Setting (literature)

In fiction, setting includes the time, location, and everything in which a story takes place, and initiates the main backdrop and mood for a story. Setting has been referred to as story world or milieu to include a context (especially society) beyond the immediate surroundings of the story. Elements of setting may include culture, historical period, geography, and hour. Along with plot,  character,  theme, and  style, setting is considered one of the fundamental components of fiction.

Role of setting
Setting is a key role in plot, as in man vs. nature or man vs. society stories. In some stories the setting becomes a character itself. In such roles setting may be considered a plot device or literary device.

The term "setting" is often used to refer to the social milieu in which the events of a novel occur. Novelist and novel-writing instructor Donna Levin has described how this social milieu shapes the characters’ values.

Types of Settings
Settings may take various forms:
 * Alternate history
 * Campaign setting
 * Constructed world
 * Dystopia
 * Fantasy world
 * Fictional country
 * Fictional crossover
 * Fictional location
 * Fictional universe
 * Future history
 * Imaginary world
 * Mythical place
 * Other Worlds (Science fiction)
 * Parallel universe
 * Planets in science fiction
 * Simulated reality
 * Virtual reality
 * Utopia