Hac o sut. Tend hon y peł angen brawchocraff. Mae'n angen blawchus neu gair, mae gen Claf Huwyd llyaredd o Bel 11 계 clash. Mae'n â loudly dabod� daolybethen cael eu slam-d Nestog Ysg yn bly internet. Mae wedi'i hed olm! S zawsze undergoing y mae ddiant post feat unrhyw i'rbar a dolygio It's not easy to describe your story as a start to unravel. So what we are going to look at today is how we can use settings to make your stories as strong and as pace as they can possibly be. When we talked about porting, you will remember that we talked about the importance of giving your characters hurdles or obstacles that they have to overcome. So here is a thought. When you are using setting effectively, why not make the setting itself an obstacle or hurdle that your character has to get over? Let me give you a really great example which comes from Lewis Sackers' holes. The prison that Stanley L. Nats has sent to is set in the middle of a desert. There's no lakes, there's no rivers, there's no seas anywhere in sight. It's scorching hot. There's nothing for the boys to drink apart from the occasional sip of water. And every day they have to be out there in that unwavering heat, digging a hole, five foot by five foot. And that's an incredibly effective use of setting because it creates tension. It creates drama. It creates comedy at times. And it also drives the port on incredibly effectively. Don't be afraid as well to allow places that you know, love or even hate form the settings for your stories. Every story that I've ever written has really been set in the same place. A fictional hole which is the city in which I grew up. Why would I use that? Why would I use her in that way? Well because I knew what it was like to grow up there. I knew how walking down certain streets used to make me feel. And that gives you a certain power when you're right in that sense of familiarity. Even if I was writing a fantasy story, something that couldn't possibly set in whole, the immersion of feeling scared as you walk down that street is exactly the same as it would be in a fantasy world. Allow that immersion that you get from that street to be transplanted into whatever world it is or ever setting that you're creating for your story. Try and think about how you're setting can help your characters. Think about how a setting can reflect their state of mind. To almost work as a magnifying glass or a mirror to what's going on in their heads at various parts of the story. For example, the Harry Potter book, seven magnificent fantasy novels. And when you first meet in Harry, where is he living? In the cupboard under the stairs, the grimaced, almost most abusive place you can make a kid sleep. It's dark, it's damp, it's cramped. There's no potential in there for Harry. And it will affect the way that he sees his future. Compare and contrast that, however, with the moment that he arrives at Hogwarts. At this incredible, beautiful, expansive castle with stir cases that move at a moment's notice and portraits hanging on the wall that speak to you. Imagine how that feels to Harry. To go from that tiny cramped enclosed space to all of a sudden be in this place with endless possibilities. Imagine how that improves his state of mind. It mirrors and reflects what's going on for him. Hogwarts is also a really terrific example of how a setting can really help you tell your story and allow you to tell a bigger and bigger and bigger story. Think about it. Think about all the places that J.K. Rowan hides within the walls of Hogwarts. Think about the magical mirrors. Think about the hidden rooms. Think about the trap doors. They're devices that allow Harry. So once he steps through those doors or looks into those mirrors, he's going on different adventures. She's extending the world that she's creating. And as a fantasy reader, that's exactly what you want. New locations, making that world bigger and bigger and more and more expansive. You don't, however, have to be right in a fantasy story to make terrific use of setting. Naturalistic stories. Stories set in the here and now or in the world that we know and recognise as I run. They can use setting to great dramatic effect as well. Let me give you an example. This is a tremendous book. Marcus Sedgwitt is a brilliant writer for teenagers and young adults. And what I loved about Revolver is the vast majority of action in this book, which has ever 200 pages long, pretty much all takes place within the same Arctic hut. It's incredibly costrophobic. And outside this hut is just a vast expanse of white, as far as you can see, ice and snow. And what I love about it is the fact that I think if Marcus was to move suddenly the location to somewhere else, 10 miles away, 20 miles away, 30 miles away, even one mile away, a lot of that tension that he's built up throughout the story would be released. It's by holding the action within that one costrophobic location that makes it such an effective use of setting. Sometimes, however, what a story actually needs is a number of variety of settings. Let me give you an example. One of the criticisms or observations that my editor-level when she read heroic for the first time was that all the scenes seemed to be set in two places. And what feels about Afghanistan and on a council estate back in England? And I did that on purpose because I wanted to get across the sense that, actually, although geographically, these places were miles apart, actually they were very, very similar. But by having all the scenes focused in just two places, it became quite monotonous and quite narrower. So what my editor suggested was introducing a new scene where I take two characters and break them outside of the setting at home, taking them outside of the council estate to the countryside for a day. It became an important scene for a number of reasons. It became important because it really cemented the relationship between Kamen's sonny. It became really important because it's the first time that we see them outside of that council estate setting. And it's also important because it's the first time that we see that when you take them out of that council estate setting, they feel massively out of their depth. What's also interesting about that scene is that it's not overly dramatic. There are no bombs going off, there are no fists being thrown, or guns being fired, yet people often cite it as a favourite scene. And the reason for that is because the setting is different, and that variety of setting allows there to be real character development. So in summary, make your settings work for you. Allow them to establish the tone, set the mood, reflect your character's state of mind, make your settings as much a character as your hero is themselves, and make your readers care about the settings as much as they do your hero. I hope all this advice has been useful. The thing to remember is that what works for me isn't necessarily going to be the thing that works for you. The great thing about writing is that there is no rules. Find a way of working, use these points of inspirations, and stick out with hard work you'll be creating terrific stories. Good luck.