Rita is working on a MG (middle grade) novel. She wrote me this week with a good question about how much to use setting in her book. What's not enough, what's too much? And most important of all, does a story's setting need to be as developed as its characters?
Her story is set on Mars, a hostile environment ("Think adventure movie," she says, "with avalanches and earthquakes." ). The setting produces challenging events which cause her characters to react.
She wondered if placing these events (the big earthquake, for instance) at the height of story's dramatic moments might also represent the character's strength or inner conflict. "The stuff of myth?" she asked.