Discussion Questions for Setting

Setting is a pretty important aspect of my writing, but I personally don’t think it’s always needed. What needs to be understood when writing is that everything must have a reason for being there. If you’re writing a detailed setting just because you believe the reader needs to know exactly what the place looks like, you’re wasting your audience’s time. Of course setting is not always the physical place, but it still applies. If those details don’t help your story, there is no reason for it. Sometimes I leave out the physical setting because all that is important is the interaction between the characters. Most of the time, I leave the setting very vague and let the reader building the setting in their own mind. This is because the reader will pull from their personal life, or from things they enjoy, thus making it more comfortable for the reader. The reason I do this is because, as a wise woman once told me, “You write what you want to read.” 

Shanty for the Arethusa 

The Decemberists

 

We set to sail on a packet full of spice, rum, and tea leaves
We've emptied out all the bars and the bowery hotels
Tell your daughters, do not walk the streets alone tonight
Tell your daughters, do not walk the streets alone tonight

To tell the tale of the Jewess and the Mandarin Chinese boy
He led her down from her gilded canopy of cloth
And through her blindfold she could make out the figures there before her
And how the air was thick with incense, cardamom, and myrrh

So goodnight, boys, goodnight
Say goodnight, boys, goodnight

We set to sail on the clipper that's bound for South Australia
The weather's warm there, the natives are dark and nubile
But if you listen, quiet, you can hear the footsteps on the cross-trees
The ghosts of sailors passed, their spectral bodies clinging to the shrouds

So goodnight, boys, goodnight
Say goodnight, boys, goodnight

To explain this would be a little difficult, as you sort of need to take the Decemberists with a bitten tongue and a grain of salt. A lot of the theories for the song is that it’s pirates raping people, or that it’s about slavery. Others are a bit broader in their theories, saying it was generally how rough the men of the sea were. Overall, you can see that it describes a group of people who may not be too kind getting their just desserts at the end. 

What struck me the most in the lyrics of this song, and which also follows some of Cheatham’s teachings, is the correct use of adjectives. A good example of this from the song would be “gilded canopy of cloth.” Rather than calling it a golden cloth, Colin Meloy uses interesting word choice to make the phrase memorable when read as well as sung. 

Another thing from Cheatham’s teachings that is also in the lyrics is how it engages the five sense. I can smell the spice, rum and tea leaves as well as the incense, cardamom, and myrrh. The fact that the latter is thick in the air makes me think of how my eyes would still slightly and how I couldn’t exactly see through, which was said in the previous line. In those two lines about the products, it also engages your taste, as most often when you can smell something you can taste it in the air. In verse three, we’re told the weather is warm in South Australia, which is touch sensory. We’re told that if we listen quietly we can hear the footsteps on the cross-tress, engaging our ears.  

There are plenty more of Cheatham’s teachings in there and I’m sure I could apply them all somewhere. I’ve only decided to mention those which stuck out to me most and/or were used the most. I’d also like to mention briefly that a lot of the Decemberists songs are able to use these teachings and definitely display strong word choice skills.