SIGHTS
Small rooms with low and water-stained ceilings, grimy windows, peeling linoleum floors, ripped wallpaper, chipped cabinet doors that hang askew, a rust-stained sink, cluttered surfaces, clothes thrown over furniture or lying on the floor, dishes piled in the sink, discolored walls and cabinetry, drawers that don’t close all the way, mismatched furniture and sparse décor, outdated appliances, dirty baseboards, cobwebby corners, crooked or broken blinds, a window air conditioning unit, radiators that don’t work, windows (that don’t open, have torn screens, have no screens, are propped open with a book), threadbare curtains and bed linens, bare bulb lighting fixtures crisscrossed with spiderwebs, exposed plumbing and holes in the wall, blackened grout lines in the bathroom, chipped shower tiles, shower doors covered in hard water film, floors that slant or buckle, cracks in the ceiling, rickety stairs, thin or discolored carpets, a balcony (with clothes hanging to dry, holding bags of trash or recycling items), a mostly-empty fridge containing odds and ends, cockroaches and ants in the kitchen, rat and mouse droppings along the floorboards, belongings stacked in piles or in old boxes, trash littering the floor, pictures hanging crookedly on the walls
SOUNDS
A dripping faucet, creaking floors, voices and TV noises coming clearly through thin walls, neighbors yelling and fighting, babies crying, dogs barking, feet clattering up and down the stairs, footsteps shuffling along the hallway, warped doors scraping open or slamming shut, sirens and other traffic noise, people knocking on doors in the hall, phones ringing, the squeak of a drawer being pulled open, the hum of an old refrigerator, rats and mice scurrying in the walls, an air conditioning unit clanking on or off, the wooden screech of an old window being forced open, water pipes banging, the whir and rattle of a ceiling fan, curtains rustling in a breeze, bed springs squeaking, normally quiet noises that can be heard throughout the small apartment (food sizzling on the stove, someone rummaging through a drawer, silverware scraping over a plate, a ticking clock, someone talking on a phone, the shower running)
SMELLS
Mildew and mold, dust, the rusty smell of hard water, urine in the stairwells, a wet dog, spoiled food, sweat, body odor, food cooking, grease and oil smells from the kitchen, unwashed clothes, garbage that needs to be taken out, dirty diapers, old cigarette smoke
TASTES
Stale air, food that is inexpensive and easy to make, cigarettes, alcohol, water from the faucet
TEXTURES AND SENSATIONS
Heavy metal locks on the door, water dripping from a shower head with low pressure, a cold shower, floorboards that give and bend under one’s weight, walking on a sloped floor, having to tug on a tight drawer to get it open, sinking into a saggy couch or mattress, sweating in an apartment with no air conditioning, occasional breezes from a ceiling or oscillating fan, shoving open a sticky window, washing dishes by hand, sitting in a broken chair carefully so it doesn’t fall apart, scratchy blankets on the skin, thin pillows that cause pain in the neck, jumping as a mouse or cockroach crawls out of a cabinet, walking over a carpet so thin the hard floor can be felt underneath it, a cold floor under one’s bare feet, banging on the wall or ceiling to tell neighbors to quiet down, allergy symptoms due to dust or mold
POSSIBLE SOURCES OF CONFLICT
Broken appliances the landlord refuses to fix
Losing electricity at an important moment (while finishing a document on the computer, at the climax of one’s favorite TV show, while cooking dinner)
Shady neighbors and illegal activity in one’s apartment building
Feeling unsafe in one’s home
Not being able to make rent
Dictatorial landlords
Faulty sprinkler systems and fire escapes
Diseases from vermin
Robbers looking for money or drugs
Drive-by shootings and stray bullets
Unreliable or dangerous roommates
PEOPLE COMMONLY FOUND HERE
Guests, landlords, managers, tenants
RELATED SETTINGS THAT MAY TIE IN WITH THIS ONE
Rural Volume: Bathroom, child’s bedroom, kitchen, living room, teenager’s bedroom
Urban Volume: Alley, elevator, old pick-up truck, parking garage, parking lot
SETTING NOTES AND TIPS
Run-down apartments are often part and parcel of a run-down apartment building (though this isn’t always the case) and are usually inhabited by people who are struggling to make ends meet. But this doesn’t mean that these residences are devoid of personality. Even a seedy dwelling should tell the reader something about the people living there, from items collected, to artwork on the walls, to its state of cleanliness. As with any home dwelling, a few well-chosen details about a character’s living space can tell the reader a lot about who lives there.
SETTING DESCRIPTION EXAMPLE
Ben jerked, blinking shadows from his eyes and kicking off the damp sheet. His heart thrummed a bass beat in his chest, making it hard to hear what had woken him. Sirens, or the dude in 312 yelling at his wife? His next door neighbor’s sorry excuse for a dog whining out on the balcony? No, all of that was outside. His room was a tomb—not a clock ticking, not a cockroach stirring, not a wheeze from the . . . his gaze darted upward. The warped overhead fan blades drifted silently clockwise, taking forever to hobble through a final rotation before dying. Great. Ben yanked his sweat-drenched T-shirt over his head and scrubbed his face with it. Now he’d never get back to sleep.
Techniques and Devices Used: Metaphor, multisensory descriptions, personification
Resulting Effects: Establishing mood, foreshadowing, tension and conflict