Depth of Field: Two Ways to Write Setting

REGISTER NOW    $25 | Fiction, Nonfiction

Learn to refine setting in fiction or nonfiction using observation and memory skills.

Setting may seem like an afterthought, but it’s the key to grounding a reader in geography and in emotion. Learn, think about and practice two strategies of writing setting, in order to create the fullest, most powerful setting for your fiction or nonfiction. 

Writing setting from observation is connected to judgment (or lack thereof) and fact. Writing setting from memory is connected to emotion and also your truth—what you remember and how it felt and what it looked like, all filtered through you and your lived experience. And sometimes setting can only be refined and understood in revision.

Sherrie will lead you through a series of written examples and break down how to write setting, using a combination of observation and memory, with brief exercises that can be practiced beyond the session.

In this webinar you will…

• EXPLORE how observation and research help in the writing of setting
• PRACTICE observation skills based on Chekhov’s theory of writing without judgment
• CONSIDER the tone of a setting written from memory

This webinar is ideal for writers who want to learn how to write more complex and nuanced setting in their prose work–fiction or nonfiction.

Closed captioning is available ✔
All registrants receive the recording ✔

YOUR PRESENTER

Sherrie Flick received a 2023 Creative Development Grant from the Heinz Endowments and a Writing Pittsburgh fellowship from the Creative Nonfiction Foundation. Her debut essay collection, Homing: Instincts of a Rustbelt Feminist was published by University of Nebraska Press in September 2024 as part of their American Lives series. Her other works include Thank Your Lucky Stars: Short Stories, Whiskey, Etc.: Short (Short) Stories, and Reconsidering Happiness: A Novel. Autumn House Press will publish her third story collection, I Have Not Considered Consequences, in April 2025. She will serve as the 2025 McGee Distinguished Professor in Creative Writing at Davidson College.

Questions? Please email info@craft-talks.com