Setting Thesaurus Entry: Airport Check-In

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.

Airport Check-In

SIGHTS: Sliding glass doors exiting drop off areas and the parade, long open area leading to multiple airline check ins, snake-like cordoned off queues filled with passengers carting luggage, e-ticket check in terminals, security personnel, airport staff, gates for different airlines (complete with company colors, uniformed staff, logos and TV sets displaying ads for each), signs from the ceiling directing passengers to airline check ins…

SOUNDS: Automated doors opening and closing, names being called over the intercom for check in, flight arrivals, departures/delays, luggage wheels sliding across the floor in a pattern thud as they hit the spaces between tiles, parents telling their kids to keep up, ticket personnel…

SMELLS: Coffee, hair products, cologne, perfume, mints/mouthwash, paper, metal, cleaning products, baked goods from a small snack/coffee business…

TASTES: Coffee, water, mints, gum, vending machine snacks…

TOUCH: Tugging on a luggage handle, numb hand and arm from lugging a heavy suitcase or carry on, sitting on a suitcase during a particularly long wait in line, bumping into other people in line, accidentally running over a foot with luggage wheel, checking constantly to make sure all your bags/papers/purse/children are still with you, fighting with a luggage bag with a faulty wheel…

Helpful Hints

The words you choose can convey atmosphere and mood.

Example 1: As I waited in the ridiculously long line to check my baggage at the understaffed America Airlines counter, I glanced over at the neighboring wickets of Korea Air. Passengers were flying through the twisty queue like prunes shooting through an eight-year-old’s digestive system.

Similes and metaphors create strong imagery when used sparingly.

Example 1: (Metaphor) With a grunt, I hefted Nana’s suitcase forward as the line moved and then set it down with a thump. What the hell did she pack for her weekend away, a freaking bag of bricks?

Other Setting Thesaurus entries can be found here.

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

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.