Making Your Setting a Character

No.  I didn’t scrap my wip and start over.  I tried but decided I was going to stick with what I have and keep pushing on.  I like it as is and when it’s finished, I’ll worry about those details and see what needs to be changed.

My wip is set in L.A. and I want the city to feel like a character in itself.  As I’ve been doing this, it got me thinking.  What do others do to create a life in the setting?  Sometimes setting aren’t that important but sometimes the setting is just as important as the plot.  I especially see that in steampunk and high fantasy.  Without that setting, it falls flat.  Harry Potter would not be the same without Hogwarts.

L.A. obviously has a lot to work with in making it a character but what if you didn’t have an L.A.? What do other writers of the world do?  How do you make your setting a distinct character that if you removed it, your work wouldn’t work?  What are some of your favorite works that encompass setting in such a way?