Setting Part 1

In case you had not guessed from my (stunningly original) title, I'd like to focus on the setting of a story.

Setting isn't always terribly important. If a girl moves to new school and feels lonely, well, that could happen anywhere. But if your character is traveling through a desert, dying of thirst, you're probably not going to set it in Alaska.

The point is, does the setting add trial to your characters' lives?
Or does it add an important detail?
For example, the Twilight series is set in cloudy Forks, Washington because the vampires can't go out in the sun.

Name the state Our Town is set in.
(New Hampshire)
But the point is that it could really take place in any small town in any state and still make sense.

Setting can also create Mood. I'm sure your feelings would be very different in a dense forest then they would be in a Paris subway.

If you want to give a premonition of danger, foreshadowing things while your characters are skipping cheerfully in a sunlit meadow won't have quite the same effect if your character is glancing over their shoulder in a dark alley, nervously clutching their pepper spray.

To sum up, ask yourself if the setting adds much to your story. If not, don't worry about it.