How an Effective Setting or World Can Inform and Shape a Story

To be most effective, award-winning author, screenwriter, and editor Mike Robinson believes your story's setting or world should develop organically and serve as the backdrop to the story. In his own writing, Robinson starts with a premise or a character and only has a vague idea of what his setting or world will be. As he writes, the world gets clearer as the story progresses. Some writers develop their entire worlds and details from the outset, but he warns that this can lead to data dumping,...