Setting is so critical to any work of fiction. Today I am starting a series of posts on setting and how to use to it effectively to:

• set mood/ create emotion
• assist in characterization
• add unique, memorable elements to action scenes

The first thing any writer probably thinks of, when they think about setting, is its connection to mood. That is so obvious (and critical to manage well!)

We all know a “dark and stormy night” helps craft a suspenseful and tense atmosphere. We all know that “once upon a time” is the time long ago when magic happens and fairies abound.

I’d like to highlight here one of my favorite examples of using setting to create atmosphere: the Lord of the Rings, Middle Earth, and, especially, the Shire.

We are introduced to the Shire at the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring, both in the novels and in Peter Jackson’s films (after Jackson’s EPIC introduction about the crafting of the great rings, of course).

We quickly come to understand that the Shire is not only idyllic and innocent–green and bright, full of life, community, and friendship–but that it is something of an island in the midst of a world in some kind of trouble.

Hobbits are isolated. Therefore, the Shire, with all it childhood innocence, is isolated.

We come to understand two things very quickly: that the light and brightness of the Shire are threatened somehow, threatened by dark things we don’t quite understand, and that the Shire is worth saving.

The Shire MUST be saved, for what it represents: nature, freedom, childhood, joy, innocence, goodness.

HOME. The Shire is the HOME that we all long for in our heart.

The connection that Tolkien and Jackson (Jackson with the assistance of a playful, joyful score by Howard Shore that I could not praise enough if I tried) build between the audience and the Shire is real.

As the story progresses, our love for the Shire provides a foundation on which to relate to and sympathize with the hobbits of the Fellowship, especially Sam and Frodo.

The Shire is SO powerful as a setting that it truly becomes a character in its own right. (I wish I knew where I had first read that, so I could credit it. It’s so true!) I almost wanted to call the Shire a MacGuffin, but the point of a MacGuffin is that it doesn’t really matter what the MacGuffin is.

The Shire, per se, matters very much. We care about the Shire for its own sake. The Shire MUST be saved. As Dorothy Gale knows (not just the hobbits), there’s no place like home!