• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About
    • About WHW
    • Press Kit
    • Resident Writing Coaches
    • Contact Us
    • Podcasts & Interviews
    • Master Storytelling Newsletter
    • Guest Post Guidelines
    • Privacy Policy
    • Charities & Support
  • Bookstore
    • Bookstore
    • Foreign Editions
    • Book Reviews
    • Free Thesaurus Sampler
  • Blog
  • Software
  • Workshops
  • Resources
    • List of Resources
    • Recommended Writing Books
    • WHW Descriptive Thesaurus Collection
    • Free Tools & Worksheets
    • Free Show-Dont-Tell Pro Pack
  • WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®
WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®

WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®

Helping writers become bestselling authors

Setting Thesaurus Entry: Airplanes

Published: May 15, 2010 by ANGELA ACKERMAN

For a reader to relate to the current action, they need a physical anchor to tie the characters to. It can be difficult, finding the right words to convey a sense of place. 

Settings come alive through description, and the right details can evoke emotion, drawing readers in. The following entry contains samples of the sights, smells, tastes, sounds, and textures associated with this location so you can weave them into your storytelling, thereby deepening the reader’s sensory experience.

Airplane

SIGHTS: Narrow aisle. stewards/stewardesses greeting you as you walk on, navy blue fabric seats, overhead compartments, armrests, seat belts, small porthole windows, some shutters open & others closed, people blocking the aisle putting carry on away or grabbing something out of the overhead compartments, emergency exit mid plane, fold down trays, in-flight magazine, safety instructions manual tucked in a slot in the seat back in front of you…

SOUNDS: Plane engines, a squeaky beverage cart, music/TV in headphones, laughter, people talking, laughing, snoring, babies crying, the swish of fabric as people readjust for comfort or remove a coat or sweater, zippers unzipping, rustling bags and backpacks, the clunk of a tray locking into position, the rustle of newspapers and magazines, crisp book pages turning, people typing on keyboards…

SMELLS: A person sitting close by wearing too much cologne or perfume, food being eaten, coffee, canned air, minty gum, bad breath, beer, a whiff of hand sanitizer, sweat, BO, old fabric, hair products, smelly feet if someone takes their shoes off, diapers that need changing…

TASTES: Water, coffee, pop, juice, tea, sugar, alcoholic drinks (wine, beer, spirits), plane food or food bought in airport (sandwiches, pizza, chocolate bars, chips, granola bars, bagels, muffins, wraps…

TEXTURES: Hard, too-narrow armrests, bumping/nudging/brushing against the passenger next to you, cramped, hunched back trying to get from window seat to aisle, sliding a bag out from seat in front, kinks in the neck, twisting and lifting to stretch back, slouching in seat, trying to make self small to get past passengers to the aisle, kid behind you kicking the seat, a tight seat belt…

Helpful Hints

The words you choose can convey atmosphere and mood.

Example 1: Donny had the worst luck on business trips. If the flight was a small, forty-five minute hop, he’d have the the row to himself and sometimes even be bumped to the front where he could take advantage of the ample leg room. But for the soul-crushing, eight hour flights to the UK, he’d always be stuck next to a shrieky toddler whose Mother hadn’t bothered to pack anything to entertain the kid with, or a grossly overweight guy creating seat spillover because he was too embarrassed or cheap to spring for a second seat…

Similes and metaphors create strong imagery when used sparingly.

Example 1: (Simile) The bitter, snarky stewardess who complained about keeping my guitar case in her galley was even scarier at the helm of a metal serving cart. The gleam in her eye and the cart’s sudden jerk forward as I rose from my seat said she was locked and loaded to mow me down like an evasive weed if I came within range…

Other Setting Thesaurus entries can be found here.

Think beyond what a character sees, and provide a sensory feast for readers

The Setting Thesaurus Duo

This sample, along with the rest of the setting entries, has been expanded into a 2-book set. Together, the bestselling URBAN SETTING THESAURUS and RURAL SETTING THESAURUS volumes contain over 200 settings for you to choose from when creating memorable, compelling characters.

Each entry contains multi-sensory cues associated with the location, conflict options commonly found in the environment, instructive information on how to avoid setting-related infodumps, and examples of well-written descriptions that can reinforce emotion, characterize, foreshadow future events, and more.

For more information on this bestselling set of books and where they can be found, please visit our bookstore.

ANGELA ACKERMAN
ANGELA ACKERMAN

Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.

Share this:

  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • More
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

Related

Filed Under: Writing Help

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Mary Witzl says

    May 25, 2010 at 2:18 pm

    The smell I always find intriguing is that combination of toilet disinfectant, the stewardesses’ cologne, and vacuum cleaner.

    Once again, I found your examples inspiring!

  2. Wendy Marcus says

    May 17, 2010 at 12:25 pm

    My favorites are claustrophobic, death trap, unstable, loss of control, bumpy, scary, need to escape…….
    Do I have a fear of flying? Why yes. I do. But I will deal with it so I can make it to National. Hope to meet you there!

  3. Julie Musil says

    May 16, 2010 at 10:23 pm

    Ahhhh! I feel like I was on this very plane! Excellent post, as always.

  4. Kate says

    May 16, 2010 at 5:21 am

    Not forgetting that awful smell down the back of the plane when they open all the sealed meals. When we came to Australia as kids, it was that smell every few hours that made us all add to that other smell you mentioned. I can still remember it vividly!

    Good list!

Trackbacks

  1. Setting Thesaurus Entry Collection | Writers Helping Writers says:
    October 11, 2013 at 1:17 pm

    […] Airplane […]

Primary Sidebar


Welcome!

Writing is hard. Angela & Becca make it easier. Get ready to level up your fiction with game-changing tools, resources, and advice.

Subscribe to the Blog

Check your inbox to confirm! If gremlins tried to eat it, you might have to check your spam folder.

Find it Fast

Read by Category

Grab Our Button

Writers Helping Writers

Software that Will Change the Writing Game

One Stop for Writers

Join our Writers Helping Writers Newsletter

NO AI TRAINING: Any use of this content to “train” generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text is expressly prohibited. The legal copyright holder, Writers Helping Writers®, reserves all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models. WRITERS HELPING WRITERS® · Copyright © 2025 · WEBSITE DESIGN BY LAUGH EAT LEARN

 

Loading Comments...