to keep out dangerous monsters that lurk outside the village’s limits
• A small shuttlecraft piloted by an AI on its way to explore Pluto and beyond
• In a massive city made of towers stacking high into the sky, each one attached to another by bridges and elevators that stretch from floor to floor
• A single room in an apartment complex near a major city where strange noises and smells come from beneath the floorboards late at night
• The depths of an ancient jungle filled with giant trees and nocturnal predators whose roars echo through the forest like nothing ever heard before on Earth
• Atop a large mountain looking down upon a vast desert filled with sand dunes as far as the eye can see
• On an abandoned oil platform in the middle of an ocean where strange sea creatures lurk, and unknowable horrors hide just out of sight under dark, stormy waters
• Across the surface of Europa during sunrise over Valhalla Crater
• Outdoor Skating Rink
• Seaside Towns
• Parisian Cafe
• Middle Eastern Bazaar
• Rain Forest
• Hollywood Theatre
• Moto X Track
• Train Station
• Castle Dungeon
• Greek Island Resort
• Alaskan Wilderness
• Redwood Forest
• Subway Station
• Ocean Liner
• Space Shuttle LaunchPad
• English Countryside Manor House
• Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) Theatre
• Disneyland Park
• Sports Stadiums and Arenas
• Military Bases and
• Palace and Gardens of Versailles
• Hanging Gardens of Babylon
• Central Park in New York City
• Amusement Parks
• Water Parks and Theme Piers
• Stadiums and Arenas (Indoor)
• Museum of Natural History (NYC)
• Casinos & Gentlemen’s Clubs
• Lighthouses
• The White House (Washington, DC)
• Fruit and Vegetable Market in South Central LA
• Airports and Airlines
• Ships Before They Sink
• Space Satellite Control Center (Houston)
• High-Rise Buildings (NYC, Chicago, etc.)
• The Planet Mars
• Mountain Ranges on Earth
• Urban Streets of Any Large City
• Rural Towns in Any Region of the World
• Movie Premiere Venues, Awards Shows & Conventions
• Night Clubs & Bars (NYC)
• The Great Wall of China (Northern China)
• Russian State Duma Building (Moscow)
• Cliffs of Moher (Ireland)
• Rio de Janeiro City Streets During Carnival
• Harbor Alley in Hong Kong at Night
• Abandoned Amusement Parks (Asbury Park, New Jersey)
• The North Pole and the Arctic Ocean
• Concert Halls & Opera Houses
• Any Major Sports Stadium or Arena
• Movie Theatres
• Public Parks
• Downtown Zoos & Aquariums
• Gas Stations & Convenience Stores
• Clothing Racks in High-End Department Stores
• Shopping Malls
• Museums, Art Galleries, Libraries & Historical Sites
• War Memorials and Monuments
• Historic Homes and Buildings
• Restaurants with Diners Outside
• Boardwalks with Shops and Stands
• Famous Hotel Pools & Resorts
• The Great Pyramids of Giza (Northern Egypt)
• Miles of Seawall in Galveston, Texas
• Inside a Presidential Limousine Riding Through Town
• Carnival Cruise Ships
• A futuristic manufacturing facility
• A world filled with genetically modified creatures
• An old-west town that has been magically restored to its 19th century glory days (and beyond!)
• A lighthouse on an isolated island
• A rickety old wooden bridge collapsed into the raging river below it
• An industrial complex filled with glowing debris and strange machinery
• A castle in the middle of a deep, dark forest
• A boarding school built on an alien planet
• The edge of space broken by an enormous asteroid field and marked with craters and jagged ridges where stars have fallen to Earth (and beyond!)
• A tropical archipelago filled with exotic wildlife that is home to dangerous sea life
• A quiet coastal town full of quaint little houses sitting at the bottom end of a steep cliffside overlooking calm, glassy waters
• An untamed wilderness filled with wild creatures and beasts of many kinds
• A world where the sun is just a bright point in the sky, but there are entire civilizations out there that have completely abandoned their star for another one entirely. There’s no way to travel between them without making a trip through an inter-dimensional rift or wormhole
• A futuristic mega-city at night, full of glowing billboards advertising products that no one will ever buy (and there’s a great deal more to discover!)
• A forgotten temple complex nestled in the foothills of a dormant volcano
• An isolated corner of the cosmos, lit only by distant stars and several smaller moons
• A frozen wasteland
• The Oval Office of the White House
• Slum Areas in Any Major City Around the World
• Abandon Prison Camps from WWI and WWII
• In a cave deep beneath a mountain on another world
• Entirely Inside a Computer Program
• The deck of a pirate ship sailing the open seas
• A tropical island forgotten by time
• A train caught in an avalanche
• Inside the body of a giant monster rampaging through the countryside, looking for something to eat
• A city made entirely out of ice and snow.
• An empty school after everyone has gone home for the day
• A derelict luxury liner adrift in space (with a secret inside!)
• Inside an Imaginarium (or similar fantasy machine)
• Construction Sites
• Any city street, alleyway, or back-alley
• A cruise ship adrift at sea
• An aircraft carrier or battleship sitting in the middle of an abandoned port
• An ancient temple deep within a jungle
• The inside of a spaceship or space station has crash-landed on an alien world (and beyond!)
• A barren desert with nothing more than dead land for as far as the eye can see
• Any massive stadium or sports arena that has been abandoned by its owners
• A crowded subway train at rush hour
• The inside of a refrigerator, freezer, walk-in cooler, meat locker, etc.
• A wealthy man’s lavish estate sitting alone on top of a hill overlooking the city below it
• The peak of an active volcano
• Ancient Underground Cities
• On the set of a cheesy old science fiction movie from the 1960s
• A lush jungle of tall, sprawling trees that are completely covered in thick vines and tangled undergrowth
• A strange world where everything looks wrong (that’s how it always starts!)
• A post-apocalyptic wasteland populated by desperate survivors scavenging for resources to survive another day. There are still pockets of civilization here and there, but they have fallen into chaos as the population has dwindled due to starvation or plague. The landscape is littered with debris from the former days, while the skies are a burning orange and red. The air is thick with ash and dust, making breathing difficult at best.
• A mysterious technological planet filled with massive construction projects that seem to have no purpose whatsoever
• An alien world full of colorful plants/animals (and other creatures) that somehow still manages to be boring as hell. There aren’t many places for settlers to set up shop, so it’s mostly just a large.
• A beautiful world filled to the brim with dragons and other amazing creatures, but also completely devoid of life.
• A peaceful world with lush fields, rolling hills, and deep forests where life is bright and cheery. The sky is always clear blue; there are no storms or hurricanes to be found.
• Mount Rushmore
• The inside of a giant glass dome where the air is breathable, no one can see in or out. The inhabitants are completely cut off from the outside world (except radio communications)
• A once proud civilization was reduced to ruins by an unknown enemy.
• The cold vacuum of space, where nothing lives or grows
• A quiet little town that has been completely abandoned for reasons still being investigated. It’s everyone for themselves out here in the wasteland, and sometimes people just get sick of living life on their own
• The inside of a massive haunted house or castle
• The inside of a giant amusement park filled with all sorts of rides and attractions. Unfortunately, the park has been deserted for decades, so anything that can move is inoperable. The vast majority of people who went missing over the years were just sucked into this place when they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
• A peaceful village in the mountains where everything is quiet and calm. It’s all fun and games until someone shows up with a gun, demanding whatever valuables you might be hiding away. Once they get what they want, you’re either forced into servitude or simply executed on the spot (depending on how nice their boss happens to be feeling at the time)
• The inside of a department store during the busiest shopping day of the year
• A dark and dangerous world where mutants, robots, cyborgs, zombies, and other vile creatures are constantly trying to kill each other.
• Inside the great pyramid of Giza
• A massive cruise ship that has been stranded at sea
• A futuristic manufacturing facility with
• A city of the undead
• A post-apocalyptic wasteland
• A futuristic sports arena inside a mountain range
• A great white wasteland covered entirely in snow and ice. The temperature is far too cold for any sort of human settlement.
• A crowded coffee shop
• An abandoned mansion
• A field in springtime
• An erupting volcano
• The cockpit of an airplane during takeoff or landing in rough weather (I like this one. I’d go for the cockpit of a passenger airliner.)
• A library at night
• The first row at a rock concert
• Mount Everest
• Underwater (Like “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.”)
• On top of a skyscraper during a thunderstorm at night (Like that part in Spiderman 3 where Spidey’s fighting the Lizard and what’s-his-name.)
• On the ring road around Paris at rush hour (I’ve never been to France, but it sure sounds like hell in this instance.)

The Importance of Setting in Creative Writing

The setting is the blueprint from which your story is built. Knowing how to use it effectively can turn a good story into a great one and a mediocre story into a complete failure.

The advantages of a good setting are many:

1) It creates a sense of comfort in the reader who reads your short story.

2) It can increase suspense when used properly.

3) It adds depth and realism to the story, making it easier for readers to escape their daily lives and immerse themselves in your work.

4) If you do it right, it can give your story an amazing and lasting sense of wonder and nostalgia.

5) The story setting becomes a character in and of itself, with its motives and goals that may or may not align with those of the main characters (or even change as the story goes on).

6) It helps to make your writing more vivid and concise.

7) It becomes a tool you can utilize to provide foreshadowing and build tension.

8) It helps determine plot direction, character motivation, pacing, etc.

9) It becomes one of the first things your readers will notice about your work, so it must be done right from the beginning.

The setting is the foundation upon which your story is built. Do it wrong, and your efforts will come crumbling down around you, but get it right, and you’ll have a masterpiece on your hands.

Thanks for reading my blog, and Happy Writing ! What’s your favorite kind of setting? Mine is anything post-apocalyptic, as long as there are mutants and zombies. 🙂

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Story setting ideas list of writing prompts.

I keep a list of settings. In fact, I keep a list of many things to help jar my creativity while brainstorming—core fears, phobias, careers for characters, character types—just about anything I think might help my brain make a creative cross-connection and get a new idea. I look at brainstorming as a musician practices playing scales—exercising my creativity just makes it stronger.

Of all the lists I keep, story setting ideas is one I use often. When I am freethinking, I close my eyes and point at random. Sometimes when I’m stuck in my manuscript, I look over this list and see if I can’t jar an idea loose. Sometimes I match the settings up. I also use other lists and randomly choose from one list, then the other. Anything to get my creative juices going again.

Here is my list of places or settings for you to begin your own list and use as creative writing prompts.

Story Setting Ideas List

Write about what happens at a(n):

__________ Academy            Abbey                                     Airport

Alley(s)                                   Alligator Farm                       Art Gallery

Art Studio                              Artist Colony                          Auto Junkyard

Ancient Pyramid                  Animal Sanctuary                  Animal Shelter

Animal Research Facility   Art Museum                           Aquarium

Barber Shop                          Baseball Stadium                  Basement

Beach                                      Beauty Salon                          Blood Bank

Blood Drive                           Bookstore                                Botanical Garden

Bridge                                     Buddhist Temple

Cabin                                      Castle                                      Casino

Cathedral                               Cave (Bat, Collapsed, Crystal)

Cemetery                               Center for Disease Control Laboratory

Cheap Hotel                          Chinatown (any city)            Church

Circus                                     City Dump                              City Rooftop(s)

City Street                             Coal Mine                                Coffee House

College Dorm Room           Concert Hall                            Corporate Board Room

Day Spa                                  Distillery

Fairground                             Fishing Boat                           Floating Fish Factory

Football Stadium                  Fort

Garden                                    Graveyard                               Gymnasium

Highway Rest Stop                Hospital                                  Hospital Board Room

Insectarium                          Jazz Club

Landfill                                   Lighthouse                             Logging Camp (Town)

Mansion                                 Mannequin Factory              Medical Laboratory

Mississippi River Barge      Mosque

New Orleans during Mardi Gras

Nuclear Reactor                     Nursing Home

Observatory                           Opera House

Palace                                     Park                                   Pet Grooming Salon

Precious Metal Mine (Gold, Silver, Copper)                      Priory

Prison                                     Police Station                       Pottery Studio

Previously Undiscovered Island

Previously Undiscovered Planet

Principal’s Office

Racetrack                               Rainforest                              Roadside Motel

Roadkill Pickup Truck

Salt Mine                                Sanitarium                             Schoolroom

School Lab                             Secret Hideaway                   Sewer

Shack                                      Shoeshine Stand                   Shopping Mall

Small Town                           Spider Farm                           Steel Mill

Steam Ship (or Boat)          Synagogue

Temple                                   Theater                                  Tower

Trailer Park                           Train Graveyard                  Train Station

Wax Museum                       Wildlife Ranch                       Windmill

Winery                                   Woods                                      Worm Ranch

Story Setting Ideas List, Somewhere Famous

Alcatraz                                              Amazon Rain Forest

Angkor Wat, Cambodia                  Buckingham Palace

Death Valley                                      Disneyland

Easter Island                                     Forbidden City

Galapagos Islands                            Golden Gate Bridge

Grand Canyon                                   Great Barrier Reef

Great Wall                                          Hollywood

Jerusalem                                           Kashmir Valley

Machu Picchu                                    Mount Everest

Nile                                                      Palace of Versailles

Pike’s Peak                                         Pompeii

Potala Palace, Tibet                         Pyramids of Giza and Great Sphinx

Sahara Desert                                   Serengeti

Sistine Chapel                                   Statue of Liberty

Stonehenge                                        Taj Mahal

Tombstone                                         Uffizi Gallery

Valley of the Kings                           Venice (Canals)

The White House                              Zen Garden of Kyoto

Story Setting Ideas, Combine Setting with Another Idea

Insert a place from above into one of the following creative writing prompts and see what happens. As Stephen King says: “…good story ideas seem to come quite literally from nowhere, sailing at you right out of the empty sky: two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun…”

Pet __________ (okay, Pet Cemetery has been done and so has the idea of combining a pet and racetrack ( The Art of Racing in the Rain) but what about other stories including pets? What about pet & theater? Pet & palace? Pet & casino? Pet & circus? Pet & Stonehenge?)

Old Folks __________ (yes, “home” is the first thought, but keep going.) What about old folks & circus? Old folks & college dorm room? Old folks & garden—Yikes! I just had a thought about planting old folk parts and getting…what? Veggies that if you eat them, you become possessed? Or is this garden a connection to the otherworld? Will the garden produce wisdom? Prophets? Or a zombie plague?

See how this works? So get your creative juices flowing and don’t look back.

Abandoned __________ (logging camp, church, fish boat, trailer park…you get the idea)

Haunted __________

A murder at ­­­­­­­­­­__________

A secret at __________

A magical __________

An evil __________

A previously undiscovered __________

__________ in the woods

Old __________ turned into apartments

A __________ shrine

A __________ museum

A __________ graveyard

Story Setting Ideas, Combine Two Settings

Write about a blood drive at a nuclear reactor. Or a roadkill pickup truck at a casino. What about an animal protection sanctuary on city rooftops? A mannequin factory near Stonehenge or a secret hideaway wax museum?

Lots of ideas come to mind—not all good, but that’s okay! The point is to jog your brain (or muse) into generating new connections. As your subconscious tries to make sense of connections, ideas will come. Try it. May many excellent, fresh, exciting ideas come flooding your way!

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16 Comments

August 24, 2012 at 11:30 am

August 24, 2012 at 1:27 pm

You are so welcome, Kim 🙂

September 5, 2012 at 4:55 pm

Your settings list is great. It just may become my settings list. 😉 For some reason as I scrolled through, “City Dump” piqued my interest the most. Haha.

September 6, 2012 at 6:05 am

I’m glad you find the list helpful, Lauren. You gotta accept inspiration no matter where it takes you, right? 🙂 The settings I seem to choose (or more to the point–that choose me) always end up gritty and less on the “romantic” side of life. Sigh.

April 11, 2013 at 4:15 am

This is great! really useful!! I often use places that I have been as the starting point. In my latest story I used the tomb raider temple that I visted in Cambodia as the base for the setting in one of the scenes. I started with a picture in my minds eye and my imagination did the rest!! Twitter – @anagranimals

April 14, 2013 at 1:07 pm

Wow, Leith, that sounds like quite a trip! Once I get a “mind’s eye” scene, I do the same, I’m off to the keyboard (or pen–depending on my mood 🙂

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March 7, 2016 at 9:41 pm

hello. I am just beginning to write and I found this website very helpful for my setting. When I finish the book ill put in a note thanking your website.

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January 31, 2018 at 7:20 am

Can’t wait to try this with my homeschool class tomorrow! I have 7th-12th grades.

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Definition of Setting

Setting is a literary device that allows the writer of a narrative to establish the time, location, and environment in which it takes place. This is an important element in a story , as the setting indicates to the reader when and where the action takes place. As a result, the setting of a narrative or story helps the reader picture clear and relevant details. In addition, setting enhances the development of a story’s plot and characters by providing a distinct background.

In literature, setting can be specific or general in terms of geographical location and historical time period. A specific, or integral, setting refers to an exact location and time period established by the writer. This information can be directly imparted to the reader or implied in the narrative. A backdrop setting is more general, vague, or nondescript, which makes the story more universal for readers. The setting of a literary work may also be a fictional location or world, a future time and place, or it may be unknown.

For example, the fairy tale “Cinderella” traditionally features a backdrop setting, such as long ago in a faraway kingdom. However, a modern interpretation of “Cinderella” might feature an integral setting such as New York City to enhance aspects of the story’s plot, characters, and theme .

Examples of the Importance of Setting as a Literary Device

Setting is an important literary device, as its purpose is to create a “world” in which a story takes place. Setting can also influence the plot of a story and the actions of the characters. Here are some examples of the importance of setting as a literary device:

• helps establish the mood and/or tone of a story
• provides context for other story elements such as plot, characters, and theme
• reinforces the narrative by providing structure and function in the story
• enhances individual scenes within a story’s plot

Occasionally, the “presence” of a story’s setting, in terms of a time period, geographic location, or environment, can feel to the reader like an additional character . This can make for clever use of this literary device in portraying a particular time and/or place with a personality all on its own in a story.

Common Examples of Cities Frequently Used as Setting

Certain cities are frequently used as settings in literary works. By setting a narrative or story in a well-known city, the writer can be relatively certain that the reader will have a general sense and understanding of the locale, including geographical characteristics, landmarks, culture, etc. This can alleviate some burdens for the writer in terms of description and allow for the focus to remain on the story’s plot and characters.

Here are some common examples of cities that are frequently used as settings in literature:

• New York City
• Los Angeles
• New Orleans

Common Examples of Historical Time Periods Frequently Used as Setting

Certain historical time periods are frequently used as settings in literary works as well. By setting a narrative or story in a well-known era, the writer can also be relatively certain that the reader will have a general sense and understanding of the history, events, historical figures, etc. This can additionally alleviate some burdens for the writer in terms of description and allow for the focus to remain on the story’s plot and characters.

Here are some common examples of historical time periods (not in chronological order) that are frequently used as settings in literature:

• Ancient Greece
• Industrial Revolution
• Middle Ages
• Renaissance
• Age of Exploration
• Classical Era
• Turn of the century
• Roaring ’20s
• World War I
• Westward Expansion
• World War II
• Victorian Age
• Contemporary

Common Examples of Environments Frequently Used as Setting

Certain types of environments are frequently used as settings in literary works in addition to specific geographical locations. By setting a narrative or story in a well-known environment, the writer can be relatively certain that the reader will have a general sense and understanding of that environment’s characteristics, such as terrain, climate, culture, etc. This can alleviate some burdens for the writer as well in terms of description and allow for the focus to remain on the story’s plot and characters.

Here are some common examples of environments that are frequently used as settings in literature:

• outer space
• rural/farmland
• countryside
• Southern plantation
• ship at sea

How to Understand and Describe Setting in Writing

The idea of understanding the setting depends on the storyline, characters, and events. These three are important elements that define a setting. It is because every setting has some specific qualities where certain people live and interact. Also, setting impacts them and their actions which define their lives. Some other less significant elements of setting are landscape, type of land, climate, weather, social conventions, and cultural surroundings. When writers and readers understand all these elements, it becomes easy for them to write about setting and describe it in words.

Backdrop and Integral Setting

Although the backdrop and integral setting sound the same, they are different. An integral setting is a specific place associated with some specific characters, having a specific role to play in the events of the story, a backdrop setting is general. It is could be any town given in a story without any specific quality and feature. An integral setting has all the necessary elements that define a setting, a backdrop setting has only common elements given through generic names.

Five Elements of Setting or Aspects of Setting

A setting within a piece of literature must have five elements or aspects. Although there are several other aspects that are necessary, the following five are fundamental elements of a setting. The first one is locale which means the country or the region. The second is the time which also includes the timing which means day, night , or month of the year. The third is climate, the fourth is geographical features and the fifth is population, society, and culture.

Fictional and Non-Fictional Settings

A fictional setting is a type of setting that exists only in imagination and there is no connection of this setting with reality. The non-fictional setting is a type of setting that exists in reality. For example, Eldorado does not exist nor do some cities mentioned in various novels. However, Paris and London do exist and they are real cities mentioned in several novels and short stories as the settings of the storylines. This difference, however, evaporates when some real place is mentioned in connection with fictional characters.

Setting and Exposition

As the term shows, exposition means detailed descriptions of the characters, settings, and the storyline in the beginning of the novels or short stories, setting is part of the exposition. The exposition just explains settings, giving its details. It also shows how events are going to unfold. However, the setting only shows characters having certain relationships with the land, geographical location, social fabric, and flora and fauna.

Difference between Temporal and Spatial Setting

Spatial refers to space that means the place, its geography, its location, its social fabric, its flora, and fauna, etc. Temporal, on the other hand, refers to a time that means the specific time of the year or the month, or the day when the event in question takes place. Whereas spatial setting shows the location and the place, the temporal setting shows when the events have taken place in that specific place. Both settings are used interactively and in conjunction with each other. No one can be used interchangeably or exclusively.

Examples of Setting in Literature

In literature, setting provides the reader an image and idea of time and place that frames the action of a story and can reveal aspects of its characters. By using the setting as a literary device, the writer can help the reader visualize the action of the work, which adds credibility and authenticity to the story. In addition, a setting can create and sustain the illusion of imaginary places and worlds in fiction as well as time periods in the future or prehistoric past. Without an indication of the setting, a story would lack significant context for the reader, potentially reducing their enjoyment and/or understanding of the work.

Here are some examples of setting in well-known works of literature:

Example 1:  Harrison Bergeron  by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren’t only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General.

In Vonnegut’s short story , the narrator reveals the setting at the outset. This establishes a significant amount of information for the reader before the action of the story even begins. The narrator stipulates the year, which indicates to the reader that the time period of the story is in the future but not terribly distant. In addition, the story is clearly set in the United States as indicated by the mention of the constitutional amendments.

As well as directly establishing the time and location of the story, Vonnegut also utilizes setting as a literary device to impart to the reader a sense of the story’s environment. In this case, there is a strong refrain of mandated equality in terms of the physical and intellectual characteristics of this future population that is further enforced by a national agency. As a result, the reader is able to instantly picture the background in which the events of the story and the movement of the characters will take place.

Example 2:  As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

That’s the one trouble with this country: everything, weather, all, hangs on too long. Like our rivers, our land: opaque, slow, violent; shaping and creating the life of man in its implacable and brooding image.

Faulkner created his own fictional county in Mississippi, Yoknapatawpha County, in which to set nearly all of his novels and numerous short stories. Yoknapatawpha was inspired by and based on Lafayette County in Oxford, Mississippi, with which Faulkner was familiar. Faulkner himself considered Yoknapatawpha County as apocryphal in the sense that many of his readers believe it to be a real place. In fact, his novel   Absalom, Absalom! includes a map of the fictional country that was drawn by Faulkner.

By creating this realistic yet fictional Mississippi county, Faulkner was able to incorporate several aspects of this setting across many of his works. In this passage from his novel As I Lay Dying , for example, the atmosphere of Yoknapatawpha is as much a presence as the characters, and Faulkner underscores the reciprocal influence and shaping of the novel’s setting and characters. In addition, by using Yoknapatawpha to set so many of his literary works, Faulkner’s readers find familiarity with and understanding of the physical location and environment in which the narrative takes place. This allows readers to focus on the action and characters of the story.

Example 3:  The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

And now there came both mist and snow , And it grew wondrous cold: And ice, mast-high, came floating by, As green as emerald. And through the drifts the snowy clifts Did send a dismal sheen: Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken— The ice was all between. The ice was here, the ice was there, The ice was all around: It cracked and growled, and roared and howled, Like noises in a swound!

In Coleridge’s poem , he juxtaposes two very different and distinct settings. At the outset of the poem, the setting is a wedding in which the guests are joyful, merrily dancing, eating, and drinking. This celebratory environment is in stark contrast to the setting of the mariner’s story within the poem, which he relays to a wedding guest outside the venue.

This passage of the poem indicates the setting of the Mariner’s tale, as the boat travels to the icy Antarctic. The oppressive presence and noise of the ice create a barren environment that is cold to the existence of living things. This emphasis on the environmental setting in Coleridge’s poem not only draws the reader away from the warmth and life-affirming nature of the wedding, but it also reflects for the reader the danger and isolation faced by sailors at sea. In fact, the reader becomes part of the setting described by the mariner just as the wedding guest becomes part of the mariner’s story through the poet’s description of the setting and events. This allows for a stronger connection between the poem and the reader.

Synonyms of Setting

The distant synonyms for setting are as follows: position, situation, background, backdrop, milieu, environs, habitat, place, location, spot, locale, context, frame, area, neighborhood, locus, district, and region.

Related posts:

• Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night
• Once More unto the Breach
• Hamlet Act-I, Scene-I Study Guide

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The Creative Penn

Writing, self-publishing, book marketing, making a living with your writing

Writing Tips: Setting And Sense Of Place

posted on March 14, 2023

All stories, whether fiction, memoir, or narrative non-fiction, happen somewhere, so setting is a key aspect of writing.

From an epic fantasy world to a small room in a literary novel, to the open road of a personal travel memoir, your characters experience their journey in specific places.

Here are some tips for writing settings. For more detail, check out my course, Writing Setting and Sense of Place , available now. There is a preview lesson available so you can check it out in more detail.

What is a setting and what is a world?

A scene in a story has one or more characters in a setting performing some kind of action toward a specific goal. The setting is the backdrop against which the scene unfolds.

There are multiple settings within a world, for example, J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth (world) has many specific settings, one of which is a hobbit hole.

“In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat. It was a hobbit hole, and that means comfort.” — The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien

It doesn't have to be a fantasy world. The world of your story is where it takes place, and will have multiple settings included in the narrative. My recent travel memoir, Pilgrimage , includes real-world settings of the Camino de Santiago, the Pilgrims' Way, and the St Cuthbert's Way.

Why do we need to write better settings and inspire a sense of place?

Your job as a writer is to manipulate the reader's imagination, to make them think and feel what you want them to, but too many writers forget the importance of setting in their books.

In fact, a common error for new writers is “talking heads in an empty white room,” where characters have great conversations and undertake significant action, but it's unclear where it's all happening.

Consider the following sentence.

Morgan walked along a path through the trees.

The path and the trees in your head will likely be different from what I had intended. Here's a version with more details about the setting.

Morgan slowly walked along a winding path that meandered through a dense forest of towering evergreens with needle-like leaves, interspersed with spindly birch trees with papery white bark. Their trunks reached up towards the sky like giant pillars, their bark rough to the touch with deep grooves and ridges that formed intricate patterns. Leaves rustled gently in the light breeze, creating a soft whispering sound as the scent of pine and earth filled the air. Sunlight filtered through the branches of the trees, dappling the ground with patches of warm light.

While it still needs some editing, it gives you a much better idea of the setting.

Here are three quick tips to help you write better settings, whether you're writing fiction, memoir, or narrative non-fiction.

(1) Use sensory details

Sensory descriptions help create vivid mental images in your reader's mind. Describe how the place looks, sounds, smells, feels, and tastes. This can be as simple as describing the colors and textures of the walls in a room, the smell of freshly baked bread, or the feel of the sun on your skin.

Of course, you don't need to go overboard and include all of these every time, but at least consider how a couple of sensory details can help evoke each setting.

You can also “show, don't tell.” Avoid simply telling your reader what a place looks like. Instead, show them by describing the actions and emotions of the characters in the setting. For instance, instead of saying “The room was cold,” you could say “She rubbed her hands together to warm them, her breath visible in the chilly air.”

(2) Write from the character's point of view (POV)

The setting will be completely different depending on the character and what they bring to it.

For example, a hospital room in the aftermath of a clinical emergency will be experienced differently by the widow of the patient who just died, by the junior doctor who just lost their first patient, and by the cleaner whose job it is to make the room ready for the next person.

You can also use setting to show aspects of character and backstory. For example, someone with a military background would notice different things in a setting to a primary school teacher.

(3) Use metaphor and simile to deepen your settings

Metaphors and similes can help to convey abstract concepts through concrete imagery. For example,

“Tendrils of crimson dawn touched the Thames and turned the river to blood as it heralded a new day.” — Destroyer of Worlds , J.F. Penn

The river did not actually turn to blood, but the metaphor gives a sense of the violence to come and evokes the color of the river in the dawn light.

You can even use the setting itself as a metaphor. For example, two characters walk through a graveyard in the snow on a dark wintery day. “Let's talk about our future,” one says.

The same dialogue, the same two characters, but the setting is now a white sand beach fringed by palm trees in the glorious sunshine. The setting changes the mood and the meaning entirely.

I hope that gives you some ideas for writing settings, and if you'd like more help, check out my course, Writing Setting and Sense of Place , available now.

You'll learn how to use  sensory details, character perspective, as well as metaphor, symbolism, and theme  to create a setting that is both believable and captivating. You'll explore  how to research settings, how to use setting to drive plot, plus, explore aspects of worldbuilding , as well as learn  editing tips  and ways to  use setting in your book marketing .

There are optional  writing exercises  you can do throughout, and  questions  to consider with each lesson.

Reader Interactions

March 14, 2023 at 2:55 pm

Dear Johanna, I cannot thank you enough for the wonderful “service” you provide to writers. I first logged onto your website at least ten years ago, when writing my first novel, Under the Salvadoran Sun, at age 70 (self-published at age 72). Now at 80 years of age, I have published my second novel, Dark Secrets, a Legacy of Memory from 1939 Sweden, historical fiction inspired by my Swedish heritage and secrets revealed by my Swedish cousins. I love writing but hate the marketing end and have failed miserably at that. Perhaps I was spoiled with my first book, written when I was 29 years old, published in 1973 because I had a publisher and Scribner’s Sons, NY, distributed it. I actually made money; it sold 15,000 copies. I am at the moment writing the 50th Anniversary Edition of Europe with Two Kids and a Van, a travel memoir of my husband’s and my travels throughout Europe (it, of course, included your country)with our 3 and 5-year-old daughters, who were super travelers. We are still travelers and recently visited the northern UK, Wales, and Scotland and loved it. I just wanted to finally thank you for all you offer aspiring authors. By the way, I have missed many of your missives as I forgot to change my email address with you and rarely look at my gmail. I would love to do a post with you (a testimonial perhaps) or share a blog.

Warm regards, Sher Davidson https://sherdavidson.com/

March 15, 2023 at 1:03 am

Thanks, Sher, I’m glad to help!

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Story Setting Ideas: 137+ Prompts for Creative Writers

Are you a creative writer looking for unique story setting ideas for your next novel , short story , or screenplay ?

If so, you’re in the right place! I’ve been there too – maybe you have an idea for a great character , but you’re stuck for a good setting for the story, or maybe you’ve got some plot point ideas, but you’re not clear on where to set them.

If that’s you, read on to find the setting ideas organized into types of settings. We’ll start with dystopian and city settings, move on to natural settings (like forests and islands), and end with alternative time periods and space-based settings!

What Are Great Story Setting Ideas for Writers?

Dystopian wastelands.

Find story setting ideas for narratives set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Write about societies that crumbled under the weight of their own corruption and greed, where survivors cling to hope amidst devastation.

The Sunken City : A major city that has sunk underwater due to climate change, with surviving humans adapting to a new life beneath the waves.

The Silent Metropolis : A once bustling city now abandoned and overgrown with vegetation, where survivors navigate through skyscrapers turned into jungles.

Radioactive Ruins : An area devastated by nuclear war, where survivors must deal with radiation sickness and mutated creatures.

The Dust Bowl : A vast region of farmland turned into a desert due to over-farming and drought, where communities struggle for scarce resources.

The Glass Desert : A desert filled with glass-like sand caused by a meteor strike, where survivors must cope with extreme temperatures and deadly sandstorms.

The Techno-Graveyard : A junkyard filled with discarded and broken tech from a collapsed civilization, where scavengers hunt for valuable parts.

The Acid Rain Forest : A forest poisoned by acid rain, where the surviving flora and fauna have evolved in strange and dangerous ways.

The Frozen Wastes : A city encased in ice due to a sudden shift in climate, where survivors must adapt to the harsh cold.

The Sky Islands : Floating islands left after the Earth’s surface became uninhabitable, where people survive on these isolated pieces of land.

The Underground Hive : A network of caves and tunnels where a society lives underground after the surface world became too polluted.

The Cracked Earth : A region ravaged by intense earthquakes, leaving a landscape of deep chasms and unstable ground.

The Toxic Swamp : A swamp filled with toxic chemicals, where survivors have had to adapt to the poisonous environment.

The Ship Graveyard : A coastal area littered with the rusting hulks of ships, where survivors scavenge and live within the ruined vessels.

The Silent Plains : Vast plains left barren after a plague wiped out all plant life, forcing survivors to find new ways to cultivate food.

The Smog City : A city constantly shrouded in thick smog due to unchecked pollution, where inhabitants must wear masks to breathe.

RELATED: For more inspiration, read my best dystopian story ideas here !

Futuristic Metropolises

Read about different settings for your futuristic mega city story, where technology shapes every aspect of life and the sky is filled with the buzz of flying vehicles.

The Vertical Labyrinth : A city built entirely upwards, with interconnected skyscrapers and aerial walkways.

The Undercity : Beneath the glittering towers, a network of subterranean tunnels and communities thrive, away from the prying eyes of the city above.

The Bio-Dome Colony : A self-sustaining city under a massive dome, designed to replicate Earth’s ecosystem on a distant planet.

The Floating Megalopolis : A city suspended in the sky by anti-gravity technology, casting a shadow over the world below.

The Neon Jungle : A city that never sleeps, illuminated by the neon glow of holographic signs and digital billboards.

The AI Capital : A city run entirely by artificial intelligence, where every building, vehicle, and device is interconnected.

The Green Metropolis : A city designed with advanced eco-technology, seamlessly incorporating nature into its urban landscape.

The Quantum City : A city where quantum technology is used for everything from transportation to communication, making it a hub of scientific breakthroughs.

The Orbital Station : A bustling space station orbiting Earth, acting as a gateway to the stars.

The Oceanic City : A city built on the ocean surface, utilizing marine resources and pioneering underwater living.

The Timeless City : A city where time-manipulation technology is commonplace, causing unique societal and architectural developments.

The Holographic Haven : A city where virtual reality is integrated with physical spaces, creating a blend of real and digital environments.

The Energy Core : A city built around a giant energy source, harnessing its power for technological advancements.

The Multi-dimensional Metropolis : A city existing in multiple dimensions simultaneously, connected by inter-dimensional portals.

The Automated Utopia : A city where all mundane tasks are automated, freeing its citizens to pursue creative and intellectual interests.

Enchanted Forests

Here, you’ll find creative writing prompts for a fantastical world of nature. Step into magical realms where every tree and stone pulses with ancient magic, and mythical creatures roam.

The Singing Trees : A forest where the trees produce a melodious hum that can heal or harm depending on their mood.

The Mirror Glade : A clearing filled with mirror-like ponds that show not just reflections, but also possible futures.

The Lantern Grove : A grove where bioluminescent flowers provide light at night, attracting magical creatures of all kinds.

The Rainbow Canopy : A forest with leaves of every color, each tree possessing unique magical properties.

The Whispering Vines : A dense jungle of vines that whisper secrets and ancient wisdom to those who pass through.

The Dreaming Pools : A series of pools that induce vivid dreams when their waters are drunk, often used for prophecy.

The Timeless Hollow : An ancient hollow tree that serves as a portal to different times and realities.

The Weeping Willows : A grove of willows whose tears have healing powers, guarded by elusive nymphs.

The Crystal Cavern : A cavern hidden beneath the forest floor, filled with magical crystals that power the forest’s enchantments.

The Starlight Clearing : A clearing where starlight falls even during the day, said to be a meeting place for celestial beings.

The Silver Stream : A stream with silver waters that grant visions of truth to those who gaze into it.

The Golden Orchard : An orchard with golden fruit that bestows various magical abilities when eaten.

The Forgotten Ruins : Ancient ruins overrun by the forest, where stone carvings come to life under the moonlight.

The Fairy Ring : A circle of mushrooms serving as a gateway to the fairy realm, visible only on midsummer’s night.

The Wraith’s Woods : A haunted section of the forest where ghostly apparitions are seen, holding clues to a forgotten tragedy.

Isolated Islands

Find inspiration for the perfect setting for your remote island story!

The Whispering Sands : A tropical island where the sands whisper ancient tales and legends to those who listen closely.

The Lighthouse Isle : A small rocky island, home to an old lighthouse that guides lost sailors, its keeper a hermit with a mysterious past.

The Emerald Atoll : A ring-shaped island with a vibrant lagoon at its heart, teeming with colourful marine life.

The Forgotten Archipelago : A series of islands lost in time, each holding remnants of an ancient civilization.

The Shipwreck Shore : An island littered with shipwrecks, each with its own tragic tale and hidden treasures.

The Volcanic Isle : An island with a smoldering volcano, its fiery heart a source of awe and fear among its inhabitants.

The Cursed Cay : A seemingly idyllic island believed to be cursed, where strange occurrences are commonplace.

The Ghost Galleon : An eerie phantom ship that roams the seas, appearing and disappearing around a particular island.

The Turtle Haven : An island known for its vast population of sea turtles, considered sacred by the locals.

The Merfolk Lagoon : An island rumored to be the dwelling place of merfolk, their songs heard at the break of dawn.

The Pirate’s Refuge : An island used as a secret hideout by pirates, filled with hidden caves and buried treasure.

The Dragon’s Roost : An island where dragons are said to nest, its cliffs adorned with shimmering scales.

The Coral Castle : An underwater castle built from coral, visible from an island during low tide.

The Serpent’s Isle : An island known for its unique serpent species, their venom holds the key to a powerful antidote.

The Island of Eternal Night : An island where the sun never rises, its inhabitants living in perpetual twilight.

Ethereal Planes

T he ethereal planes are a unique setting where magic flows freely. These story ideas exist just beyond the reach of the mortal world – yet are intertwined with its fate.

The Echoing Expanse : A vast, shimmering desert where each grain of sand is a lost soul’s whisper.

Luminous Labyrinth : A maze of softly glowing walls that shift and change with the moods of the spirits.

Celestial Canopy : A dense forest with luminescent flora, its leaves falling in slow motion, transforming into stardust upon touching the ground.

Whispering Waters : An ocean of liquid light, where the waves carry the thoughts and dreams of the living.

The Veiled Vale : A valley shrouded in mist, where ancient spirits slumber, their dreams shaping the landscape.

Astral Atoll : Vibrant islands floating in a sea of twinkling stars, home to spirits of nature.

Spectral Spire : A towering, crystalline structure that pulses with spiritual energy, serving as a beacon to lost souls.

Ethereal Estuary : A river of pure energy flowing from the mortal world, carrying the essence of life and death.

The Fading Fen : A spectral swamp, where forgotten memories sink into the quagmire, only to occasionally bubble back to the surface.

Glowing Grotto : An underground cavern illuminated by luminescent fungi, echoing with the whispers of earthbound spirits.

Phantom Pinnacle : A mountain peak piercing the veil between planes, where spirits can glimpse the mortal world.

Wraith’s Wastes : A desolate landscape where darker spirits roam, feeding off residual negative emotions.

The Silken Sky : A sky filled with strands of shimmering light, weaving the tapestry of fate.

Mirrored Meadows : Fields of silver grass reflecting the thoughts and emotions of those who wander through.

Harmonic Highlands : Mountainous terrain resonating with the symphony of the universe, where each gust of wind carries a melody.

Ancient Kingdoms

C reative writing prompts that feature ancient history in kingdoms where the echoes of past glories and dark intrigues still linger in shadowy corners.

The Sunken Kingdom : An underwater kingdom swallowed by the sea, its grand palaces now home to marine life.

The Desert Empire : A vast desert kingdom, where sandstorms uncover hidden pyramids filled with mummies and treasures.

The Lost Jungle Kingdom : An ancient kingdom reclaimed by the jungle, its stone temples covered in vines and home to exotic creatures.

The Sky Citadel : A kingdom located on floating islands, where people travel on the backs of giant birds.

The Kingdom of Shadows : A kingdom trapped in perpetual twilight, where shadowy figures lurk in the corners.

The Crystal Cavern Kingdom : A kingdom built within a network of crystal caverns that sparkle with magical energy.

The Mountain Fortress : A kingdom carved into the side of a towering mountain, protected by treacherous cliffs and deadly avalanches.

The Ice Palace : A kingdom within a glacier, where grand halls and rooms are made entirely of ice.

The Volcanic Kingdom : A kingdom built around a dormant volcano, using geothermal energy to power their technology.

The Underground City : A kingdom built deep underground, illuminated by bioluminescent fungi and gemstones.

The Tree-top Kingdom : A kingdom built on top of gigantic trees, connected by swinging bridges and zip lines.

The Mirage Kingdom : A kingdom that appears as a mirage in the desert, accessible only to those who know its secret.

The Ghost Kingdom : A kingdom said to be haunted by the spirits of past rulers, their ghostly echoes heard in the wind.

The Labyrinth Kingdom : A kingdom built within a vast labyrinth, where every turn could lead to treasure or danger.

The Kingdom in the Clouds : A kingdom hidden high in the clouds, accessible only by airships or winged creatures.

Underworld Realms

Story setting ideas in the depths of the underworld. This is a place where darkness reigns supreme and creatures of the night are the main characters.

The Labyrinth of Shadows : An endless maze filled with traps, puzzles, and lurking creatures.

The River of Forgotten Souls : A fantasy world with a river where the spirits of the departed drift aimlessly.

The Obsidian Citadel : A fortress built from black stone, home to the formidable ruler of the underworld.

The Cavern of Whispers : A mysterious cavern where voices echo with secrets and ancient prophecies, like something out of Tolkien’s middle earth.

The Abyssal Sea : A dark, endless ocean teeming with monstrous sea creatures.

The Petrified Forest : A forest of stone trees, inhabited by stone-like creatures.

The City of Wailing Specters : A city where tormented spirits wail and moan, reliving their past lives.

The Fields of Eternal Twilight : A field with rolling hills where it’s always dusk, and shadowy figures roam.

The Mountains of Despair : Towering mountains that drain the hope of those who dare to climb them.

The Lake of Fire : A lake filled with molten lava, home to fire-breathing creatures.

The Crystal Mines : Mines filled with precious but cursed gemstones guarded by spectral miners.

The Sands of Time : A desert where time flows differently, aging or rejuvenating anyone who steps onto its sands.

The Frozen Wastes : An icy wilderness haunted by frost wraiths and other chilling creatures.

The Forgotten Catacombs : An intricate network of tombs and crypts, housing the remains of long-dead kings and queens.

The Garden of Nightmares : A garden filled with bizarre and deadly plants that feed on fear.

Lost Civilizations

These are story setting ideas about the remnants of ancient civilizations hidden away by time. They can be based on historical events, and are perfect for a love story, a thriller, or a dramatic tale.

The Sunken City : An ancient city submerged beneath the sea, its grand architecture untouched by time.

The Jungle Ruins : Overgrown ruins deep within the jungle, filled with dangerous traps and hidden treasures.

The Deserted Desert Kingdom : A once-thriving desert kingdom, now buried under shifting sands.

The Mountain Monastery : A secluded monastery high in the mountains, filled with ancient scrolls and artifacts.

The Sky Temples : Floating temples hidden among the clouds, accessible only by those who can fly.

The Forgotten Forest Village : A village hidden within an enchanted forest, its inhabitants turned to stone.

The Underground Cavern City : A sprawling city carved into the walls of a vast cavern, lit by bioluminescent fungi.

The Crystal Palace : A palace made entirely of crystals, each room refracting light in mesmerizing patterns.

The Ghost Town : A small town abandoned after a disaster, haunted by the spirits of its former inhabitants.

The Labyrinth of the Minotaur : A massive labyrinth housing a fearsome beast, filled with deadly challenges and ancient puzzles.

The Frozen Citadel : A citadel encased in ice on a snow-covered mountain, its inhabitants preserved in perfect frozen stasis.

The Island of Statues : An island filled with lifelike statues, remnants of an ancient civilization that had a peculiar obsession with sculpture.

The Volcanic Fortress : A fortress built into an active volcano, its halls filled with fire-based traps and puzzles.

The Abandoned Astronomical Observatory : An observatory filled with ancient astronomical instruments and star charts, hinting at a civilization with advanced knowledge of the cosmos.

The Hidden Valley of Dinosaurs : A valley hidden behind a mountain range, where dinosaurs still roam, preserved by an ancient civilization’s advanced technology.

Parallel Dimensions

Step into parallel dimensions where reality bends and every choice leads to almost too-many possibilities.

Mirror World : A world that mirrors our own, with slight, unsettling differences.

Time-Shifted Realm : A dimension where time moves at a different pace, altering the course of history.

Upside-Down Dimension : A reality where gravity works in reverse, and the sky is beneath your feet.

Shadow Dimension : A world cast in perpetual twilight, where shadows have a life of their own.

Infinite Library : A dimension consisting entirely of a vast library, housing every book that was, is, or will be written.

Color-Swapped Universe : A world where colors are inverted, creating an alien landscape.

Dimension of Dreams : A realm where dreams and nightmares manifest into reality.

Animal Kingdom : A parallel world where animals evolved as the dominant species instead of humans.

Echo Dimension : A reality where actions echo across time, affecting past and future simultaneously.

Silent World : A dimension where sound doesn’t exist, and inhabitants communicate through visual signals.

Bizarro World : A reality where everything is the opposite of our world, challenging our perceptions of normalcy.

Crystal Dimension : A world made entirely of crystals, refracting light in mesmerizing patterns.

Pocket Universe : A tiny parallel universe, small enough to fit in one’s pocket but infinitely expansive on the inside.

Parallel Post-Apocalypse : A dimension where a cataclysmic event has decimated civilization, offering a bleak view of what could happen in our own world.

Dimension of Thought : A realm that exists solely in the realm of ideas, where thoughts and concepts materialize.

RELATED: Read my apocalypse story ideas here !

Haunted Locales

Story setting ideas in haunted places with a touch of the supernatural. Use your imagination to create a world set in a haunted house, military base, or even a cursed forest!

Haunted Manor : An old manor house with a dark past, where spectral figures roam the halls.

Ghost Town : An abandoned mining town, where the whispers of the lost souls echo in the wind.

Shipwreck : A sunken ship that resurfaces every full moon, carrying with it the spirits of the drowned crew.

Cursed Forest : A dense forest reputed to be cursed, where strange apparitions appear after sundown.

Deserted Asylum : An old, run-down asylum, its empty corridors filled with the eerie sounds of its former inhabitants.

Haunted School : A schoolhouse abandoned after a tragic incident, now haunted by the spirits of students and teachers.

Creepy Carnival : An old abandoned amusement park that comes alive with ghostly laughter and spectral apparitions at night.

Phantom Train Station : A train station where a phantom train arrives at midnight, carrying the souls of the departed.

Ancient Burial Ground : A sacred burial ground, disturbed by construction and now haunted by restless spirits.

Haunted Lighthouse : An isolated lighthouse where the ghost of the old keeper still tends to his duties.

Abandoned Prison : A derelict prison haunted by the spirits of inmates who met untimely ends.

Spooky Toy Shop : A toy shop where the toys come alive at night, each carrying the spirit of its previous owner.

Haunted Inn : An inn located on an ancient ley line, attracting paranormal activity.

Eerie Museum : A museum displaying relics from a forgotten civilization, haunted by the spirits attached to the artifacts.

Ghostly Opera House : An opera house where the phantom of a former performer still takes the stage.

RELATED: For more inspiration, read my best horror story ideas here !

Post-Apocalyptic Sanctuaries

Seek refuge in the few safe havens that remain after the apocalypse, where communities fight to rebuild what was lost and protect the fragile hope of a new beginning.

The Ark : A colossal ship, designed to withstand the apocalypse, now roams the endless oceans, sheltering the last remnants of humanity.

Ice Fortress : A massive structure carved into a glacier in the Arctic, providing protection against the harsh weather and the genetically modified creatures outside.

The Hidden Greenhouse : A vast underground greenhouse, forgotten by time, now a lush oasis amidst the barren wasteland.

The Floating City : A city suspended on giant balloons, drifting above the ruined Earth, where survival depends on scarce helium reserves.

Subterranean Metro Network : An intricate web of subway tunnels that have been transformed into a thriving community beneath a radioactive cityscape.

The Oasis : A miraculously preserved natural park, surrounded by a defensive wall, teeming with life in the heart of a desertified world.

The Sky Farm : A network of hot-air balloons carrying fertile soil and crops, providing food for a ground population unable to grow their own.

The Mountain Citadel : A fortress high up in the mountains, its residents have adapted to the thin air better than the mutated creatures below.

The Ghost Town : An abandoned town, believed to be haunted, acts as a perfect camouflage against marauding bands of scavengers.

The Bunker Community : Deep beneath the ruins of a major city, a network of bunkers has been converted into a self-sustaining community.

The Monastery : A secluded monastery, thought to be impenetrable, houses precious knowledge and artifacts from the pre-apocalypse world.

The Dam Settlement : A hydroelectric dam repurposed into a fortress, harnessing the power of the river to provide electricity to the survivors.

The Lighthouse Island : An isolated island with a lighthouse, the beacon acts as a symbol of hope for lost travelers.

The Bio-Dome : A scientific experiment meant to simulate life on Mars, now serves as a refuge against the inhospitable conditions outside.

The Cathedral Forest : A cathedral overtaken by nature, its towering trees and dense undergrowth provide a natural sanctuary against the dangers of the post-apocalyptic world.

Mythical Mountains

Check out these story setting ideas for myths and legends on the tops of mountains – where every summit holds the promise of adventure and the whisper of ancient secrets.

Dragon’s Crest : A mountain range believed to be the resting place of ancient dragons, with peaks that resemble gigantic, slumbering beasts.

The Titan’s Throne : The tallest peak in the world, said to be where a mighty titan once sat to survey his domain.

Whispering Winds Peak : A mountain where the wind is said to carry the whispers of long-lost civilizations.

Mount Oracle : Home to a secluded monastery where monks are said to receive prophecies from the mountain spirits.

The Veiled Summit : A perpetually mist-shrouded peak, rumored to hide a portal to the spirit realm.

Starfall Crater : A mountain formed from an ancient meteorite impact, said to house celestial beings.

The Siren Cliffs : Dangerous cliffs that echo with enchanting songs, leading many adventurers to their doom.

The Labyrinth Caves : A mountain riddled with a complex network of caves, it’s said that a minotaur guards a mystical treasure within.

The Weeping Rock : A mountain where waterfalls flow like tears, believed to be a grieving earth deity.

Mount Solitude : A remote, silent peak where hermits seek enlightenment and solitude.

The Frozen Citadel : A fortress carved into a glacier atop a mountain, said to be the stronghold of a frost giant king.

The Pegasus Plateau : A high plateau rumored to be the breeding ground of winged horses.

The Ember Mountain : A volcanic mountain, home to a legendary fire bird that is reborn from its ashes.

The Silver Spires : A range of silver-tinted mountains, rumored to be the dwelling place of moon goddesses.

The Echoing Depths : A deep chasm in a mountain, where echoes transform into words of wisdom from ancient spirits.

Arctic Expeditions

Brave the harsh, icy wilderness of the Arctic, where the relentless cold and endless snow conceal wonders and dangers in equal measure.

The Icebound Ship : An old shipwreck frozen in the Arctic ice, rumored to hold a priceless treasure.

The Shimmering Glaciers : A vast field of ever-changing glaciers that sparkle under the midnight sun, hiding mysterious icy caves.

The Polar Ghost Town : An abandoned mining town, filled with eerie silence and chilling secrets.

The Aurora Observatory : A high-tech station for studying the Northern Lights, where the sky reveals strange anomalies.

The Whispering Snowfields : An endless expanse of snow that seems to whisper tales of ancient times when the wind blows.

The Frostbite Forest : A forest of frost-covered trees, home to strange creatures and haunted by chilling legends.

The Walrus Graveyard : A beach scattered with enormous walrus skeletons, believed to be a sacred place by local Inuit tribes.

The Crystal Caverns : A network of ice caverns illuminated by refracted sunlight, creating a mesmerizing, deadly maze.

The Frozen Mammoth : A perfectly preserved mammoth in a giant block of ice, rumored to be protected by ancient spirits.

The Seal Hunter’s Camp : A remote camp of indigenous seal hunters, full of folklore and traditional wisdom.

The Thawing Permafrost : A region of rapidly melting permafrost, revealing prehistoric fossils and releasing ancient bacteria.

The Iceberg Labyrinth : A dangerous route through towering icebergs, hiding pirate treasures and sea monsters in its cold waters.

The Polar Bear Kingdom : An island ruled by a gigantic polar bear, said to be the incarnation of an old deity.

The Sunken Submarine : A nuclear submarine trapped under the ice, its crew faced with survival and a potential nuclear disaster.

The Snow Castle : A grand castle made entirely of ice and snow, home to a frost queen with a frozen heart.

Urban Underbellies

Peel back the glossy exterior of big city life to reveal the gritty reality that thrives in the shadows, where every street corner tells a story of survival and defiance.

The Graffiti Tunnel : A hidden tunnel covered in vibrant graffiti, serving as a secret meeting place for young rebels.

The Underground Fight Club : A dimly lit basement where illegal fights take place, a hub for the city’s toughest characters.

The Night Market : A bustling market that only opens after dark, filled with exotic goods and shady deals.

The Abandoned Subway Station : A long-forgotten subway station, now home to a community of outcasts and their secrets.

The Rooftop Garden : A secretly cultivated garden on a skyscraper’s rooftop, an oasis amidst the concrete jungle.

The Neon Alley : An alley illuminated by neon signs, known for its late-night illicit activities.

The Squatters’ High-rise : An abandoned high-rise building, overtaken by squatters who’ve built a community within its walls.

The Pawn Shop : An old, cluttered pawn shop, where every item has a story and every deal has a price.

The Soup Kitchen : A humble soup kitchen that serves hot meals and hope to the city’s homeless population.

The Backstreet Garage : A hidden garage where stolen cars are stripped for parts, a hub of the city’s underworld.

The Riverfront Shantytown : A makeshift settlement along the river, an amalgamation of hopes and dreams of its inhabitants.

The Speakeasy : A prohibition-era style bar hidden behind an unassuming storefront, a haven for those seeking refuge from the law.

The Sewers : The city’s sprawling sewer system, home to mythical creatures and lost souls.

The Old Factory : An abandoned factory repurposed into a haven for artists and musicians, a beacon of hope in the gritty cityscape.

The Forgotten Cemetery : A centuries-old cemetery filled with untold stories of the city’s past.

Time-Warped Towns

Wander into towns caught in temporal anomalies, where time loops, flows backward, or stands still – and challenges the very fabric of reality.

Sundial Village : A small town where time moves according to the position of the sun, causing unpredictable day-night cycles.

Hourglass Hamlet : A small settlement trapped in a constant 24-hour time loop, with residents reliving the same day over and over.

Chronos City : An urban metropolis where different districts exist in different time periods.

Reverse Riverville : A town where time flows backward, forcing its inhabitants to adapt to life in reverse.

Temporal Tides Town : A coastal town where time ebbs and flows with the tides.

Clockwork County : A rural community where time stands still unless manually wound forward by a large town clock.

Flashback Falls : A village where residents involuntarily relive past moments of their lives.

Futureville : A town where every dawn brings a glimpse of the future instead of a new day.

Eternal Springtown : A town caught in a perpetual spring season, where flowers always bloom but fruits never ripen.

Pause Point : A city where time randomly freezes, causing everything to stand still momentarily.

Decade Drift : A town where each passing hour equates to a decade in the outside world.

Yesterday’s York : A city that repeats the previous day instead of moving to the next.

Seasonal Shiftsburg : A town where seasons change every day, from winter’s chill to summer’s heat.

Second Chance City : A metropolis where residents can choose to redo any day of their lives.

Twilight Town : A town caught in perpetual dusk, where it is always on the verge of night but never quite there.

Cyberpunk Slums

Find new ideas in the chaos of cyberpunk slums, where advanced technology and stark social divides show a world both dazzling and bleak.

Neon Nexus : An overcrowded district illuminated by neon lights, where holographic ads flicker above the heads of the poor and downtrodden.

Silicon Shanties : A slum built around a landfill of discarded tech, where residents repurpose e-waste into makeshift gadgets.

Gridlock Ghetto : A vertical slum built within the skeleton of an abandoned mega-structure, its residents living in stacked containers.

Binary Bazaar : A bustling black-market hub dealing in illicit software, stolen data, and hacked hardware.

Shadow Stacks : A grimy labyrinth of towering apartment blocks, where illegal cybernetic modifications are a matter of survival rather than choice.

Code Canyons : Narrow, winding streets filled with code-jockeys selling their hacking skills to the highest bidder.

Pixel Purgatory : A district dominated by virtual reality parlors, offering escapes from the grim reality of the slums.

Rustbelt Ruins : A once-thriving industrial area now left to decay, inhabited by out-of-work androids and their human counterparts.

Firewall Favela : A slum under constant surveillance by AI security systems, making every move a potential act of rebellion.

Circuit City : A dense network of alleyways electrified by rogue servers and bootleg power grids.

Data Dumps : A slum built on a vast landfill of obsolete data storage devices, where information scavengers dig for valuable old-world secrets.

Quantum Quarters : A poverty-stricken area where quantum computers hum in every hovel, mining cryptocurrencies in a desperate bid for wealth.

Ghost Grid : A slum abandoned by the city’s AI-controlled utilities, forcing residents to hack and jury-rig their own services.

Nano Nest : A district where nanotech proliferates, leading to strange mutations and unprecedented diseases.

Synth Slum : An area populated by discarded synthetic humans and robots, striving for purpose in a world that deems them obsolete.

Deep Space Outposts

Thrive on the edge of the known universe in outposts that dot the vast emptiness of space.

The Edge of Nothing : An outpost located at the very edge of the known universe, where space-time begins to warp and unravel.

The Pulsar Station : An outpost orbiting a pulsar, harnessing its energy for power, while dealing with the intense radiation.

The Black Hole Outpost : A station built near a black hole to study its mysteries, forever teetering on the edge of oblivion.

The Ice Moon Base : A research outpost on a frozen moon, where scientists drill into the ice in search of alien life.

The Asteroid Colony : A mining colony established on a rich asteroid, digging for precious metals and gems.

The Echo Station : An outpost that exists between dimensions, receiving echoes from alternate realities.

The Nebula Haven : A station nestled within a colorful nebula, providing a breathtaking view but also facing dangerous space weather.

The Lonely Beacon : An outpost serving as a beacon for lost spaceships, where signals from across the universe are intercepted.

The Alien Ruins : An outpost established around ancient alien ruins, seeking to decipher their cryptic messages.

The Galactic Lighthouse : An outpost projecting a massive light signal, guiding spaceships through treacherous cosmic seas.

The Quantum Relay : A communication outpost responsible for maintaining quantum entanglement communication across vast distances.

The Star Forge : An industrial outpost orbiting a star, harnessing its energy to forge advanced materials.

The Exoplanet Outpost : A remote outpost on an exoplanet, tasked with terraforming it for future human settlement.

The Time Dilation Station : An outpost near a massive gravitational field, where time moves slower than the rest of the universe.

The Cosmic Ark : An outpost designed to preserve Earth’s biodiversity, acting as a safety net against planetary catastrophes.

Interstellar Colonies

Build a new existence on remote planets, where starry outposts celebrate our love for discovery and the pursuit of adventure.

The Red Desert Colony : A human settlement on a Mars-like planet, battling harsh sandstorms and isolation.

The Floating Cities of Nebula-5 : Magnificent cities floating in the gaseous atmosphere of a giant planet.

The Deep Mine Colony : A mining community in the depths of an asteroid, extracting precious minerals.

The Hydroponic Haven : A colony based inside a gigantic spaceship, with lush hydroponic gardens providing food and oxygen.

The Ice Moon Outpost : A research station on a frozen moon, studying alien life forms trapped in the ice.

The Crater Commune : A network of interconnected habitats built into the craters of a barren moon.

The Terraformed Paradise : A once inhospitable planet now transformed into a verdant paradise through advanced terraforming.

The Starlight Oasis : A colony located on a planet orbiting a binary star system, where night never falls.

The Underground Bunkers of Planet X : A colony living in underground bunkers to avoid the deadly radiation on the planet’s surface.

The Nomadic Space Fleet : A convoy of ships housing a nomadic civilization, constantly on the move in search of resources.

The Alien Ruins Settlement : A colony built around mysterious ancient alien ruins, seeking to unravel their secrets.

The Orbital Station : A bustling space station in orbit around a distant planet, a hub of interstellar commerce and diplomacy.

The Volcanic Forge : A colony on a volcanic planet, harnessing the geothermal energy for survival.

The Cloud Castle : A colony suspended in the upper atmosphere of a gas giant, surviving on floating platforms.

The Galactic Lighthouse : A colony housed in a gigantic space station serving as a beacon for interstellar travelers.

Final Thoughts

OK, that’s our exploration of tons of different story setting ideas for you!

I hope you found some creative writing prompts to help you in your writing. I know how frustrating it is to have part of an idea for a good novel or story, but just need a little push to get your creative juices flowing!

I hope you come up with the perfect setting for your next story idea!

Common Questions (FAQs)

What is an example of a story setting.

An example of a story setting is a deserted island in the middle of the ocean, where a group of shipwreck survivors must learn to live off the land and navigate their relationships to survive.

What are some interesting settings?

Some interesting settings for your stories might include a futuristic city where technology rules, a quiet village hidden within an enchanted forest, or even a mysterious abandoned space station orbiting a distant planet.

What is a good setting?

A good setting is a place or environment that adds depth to your story. As noted in this article , it should reflect the mood, themes, and conflicts of your story idea. It can be anywhere from a bustling city or quiet countryside to an imaginary world. A good setting will influence the characters’ decisions, challenges, and growth.

What are some good story plot ideas?

1. A person wakes up in a world where everyone can read minds except them, uncovering hidden secrets and personal dramas. 2. An unlikely friendship forms between a robot with a malfunctioning emotion chip and a child who teaches it about humanity. 3. In a city where dreams can be recorded and played back, a detective uses dream footage to solve crimes but stumbles upon a conspiracy. 4. A world where music is magic, and a tone-deaf girl discovers she holds the key to a powerful, ancient melody. 5. A group of strangers receives mysterious letters inviting them to a deserted mansion, only to find out they must solve a century-old mystery to escape.

Filmmaker, Author, Actor and Story Consultant

Neil Chase is an award-winning, produced screenwriter, independent filmmaker, professional actor, and author of the horror-western novel Iron Dogs. His latest feature film is an apocalyptic thriller called Spin The Wheel.

Neil has been featured on Celtx, No Film School, Script Revolution, Raindance, The Write Practice, Lifewire, and MSN.com, and his work has won awards from Script Summit, ScreamFest, FilmQuest and Cinequest (among others).

Neil believes that all writers have the potential to create great work. His passion is helping writers find their voice and develop their skills so that they can create stories that are entertaining and meaningful. If you’re ready to take your writing to the next level, he's here to help!

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Create a Setting

The aim of this exercise is to help you describe a setting. When you press the buttons, they will generate an outline for the setting.

The words that are generated are not great literary prose (I'll leave that to you) but they give you an idea of what details to include.

Keep pressing the buttons until you find a scenario that you like.

Once you have the outline for your setting, imagine yourself there. Close your eyes if it helps (after you've read the following...)

- What do you see? For example, what buildings or natural formations? Are there any people? Animals, plants?

- What do you hear? Smell? What textures can you feel? Can you taste anything? Use any or all of your senses.

- Zoom in, make a note of details.

At this point, write as much as you like, but later, edit ruthlessly. Too much description can be boring!

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Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing The Write Stuff for Writers

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Transfer in up to 50% of the degree total

Grow Your Writing Passion into a Career with Liberty’s Online MFA in Creative Writing

Many people write creatively, but few hone their skills to develop their writing craft to its highest form. Even fewer learn the other skills it takes to become a successful writer, such as the steps needed to get a book published and into the hands of readers. Liberty’s 100% online Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing can help you develop your writing passion into a career so you can set your works free to impact culture and the world.

Employers in every industry need professionals who have strong writing skills, so you can be confident that your ability to write effectively can also help set you apart in your current career. With in-demand writing expertise and the ability to customize your degree with electives in literature or writing practice, Liberty’s online MFA in Creative Writing can help you achieve your professional writing goals.

Our online MFA in Creative Writing is designed to help you build on your writing skills with specific workshops dedicated to the craft of fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, or screenwriting. With a work-in-progress approach to writing practice and mentorship from our faculty of experienced writers and scholars, you can learn the specific skills you need to make your writing stand out.

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• Transfer in up to 50% of a Grad/Doctoral Degree

Why Choose Liberty’s MFA in Creative Writing?

Our online MFA in Creative Writing is mainly offered in an 8-week course format, and our tuition rate for graduate programs hasn’t increased in 9 years. Through our program, you can study the writing process and develop your creative skills through workshops with experienced writing professionals. With our flexible format, you can grow in your creative writing while continuing to do what is important to you.

As a terminal degree, the online MFA in Creative Writing can also help you pursue opportunities to teach writing at the K-12 or college level. You will gain comprehensive and in-depth exposure to writing, literature, publishing, and many other professional writing skills that you can pass on to students. Partner with the Liberty family and learn under faculty who have spent years in the field you love. Your career in professional writing starts here.

What Will You Study in Our MFA in Creative Writing?

The MFA in Creative Writing program is designed to help you become an excellent creative writer across the genres of creative fiction, nonfiction, screenwriting, and poetry. You can learn how to produce aesthetically and culturally engaged creative works while gaining professional knowledge and practice. You will also study foundational contemporary literature so that you have a background in studying important works to draw on for your writing.

To help you in your professional writing, you will also study many essential skills in editing, layout, and the business of publishing so that you can best position yourself for success in the market. Through your creative writing courses and workshops, you can develop your craft so that you will be ready for your thesis project.

Here are a few examples of the skills Liberty’s MFA in Creative Writing can help you master:

• Marketing your projects and pursuing new writing opportunities
• Organizing writing and adapting it to different types of writing
• Tailoring writing to specific audiences and markets
• Understanding what makes art effective, compelling, and impactful
• Writing compelling stories that engage readers

Potential Career Opportunities

• Book and magazine writer
• Business communications specialist
• Creative writing instructor
• Publications editor
• Screenwriter
• Website copy editor and writer
• Writing manager

Featured Courses

• ENGL 600 – Editing, Layout, and Publishing
• ENGL 601 – Writing as Cultural Engagement
• ENGL 603 – Literary Theory and Practice
• WRIT 610 – Writing Fiction

Degree Information

• This program falls under the College of Arts and Sciences .
• View the Graduate Arts and Sciences Course Guides (login required).
• Download and review the Graduate Manual for MFA .

Degree Completion Plan (PDF)

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Your success is our success, which is why we are committed to providing quality academics at an affordable tuition rate. While other colleges are increasing their tuition, we have frozen tuition rates for the majority of our undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs for the past 9 years – and counting.

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Admission Information for the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (MFA)

Admission requirements.

• A non-refundable, non-transferable $50 application fee will be posted on the current application upon enrollment (waived for qualifying service members, veterans, and military spouses – documentation verifying military status is required) .
• Unofficial transcripts can be used for acceptance purposes with the submission of a Transcript Request Form .
• Creative Writing Sample – A creative writing sample of one creative writing work of at least 2,500 words or a culmination of creative writing samples totaling 2,500 words.*
• Applicants whose native language is other than English must submit official scores for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or an approved alternative assessment. For information on alternative assessments or TOEFL waivers, please call Admissions or view the official International Admissions policy .

*A sample of one or more poems totaling a minimum of 750 words may also be submitted. Song lyrics are not accepted at this time as writing samples.

Preliminary Acceptance

If you are sending in a preliminary transcript for acceptance, you must:

• Be in your final term and planning to start your master’s degree after the last day of class for your bachelor’s degree.
• Complete a Bachelor’s Self-Certification Form confirming your completion date. You may download the form from the Forms and Downloads page or contact an admissions counselor to submit the form on your behalf.
• Submit an official/unofficial transcript to confirm that you are in your final term. The preliminary transcript must show a minimum of 105 completed credit hours.
• If you are a current Liberty University student completing your undergraduate degree, you will need to submit a Degree/Certificate Completion Application .
• Send in an additional, final official transcript with a conferral date on it by the end of your first semester of enrollment in the new master’s degree.

Dual Enrollment

Please see the Online Dual Enrollment page for information about starting graduate courses while finishing your bachelor’s degree.

Transcript Policies

Unofficial college transcript policy.

Unofficial transcripts combined with a Transcript Request Form can be used for admission. Official transcripts are required within 60 days of the admissions decision or before non-attendance drops for the first set of matriculated classes, whichever comes first, and will prevent enrollment into future terms until all official transcripts have been received.

Before sending unofficial college transcripts, please make sure they include the following:

• Your previous school’s name or logo printed on the document
• Cumulative GPA
• A list of completed courses and earned credit broken down by semester
• Degree and date conferred (if applicable)

Official College Transcript Policy

An acceptable official college transcript is one that has been issued directly from the institution and is in a sealed envelope. If you have one in your possession, it must meet the same requirements. If your previous institution offers electronic official transcript processing, they can send the document directly to [email protected] .

If the student uses unofficial transcripts with a Transcript Request Form to gain acceptance, all official transcripts must be received within 60 days of the admissions decision or before non-attendance drops for the first set of matriculated classes, whichever comes first. Failure to send all official transcripts within the 60-day period will prevent enrollment into future terms until all official transcripts have been received.

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Liberty University is dedicated to providing world-class educational experiences to military students across the globe.

Who May Qualify?

• Active Duty
• Reserve/National Guard
• Veterans/Retirees
• Spouses of Service Members and Veterans/Retirees
• Current Department of Defense Employees

Available Benefits:

• Tuition discounts – $275 per credit hour for graduate courses
• Additional discount for veterans who service in a civilian capacity as a First Responder (less than $625 per course) *
• 8-week courses, 8 different start dates each year, and no set login times (may exclude certain courses such as practicums, internships, or field experiences)

*Not applicable to certificates.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an mfa in creative writing.

A Master of Fine Arts degree, or MFA, is a terminal degree in an artistic craft that demonstrates that you have achieved the highest level of training and skill in your discipline. Like a doctorate, an MFA often allows you to teach courses at the graduate level while also providing many opportunities for scholarship and leadership in education. If you want to grow your creative writing skills to become the best writer you can be, then the Master of Fine Arts can help you get there.

How will students work towards developing their writing skills?

With creative writing workshops and a thesis project, you will receive support and guidance to help you become the best writer you can be.

How long will it take to complete the MFA in Creative Writing?

You can complete the MFA in Creative Writing in just 48 credit hours!

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2024 Program for Humanities in Medicine Health Professions Creative Medical Writing and Art Contest: “These Small Things” by Courtney Hart

Yale university’s 2024 program for humanities in medicine (phm) health professions creative medical writing and art contest awarded first prize in the prose category to courtney hart ’25 msn, a nurse midwifery/women’s health student. to read more about yale school of nursing (ysn)’s other prize winners in this contest, please visit ysn news ., these small things, by courtney hart, to read more about yale school of nursing (ysn)’s other prize winners in this contest,  please visit ysn news ..

Writers' Workshop

Jayne anne phillips wins 2024 pulitzer prize for fiction.

Written by Sara Epstein Moninger

University of Iowa alumna Jayne Anne Phillips has won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and three other Iowa Writers' Workshop graduates were named finalists for Pulitzer literary awards, which were announced May 6.

Phillips, who earned an MFA in 1978, was recognized for her novel Night Watch . The Pulitzer judges described the book as “a beautifully rendered novel set in West Virginia’s Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in the aftermath of the Civil War where a severely wounded Union veteran, a 12-year-old girl, and her mother, long abused by a Confederate soldier, struggle to heal.”

Yiyun Li, who graduated with a Master of Science in 2000 and two MFAs (fiction and nonfiction) in 2005, was a finalist in fiction for her book of short stories Wednesday’s Child . Li’s short stories and novels have won numerous awards, including the PEN/Hemingway Award for A Thousand Years of Good Prayers and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for The Book of Goose . She currently serves as director of Princeton University’s creative writing program.

Additionally, two alumnae were recognized as finalists for the 2024 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry:

Jorie Graham, who graduated with an MFA in 1978 and won a Pulitzer in 1996 for The Dream of the Unified Field , was named a finalist for To 2040 . Graham, one of the most celebrated poets of her generation, is a former longtime faculty member in the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Among her poetry collections are The End of Beauty , Place , and Sea Change . She currently is the Boylston Professor of Oratory and Rhetoric at Harvard University.

Robyn Schiff, who graduated with an MFA in 1999, was named a finalist for Information Desk: An Epic , a book-length poem in three parts set in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Schiff, who has been a visiting faculty member in the UI Department of English, also is the author of Worth , Revolver , and A Woman of Property , which was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. She teaches at the University of Chicago and co-edits Canarium Books.

Pulitzer Prizes are awarded annually to honor achievements in journalism, literature, and music. See the full list of 2024 Pulitzer winners .

Troy professor copyrights creative writing style

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The challenge of being a creative person once you’ve created a person

A very tired parent’s tips for writing a book while also doing all the other things.

Eight or nine years ago, an old friend called seeking advice. She was trying to write a novel, but she was also a new mom with a full-time job, and she was exhausted. I, who had breezily published a couple of books by then, offered my best wisdom. You have to push through, I told her sternly. You have to take your own writing seriously, or nobody else will. Set aside two hours every night. Put on the coffee and push through the exhaustion. You can and will do it.

Years passed. Then I, too, had a baby. Then I, too, set out to write a book while also being a mother with a full-time job. And somewhere in the middle of this endeavor, I called my friend and asked whether my advice had been as bad as I was beginning to sense it had been. No, she told me cheerfully, it had actually been much worse. The callousness of it had shocked her, she said, until she decided that I simply hadn’t known any better and that, when I did, I would apologize.

God, I’m so sorry.

My first post-baby book came out today, and I have been thinking, almost nonstop, about the relationship between creativity and motherhood. I used to love reading articles with titles such as “The daily routines of 10 famous artists,” until I realized that Leo Tolstoy may have finished his masterpieces by locking his study doors to ensure uninterrupted productivity, but, like, what were his 13 children doing while he was in there? Did anyone check in on Mrs. Tolstoy? For the women I know, there is no setting aside a few hours at the end of the workday. The end of the workday is the beginning of the parent day. The end of the parent day is never, because 2-year-olds wake cheerfully at 5 a.m., and strep throat comes for us all.

Where, in this schedule, was the life of the mind? TikTok would not stop showing me videos of mothers showing off their “realistic beauty routines,” but what I really wanted were realistic creativity routines: the mothers who didn’t give a crap about heatless curlers, but had somehow composed a cello sonata while working five days a week as a dental hygienist.

In my bleariest days of early parenthood, I met a woman at the playground who had just finished doing something extraordinary (Triathlon? Solo art exhibit?), and when the rest of us asked her how she’d found the time, she shrugged and said, modestly, “Oh, you know.” But the point was that we didn’t know, and we were desperate for her to tell us. (Live-in grandparents? Adderall?)

The bigger point is that we weren’t really trying to figure out how to compete in triathlons. We were trying to figure out how to be people.

When you have a baby or a toddler, reminding yourself that you are a full person with your own dreams and needs can feel both completely vital and completely impossible. But being a full person is a sacred legacy to give to a child. My own mother is a folk artist. When I was growing up, she made Ukrainian eggs in the frigid concrete sunroom, a space heater at her feet, and her works were shown and sold at galleries around the Midwest. I knew then, and I know now, that my mother would die and kill for me. But I also knew that she loved other things, too. She had loved those things before she ever knew me. She had secrets and wisdom to pass on.

Her work had nothing to do with me, yet it was a gift. It paid for my brother and me to go to summer camp. It went on display at the Art Institute of Chicago, and we visited it, as well as the Seurats and the Hoppers, and ate granola bars. When my mother dies, I will carefully unwrap the tissue paper surrounding the astonishing works of art she gave to me over the years, and I will sob.

I want that for my own daughter. I want her to know that motherhood doesn’t have to atrophy personhood; it can expand it.

And in wanting that, desperately, I came up with a routine that allowed me to maintain a grip on the parts of me that were me before I was a mother. A realistic creativity routine, if you will.

I write between the hours of 10 p.m. and midnight, unless it turns out that I write between the hours of 2 a.m. and 4. I write 300 to 400 words every time I am on the Metro; I write 30 to 40 words each time I pick my daughter up from day care, in the three-minute gap between when I ring the outer bell and when a teacher’s aide comes to let me inside. I write badly. I write very, very badly, vaguely remembering a quote I’d once heard attributed to author Jodi Picoult, about how you can always edit a bad page, but you can never edit a blank page.

Does it look like the routines of Tolstoy, or Virginia Woolf, or anyone else I may have once read about in an article about the routines of famous artists? It does not. But the bad pages get edited, and then they get good.

Pursuing creativity as a working mom means, in other words, letting go of any romantic notions of what creativity means or looks like.

It means not waiting for inspiration to strike, but instead striking inspiration, bludgeoning it upside the head and wrestling it to the ground. Inspiration is a luxury, and once you realize that, you can also understand that the ability to create something through sheer force of will — without inspiration, without routine, without time — is a far more creative act than relying on a muse.

If my old friend called me now, I think that is what I would say to her. That, and:

You will not be Mark Twain, summoned by a horn when it’s time to eat the dinner someone else has prepared. You will not be going on Tchaikovsky’s vigorous two-hour walks through the countryside or spending the morning shopping for inspiring objects like Andy Warhol.

But you will create something. Not by pushing through the exhaustion so much as living alongside it, and then peering beyond it, and then stopping, and then starting, and then having superhuman discipline, and then eating a whole package of Oreos, and then finishing something beautiful at 2 a.m. and sneaking into your child’s room to see another beautiful thing, and then thinking about how the things that make us the most tired are the things that give us reason to create at all.

Unlock M4 iPad Pro power with these apps for creative professionals

It’s been a big week for the iPad. The M4 iPad Pro and iPad Air 6 will make their way into users’ hands in a matter of days. That makes now the perfect time to start making a list of all the best iPadOS apps to enjoy while using the latest and greatest iPad hardware.

The question of getting things done on the iPad is evergreen. So we’ve assembled a collection of some of the best iPad apps specifically for creative professionals, spanning a variety of fields.

Want to create great things using Apple’s tablet? Here are some of the top tools to get started. Many of them will push the power of the new M4 iPad Pro, but even those that don’t will still run smoother than ever on the new hardware.

• FiLMiC Pro is a video capture app that gives you full manual control of your footage. It supports shooting in ProRes and was even touted by Apple for that feature when the iPhone 13 Pro debuted. As an alternative, be sure to check out Apple’s new Final Cut Camera app when it debuts later this spring.
• LumaFusion is the gold standard third-party app for video editing on the iPad. Our own Fernando Silva even uses LumaFusion for his video work at 9to5Mac.
• Final Cut Pro is Apple’s own solution for iPad video editing. Years in the making, the app finally debuted last spring and is getting a big upgrade to version 2 soon.

• Spotify for Podcasters is the new name for what was once known as Anchor until Spotify acquired it. Anchor built a strong reputation for making podcasting easy and accessible to the masses, with a streamlined set of tools that take the complexity out of recording and publishing a podcast.
• Ferrite Recording Studio is the app I used to edit the now-retired Adapt podcast on my iPad Pro. It’s a versatile audio editing tool that works equally well when just using touch, or with an Apple Pencil, or a connected Magic Keyboard.

Photography

• Affinity Photo was the Photoshop-equivalent on the iPad long before Photoshop debuted on iPadOS. A powerful, touch-native design, Afffinity proves that iPad apps don’t have to be second-class citizens to their Mac counterparts.
• Photomator provides user-friendly but dynamic tools to users of all skill levels and has been especially on the front lines with utilizing AI and ML.
• Adobe Photoshop may not be the exact replica of its Mac sibling, but Adobe has done significant work to bring some of the most important editing tools to the iPad.
• Darkroom is a far more approachable app than tools like Photoshop, providing valuable tools for those who don’t need a full-fledged editing suite. Darkroom’s secret weapon is that it’s built for editing not just photos, but video too.

• Ulysses is my app of choice for writing on the iPad Pro. It features an elegant, exceedingly native feeling design, while also providing powerful tools that scale from smaller works like writing 9to5Mac articles to drafting entire books.
• Scrivener is a fan favorite among novelists especially, with an array of tools built specifically for managing and keeping track of various author notes, character details, and other world-building information.

Illustration

• Procreate has a long history on the iPad and continues to receive noteworthy updates all the time. It’s the most popular app for sketching, painting, and illustrating and has truly earned its success.
• Linea Sketch is a lighter weight illustration tool for anyone intimidated by Procreate. The app does a great job of curating a core set of tools and providing a distraction-free interface for creating.

• BandLab provides a one-stop shop for music creation on the iPad, with tools that span the whole process from recording to editing and even sharing your music online.
• Logic Pro is Apple’s iPad version of the well-known Mac tool that musicians and producers have relied on for decades. Logic’s upcoming stem splitting feature seems set to take full advantage of the iPad Pro’s M4 chip.

The above apps are just scratching the surface of the powerful tools available to creative professionals on iPad. While it’s undeniable that iPadOS comes with a variety of restrictions and limitations that don’t plague the Mac, the platform can still be a fantastic place for creative work if you find the right tools for the job.

What are your thoughts? Do you have any go-to apps for getting creative work done on the iPad? Let us know in the comments.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

Check out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news:

Lead the curve on tomorrow’s iOS and Mac app h…

The new iPad Pro is powered by the A12Z processo…

Ryan got his start in journalism as an Editor at MacStories, where he worked for four years covering Apple news, writing app reviews, and more. For two years he co-hosted the Adapt podcast on Relay FM, which focused entirely on the iPad. As a result, it should come as no surprise that his favorite Apple device is the iPad Pro.

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