The Pattern of Place

By Cynthia Light Brown

Places are not always what we would expect.

I am in the Yunque Rainforest of Puerto Rico right now, on my last night of vacation. (Note: I wrote this on Tuesday and I'm just uploading now.) I think of woods as being quiet places. Maybe a bit of noise at night from an occasional frog. It’s cities that are noisy places.

Ha! If you’ve been in a rainforest – at least a tropical one – you know that they are one of the noisiest places on earth at night. Right now we are high above a swollen stream. Full from a rainstorm this morning, it plunges down the mountainside. The stream of last night has gone from chattering to a heated, loud argument. 

But it is nothing compared with the animals, especially the coqui. The coqui is tiny, as big as your thumb. It is being studied to understand how it can make such a loud noise.

The stream and frogs are a kind of white noise, regular, but the loudest white noise I’ve ever heard. In Pennsylvania, we are wakened by the birds. In the tropics, we are wakened by the quiet.

And I’m hearing all of this because, since there’s no air conditioning, our door to the balcony is open. No air conditioning, because it’s not needed. I wore a sweater this evening when we went to dinner. In July. In the tropics. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh is having a heat wave.

Look closely at the bananas. Which way are they growing? Is that a surprise to you? Would it be to your character?

What are some of the patterns of the place in your writing? Here are a few questions to ask yourself.

• What and when are the noises? Are they regular, staccato, fluid? Do they blend into the background? How does your character feel about the noises?
• What is the temperature, humidity, rain? Does it change much between day and night? Seasons?
• Smells? Use a light touch here – don’t have a smell every other page, but smells are evocative and can set a scene.
• What is the light like? The sky; can you see it, does it have a presence? Here in the rainforest you can barely see the sky, but at the shore a few miles away you can hardly see anything else. Cities are like rainforests that way; you hardly see the sky, but in a city you hardly see the earth either.
• Do you see anything unusual in your setting? Would anything stand out to your character? How do they feel in your setting; at home, or out of place, or maybe both?

  

  I felt like I was a miniature fairy in undr these giant leaves.

• Touch; what does the air feel like? Sticky? Is it clean to breathe? Do people keep to themselves, arms folded, or are they open, hugging?

What's the detail in your setting that stands out?

It’s the details that tell the reader the pattern of your place, give it fullness.

Understanding Place by Kitty Griffin

The Cliffs of Moher, Ireland

I chose this picture I took in Ireland because I was talking with someone about setting and place in our stories.

I taught an on-line kid's writing class and this was an exercise that we did.

Four books were presented to the students, everyone had to read Cynthia Rylant's book, "The Islander."

Then they could chose to read one of the following:

Gary Paulson  "The Island"

John Rowe Townsend "The Islanders"

Gordon Korman "Island"

I suppose by now you notice a theme going on, that's right, ISLANDS.

After reading the two books, students were to create their own island. They had to decide where to put it, in a lake, a river, or an ocean. They could choose the shape and geographical features.

It was their island to own.

I wanted them to get to know their island before they put any people. We spent time going over descriptions and drawing maps.

Once that was done we began to talk about story possibilities. What I wanted them to examine was how does being confined on an island impact on story?

What surprised me was doing the assignment along with my students and really enjoying myself. It made me think long and hard about place.

I recommend all four books, although the Townsend one may be hard to find.

If you don't have time for that, just pick up a pencil and get a blank sheet of paper and make your own island.

What comes out just might surprise you!