WRITE THE SETTING

"The edge of the sea is a strange and beautiful place."
- Rachel Carson

I'm sitting on a picnic table bench at Oceanside Small Craft Harbor. Fishermen are on the L-shaped pier using shrimp, minnows or mussels to hook the "big ones." So far, the biggest catch has been six inches long.

It's not summer though I want it to be. The sky is that scattered blue-white color so often found along the California coast during what we call winter. The sun is warm on my neck but my back is turned away to ward off the cold West wind. I must be a wimp--all around me people, clad in shorts and tank tops, are jogging, pushing strollers and sunbathing while I pull my jacket closer around me.

In front and behind me, I can see private boats and small yachts moored in their spots at wooden docks. Further to the East, when I walk later, I'll find stacks of crab traps near the commercial fishing boats. Scattered among the boats near me are a few that house permanent residents. What would it be like to live on a boat? With my itching foot, I know I'd want to pull anchor and head south to the Sea of Cortez or the resort ports along the Mexican Riviera.

Sea lions have come into this area since I was here last summer. They sun on the rocks protecting the shoreline; I hope they won't be allowed to take over the docks as they have Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. A few small crafts and several sailboats are headed out past the breakwater. Just now a couple of rowboats with crews calling cadence follow the path to the open sea. Coming in from the Pacific are kayaks--the sea has been high and dangerous these past weeks as visioned by the waves crashing over the seawall, so I wonder what the people in those small rubber boats feel when out there.

There's a beach campground across the channel. No tents on the concrete; even if they could be set up the wind from the sea would sweep them away. I've seen a few tent trailers but can imagine that when the wind picks up they will do what Ray and I have had to do when in the desert--drop the tent trailer top down and crawl into the van to sleep.

It's getting warmer as the hours slip by. More and more craft are moving down the channel, past the breakwater and out to sea. No fishing boats--they headed out before dawn and will be coming back in soon with their catch--fish and/or people who paid dearly to maybe snag the big one.

I'm doing as many writers of books on the craft tell us to do. I've chosen a place and described what I see. Now I'm supposed to be using what I've observed to create a story. Can I do that? What does my description suggest I write?

What if my character, who lives on one of those boats, comes home one night to find a body on her deck? What if someone is killing sea lions with a harpoon gun? What if an athletic father reluctantly takes his wimpy son on a sport-fishing boat and the son makes the prize catch of the day? What if a writer is working on her laptop and a hunky Marine officer decides to use the opposite bench to take a break in his daily run?

I think the experts might have something here. Observing our surroundings brings out great ideas--one of which may become my next story.

TIP: Settings, if written well, are as important as characters to your story. They can also be a necessary part of your plot.

PROMPT: Go to a favorite, or new, place. Write down all you can about the scenery, the people in your sight, anything to help you describe this place. Begin a story with this setting.