Setting can play as big a role in your book as your plot or main characters. In fact setting can be a character itself. Think of the books that you've read where any other setting would change the tempo or plot of the book. Stephen King's The Shining was set in a Colorado hotel in the mountains, inaccessible in the winter. That simple fact heightened the tension because the characters were basically snowed in and alone.

The time period can also be an important part of the setting. Gone With the Wind played out against the backdrop of the Civil War and the war played as big a part in what happened as the characters. They were at the mercy of the setting.

If you are writing a science fiction book or setting your book in a unknown environment, you will have the luxury of building your own world, but that also requires a lot of extra work.

You will need to research your setting, especially if you have never been there or if you are dealing with a different time period.

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2010 Workshops on characters, archetypes, plotting and the Plotting Wheel