163. Learn How to Craft Settings that Hook Readers

“This class is really for those who care about tone, character, genre, and the emotional resonance of your story.”

In this How To Write the Future episode, titled “Learn How to Craft Settings that Hook Readers,” host Beth Barany shares about the upcoming exciting class she’s teaching as part of Sue Brown Moore’s HEA Sessions called “Settings That Hook Your Readers” where she’ll dive into teaching a 90-minute hands-on training for character driven fiction writers.

Beth will provide you with the tools you need to help revise with clarity, find the value of setting in your story, and use it with intention. Register by July 31, 2025, 10pm Pacific here: https://bethbarany.com/heasetting2025/ [Affiliate link]

ABOUT BETH BARANY

Beth Barany, an award-winning fantasy and science fiction novelist, teaches novelists how to write, edit, and publish their books as a coach, teacher, consultant, and developmental editor.

RESOURCES

Settings that Hook Readers: An HEA Sessions August Workshop

https://bethbarany.com/heasetting2025/ [Affiliate Link]

FOR CREATIVE WRITING PROFESSIONALS - BUILD YOUR BUSINESS SERVING WRITERS

Sign up to be notified when our training opens and get a short Creative Business Style Quiz to help you create success.

https://bethbarany.com/apprenticeship/

Support our work for creatives!

Buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/bethbarany

GET HELP WITH YOUR WORLD BUILDING - START HERE

Free World Building Workbook for Fiction Writers: https://writersfunzone.com/blog/world-building-resources/

GET SOME FREE WRITING COACHING LIVE ON THE PODCAST

Sign up for the 30-minute Story Success Clinic with Beth Barany: https://writersfunzone.com/blog/story-success-clinic/

GET SUPPORT FOR YOUR FICTION WRITING BY A NOVELIST AND WRITING TEACHER AND COACH

Schedule an exploratory call here and see if Beth can support you today: https://writersfunzone.com/blog/discovery-call/

• SHOW PRODUCTION BY Beth Barany
• SHOW CO-PRODUCTION + NOTES by Kerry-Ann McDade
• EDITORIAL ASSISTANCE by Iman Llompart

c. 2025 BETH BARANY

https://bethbarany.com/

--
CONNECT
Contact Beth: https://writersfunzone.com/blog/podcast/#tve-jump-185b4422580
Email: beth@bethbarany.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bethbarany/

CREDITS
EDITED WITH DESCRIPT: https://get.descript.com/0clwwvlf6e3j
MUSIC: Uppbeat.io
DISTRIBUTED BY BUZZSPROUT: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1994465

Transcript

163. Learn How to Craft Settings that Hook Readers

Introduction and Podcast Milestone

BETH BARANY: Hey everyone. Beth Barany here with How to Write the Future Podcast. 

[00:04] Exciting New Class Announcement

BETH BARANY: I'm feeling all interior introverted today because I am deep in the final stages of putting together a class I am really excited to tell you all about --if you've been a listener of this podcast, and it's been three years now. So shout out to doing three years of this podcast,then you know I am passionate about world building and one of the most tangible forms of world building is putting attention on your story's setting. So science fiction and fantasy authors, this is for you especially, and it's for all fiction writers. If you are writing a character driven story, then your setting is viewed from the point of view of your character. 

[00:50] Class Details and Enrollment Information

BETH BARANY: So I have been deep in putting the final touches on this class that I'll be teaching in about a week or so at this recording. and I am making an episode because there's just a few more days that you can sign up for this class, and then after that, it goes into an evergreen mode.

So hopefully the links that are related to this podcast episode, you'll be able to find it even if it's after a few weeks after release date. So this should be going up on July 28th and the closing date for this course that I'll be offering on setting is July 31st.

So I wanna tell you a little bit about it because I'm really excited about it and I wanna get back to it and putting the finishing touches on this course.

I'm not doing this course alone. I actually was invited as a writing teacher to teach this in Sue Brown Moore's,world. She is a writing teacher and a writing coach, and a fabulous editor. And now she primarily teaches and coaches writers. And so she invited me and another writing teacher to come teach this summer in her HEA sessions.

That's HEA, stands for Happily Ever After because her primary audience is romance authors. And it's also anyone who writes a character driven story. And that's my audience as well. I primarily focus on science fiction and fantasy, especially character driven stories. 

[02:17] Teaching Approach and Class Benefits

BETH BARANY: So I wanna tell you a little bit about this class: Settings That Hook Your Readers. Now, this is a 90 minute hands-on training for character driven fiction writers. It's not really meant for beginners, really, for intermediate and advanced writers.

So beginners, don't worry. I have a resource for you at the end of today's episode. So I just wanna let you know that when I work with writers, and I am a developmental editor slash teacher and coach. So I only edit people's work, who I also coach and do teaching with.

I know that working with these writers, they want their stories to feel really vivid and immersive, but often settings get brushed aside. People just do placeholders for their settings. And I'm often saying to my clients, ah, please, more specifics, more sensory details. I want this to feel alive. I want it to feel connected to the story.

A lot of advice out there will say, just like that, add more sensory detail. But what I do with my clients and what I'm gonna do in this class is show you how to make it really relevant and connected to your story, to your characters, to the point of view character, and to, to your plot as well.

[03:32] Hands-On Workshop and Practical Techniques

BETH BARANY: So I'm gonna be doing a deep dive, a practical dive into your setting where we are going to connect craft with the emotional heart of your story and the experience of your reader.

So I really recommend this class. If you wanna create a rich, immersive world without writing paragraphs upon paragraphs of description, we don't want that. I don't teach that. Nobody wants to read that. We want to imbue setting into our story as everything is happening, as the plot is happening. This class is really for those who care about tone, character, genre, and the emotional resonance of your story.

You want tools to help you revise with clarity, not so you have to guess. And you already understand that setting is more than scenery.

So if you are that kind of writer and you wanna create rich, immersive worlds, then this is what we're gonna do.

We're gonna explore: what is the value of setting in your story? And how do you use it with intention? And there's multiple layers of that we'll go over.

 We're gonna talk about, here's the thing. You're gonna bring to class the opening paragraph, like four to six sentences of the opening of your story, and we're gonna use that to work with during the workshop. This is my favorite way of teaching, is to have you invite you, the writer, to work on your own material as we work through the class 'cause I believe, and this is just my life experience, is I have a hard time learning from books.

But if you take my manuscript and you point out to me how it can improve and you rewrite some of my sentences. Wow. All of a sudden it makes so much more sense because I'm emotionally connected to the my own story and watching how other people view my story and might rewrite bits of it taught me so much over the years, helped me see that there's other ways that I could approach things, and it allowed me to create just a huge, huge palette of options.

And this is what I'm gonna do for you.

So we're gonna evaluate the opening of your story through the lens of time, place, genre, and character, your character.

In fact, we're gonna go into your character's worldview and emotional filter and notice how that will affect how they view and take in the setting.

Plus, I'm gonna talk about some practical framing techniques that come from cinema from movie making, the wide, the medium, and the closeup to control pacing and mood. And then we're gonna do some guided exercises to help you specifically revise and enhance your opening scenes, and hopefully you'll walk away from the class having real skills that you can apply to the rest of your book.

This is a hands-on class. It's really for people in revisions. So if you're working on your first draft, awesome. Please keep working on your first draft. Do not stop to revise. That's my opinion. It's hard to revise something that is half done, so keep going. Keep daydreaming, keep writing and keep going.

This material and a lot of the things that I do are for writers who are ready to revise. And maybe you've even done some revisions. So you're gonna have time in this class to apply what you've learned, to think, to chat, to share, to work.

[06:58] Registration and Additional Resources

BETH BARANY: Now registration is still open. Hopefully there's still some spots left. Sue, who's my host for this class, told me there are still some spots. Be sure to check out the link on the screen or in the show notes, or on the blog post and register for this class. And there is a wonderful upgrade. If you want in-depth help, we have a three week cohort upgrade. and you will see that information when you register.

And just so you know, there's a two step registration process if you want to come into the cohort. First you register for the 90 minute class on setting. Then you register for the cohort. I'm really excited to see you in class .

[07:39] World Building Workbookz

BETH BARANY: And for those of you who are still in the early stages of your novel and you want help with the basics of world building and you're writing your first draft and maybe you're brainstorming or you just started revisions and you're still trying to get the lay of the land, then I highly recommend that you check out my World Building Workbook for Fiction Writers. This will give you some starting points to envision your story world. And it's a workbook, a digital workbook. You can download it and I really design it to give you a guideline, a roadmap to get you started on your world building. 

[08:14] Personal Coaching and Final Thoughts

BETH BARANY: And lastly, if you want customized, individualized support from me that is really designed for you and your book and where you are in your process, I coach writers and I have a few openings right now. You are welcome to come in for a discovery call and let's talk. I'd love to talk to you if what you see on my podcast and hear is right for you and you think I would be a good fit, please come and talk to me. I love working with writers. This is my life passion.

[08:44] Celebrating Milestones and Conclusion

BETH BARANY: It is three year anniversary of my podcast, How to Write the Future , Tips for Writers. I'm still very passionate about the podcast and it's also the 19th anniversary of my business. I've been running this business for 19 years, helping writers. I'm still super passionate about it, and gosh, it's amazing.

It's just amazing to me. I am not only a podcaster, teacher, coach, nonfiction writer. I'm a novelist. I'm a working novelist, y'all. And, I'm deep in it. I love it. And I'm a filmmaker too. Woo-hoo. Which is a whole other story that I've talked about in some previous podcasts, and I'm sure I will talk about in future podcasts.

That's it for this week, everyone. Write long and prosper. That's a wrap. Okay.