SETTING THESAURUS

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HELPFUL TIP:

Settings should always be chosen with care. Consider the emotion you want your viewpoint character to feel and how setting choices, weather elements, and symbolism might build a specific mood in the scene, create tension and conflict, or even raise the stakes.
SIGHTS:
A check-in counter
A cafeteria-style area for eating and visiting (bare walls, tile flooring, long rows of tables with folding chairs, a buffet line with serving staff offering a balanced meal to residents, steaming pots of soup and trays of meat and vegetables, a long line of residents waiting with trays)
Volunteers in aprons collecting and washing dishes
Vending machines stocked with toiletries
A bookcase full of used books
Older computers with free Wi-Fi for job searching
A bulletin board with various postings of lost and found items, upcoming events, free classes, and job listings
A water cooler with plastic cups
A coffee machine
Large single-sex bedrooms or smaller family-sized bedrooms (large rooms filled with rows of bunk beds, smaller rooms of three to four cots or bunk beds, garbage bags or duffle bags holding personal possessions, mismatched donated blankets and sheets)
Simple shared bathrooms consisting of sinks, showers, shelving for personal items, and toilets
A common room lounge containing a bolted-down TV, tables and plastic chairs, board games, and decks of cards

SOUNDS:
Laugh tracks from the TV
Residents arguing
Snoring
Bedsprings creaking
Plastic food trays being stacked
The slap of food on a plate
People talking to each other and muttering to themselves
Singing, humming, and whistling
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SMELLS:
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TASTES:
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TEXTURES AND SENSATIONS:
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POSSIBLE SOURCES OF CONFLICT:
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PEOPLE COMMONLY FOUND IN THIS SETTING:
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SETTING NOTES AND TIPS:
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SETTING DESCRIPTION EXAMPLE:
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TECHNIQUES AND DEVICES USED:
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DESCRIPTIVE EFFECTS:
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