Setting vs Character (Writing Advice)

Learn how to write settings that effectively challenge your characters. With examples from Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Top Gun, The Batman, and more!
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[@TimRG]

I've always been a fan of in Enemy Territory setting. It's a great way not just to challenge your characters but to show characterization.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Yep, it's a classic fish-outta-water scenario with naturally high stakes. Really can't go wrong if you're looking to create conflict in a story

[@JustLooseMe]

I once did a presentation for a group of upcoming Authors about the topic of Antagonists. I took LotR as an example of how an environment can help deliver the sense of Power and inflience of the Antagonist. My point was, even though we dont see Sauron. Even though he doesnt feel like a fleshed out character if you only read/watch the trilogy. Everything about Middle Earth gets more and more hostile the further the heroes walk. We start in a little paradise, walk through a hostile mine, come to Rohan where the beautiful green grass turns more into a steppe, then through the Swamp, to the black gate and finally Mordor. Every step feels more dangerous and makes clear what the Hobbits sacrificed/ are used to in comparison to tje rest of the world.

[@user-bj8gh6vq5m]

Major props for including Bone Tomahawk. Such a hidden gem

[@steveshea9448]

I loved the setting of the adventure film "The Abyss," which combined the psychological (MC's relationship with ex-wife) with dangers and (very specific) visual challenges of existing at depth in the ocean. Probably my favorite adventure film, and it has a nice sci-fi angle to it as well.

[@ellennewth6305]

Great vlog, Brandon! I am partial to the settings faced by the characters in William Goldman's "The Princess Bride." From the "Cliffs of Insanity" to the "Rodents of Unusual Size," this book/film offers fantastic challenges for our heroes to overcome.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Good call! It's been a while since I watched TPB but the settings do indeed stand out and challenge the characters in memorable ways

[@DarinMcGrew]

The setting that comes to mind is the desert in the original The Flight of the Phoenix. The desert forces the characters to engineer an escape rather than wait to be rescued, plus it hinders their efforts to engineer their escape.

[@galfisk]

I love The Martian. So many things go wrong (especially in the book), yet clever characters manage to solve or work around every obstacle. I also love the classic video game Day of the Tentacle. Three characters stuck in the same place but with 200 years between each must save the future by changing the past, often in hilarious ways.

[@12thDecember]

Not sure if it's my favorite but it's the first one that comes to mind. Alien, where Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) has to navigate the complicated interior of a familiar spacecraft that has now become dangerous because she has to find and destroy the alien hiding in it.

[@Xobik1]

Back to the future saga and racing against time in a different time period to fix the timeline is always a great setting too.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

What's your favorite setting that challenges a character? Let us know!

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

@TheStinkyPoopooHeadz Cool, best of luck with the worldbuilding!

[@EdwardEly]

All of the settings in "Interstellar" could combine to create their own cast of characters.

[@jesusromanpadro3853]

The movie The Thing has many obstacles: the snow desert, being far away from civilization, the incoming storm, not being able to communicate by radio, the paranoia caused because the monsters can duplicate anyone, and, of course, the thing(s).

[@Xobik1]

The Dark Tower. The time damaged give us a ruined word and a crazy setting with crazy guys, monsters, deseases, wizards, crazy trains, doors to other worlds and, in the center of everything, The Dark Tower waiting for us.

[@Anonymous-bp5ix]

Wuthering Heights: Emily Bronte exploits a setting of two estates, 4 miles apart, in the 18th century - to bring out the worst, and best, of two families (and their servants).

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Still need to read that one. I liked Charlotte Bronte's book Jane Eyre way more than I thought I would. Is Emily's style similar

[@Anonymous-bp5ix]

@@WriterBrandonMcNulty Yes, similar, maybe darker.

[@alisongood9572]

Brandon, your videos are the best!

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Thrilled to hear it!

[@SyroNagashi]

I don’t have a favorite setting that challenges a character, but great video. It might help me in the future

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Thanks for watching!

[@Xobik1]

Peter V. Brett created a great setting with Demon Cycle. At day war between humans, at night war between humans and demons.

[@samriddhinayak5675]

Thank you.😃👍

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Sure thing! Hope it helps with your revenge story

[@OuterEastLLC]

Thanks again for your great ideas and insight. (Subscribed btw)

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Thanks for the kind words!

[@thegreatmarondraith8741]

Bone Tomahawk is the shit!

[@philjohnson1744]

I get tired of films that revolve around the plot device of; there is always another obstacle behind the one you just solved. Frenetic pacing.

[@LarryThePhotoGuy]

Just about any novel by Andre Norton. In her "Witch World" series and her "Forerunner" series, heroes and heroines face obstacles galore from impossible terrain to ancient magic to ancient alien machines left running. Her fictional worlds are fully realized and deadly danger lurks around every corner. FUN STUFF!!

[@EH23831]

The Hunger Games is a good example…😊 And Jurassic Park

[@Xobik1]

Westeros and Essos are two different continents with a lot of dangerous people. It is like if you cannot ride your horse without taking the risk of being robbed, killed or raped by a bunch of soldiers at the service of the guy who is winning the war at that precise moment.

[@PhoenixCrown]

Sci-fi does dangerous settings well, cuz outer space...

[@805Franco]

"Don't go into the long grass!"

[@Xobik1]

Guardians of Galaxy vol. 2. Ego was a powerful enemy that is a true planet... with a penis so he can make Quills.

[@davebeveridge3314]

Jumanji

[@chriswest8389]

At least it wasn't by a giant blamonge.