Understanding the importance of setting for a story is easy. If you were to plan what might be the most romantic moment of your life–say, the moment you ask the person you love to marry you–where would you plan to be? Taking an evening stroll on a Caribbean beach? Seated at a candlelit table in a quiet, beautiful restaurant? Sweating in the front seat of a Chevy Nova in five o;clock traffic, the Beastie Boys in the table deck? Holding a super sized Hefty bag full of empty beer cans the morning after the Super Bowl party? Most of us know which of these places we would choose because we know, even without considering how, that thee is a link between the meaning of events and where and when those events occur. Continue reading