Playing With Setting

I visited a furniture store last weekend.  Why?  This particular store is one of my hubby's favorites.  What he doesn't realize is that it's one of the best places not only to inspire setting but also to jump into characters.  I shall endeavor to explain.

There is a particular table I spotted for my sun room.  My hubby was quick to point out that we don't have a sun room.  "Not yet," I replied. 

He didn't understand that the fact that I saw the table installed a sun room in the world in my head. 

I pictured a kaleidoscope of colors being cast through to the ground.  I was seated on a comfortable chair at the lovely table, sipping pink lemonade, or wait, it was peach iced tea.  I propped my feet up on an adjacent chair, flirted with a perfect stranger, and spared a glance at my swimming pool. (No pool.  We're in Nebraska.) 

There was a draft, but wait, that means the sun room just became an enclosed porch with screens.  The winds picked up.  The trees were suddenly swaying.  A crash of thunder indicated that a storm was coming.  My heart was beating faster.  Huge clouds floated overhead, dark, threatening.  The skies were overcast, snuffing my mood, stealing the sun.

All this from looking at a table.  I no longer wanted it.  My perception as a human was altered.  So I played a game.  What if I were an animal?  What would a dog do?

Why a dog?  I've always been an animal lover, and I like including them in my writing.  It's important to make them real, to feel what they feel.

In the animal kingdom female dogs are dominant.  Surely such a sophisticated creature would not play an adequate role here.  No, so I became a male dog, slightly pudgy, hairy, and filthy from playing outside.  I proceeded to run around the table caking the legs with mud.  The thunder scared me.  I whined, humped my human's leg to get attention, hid under the table, made a puddle.  The humans hurried to clean it up.  They petted my head for being vulnerable and adorable.  They took me inside, fed me a treat, and rubbed my belly until the storm was gone.

I like the table.  From a dog's perspective, it brought my sun back. 

Setting is a powerful thing.  It can affect our moods or illustrated them.  The clouds can emphasize the fact that we're angry or sad.  The sunshine can show the world that we're overjoyed or successful.  The elements as well as our surroundings can help create the mood.  Just my thoughts for the day.

I'm up to a point in my WIP where I strongly focus on my hero.  I want the world to know his soul the way I do.  In order to achieve this, tomorrow I'm going to spend the day pretending I'm a man.  Eccentric?  You betcha, but oh so fun.

Have a great day...^-^....