L is for Location

Choosing a location for our writing can be one of the most challenging, and personal, decisions of the novel-writing experience. Often times the setting invokes a certain tone (would you rather write a romance in Paris, or Detroit?), or has cultural relevance (writing a story about a child who experiences racial bullying would be easier in Mississippi than, say, Washington state). I can’t tell you how to choose a location, because that is a very personal choice…but I can give you some tips for giving that location the justice it deserves.

*Note: Most of this assumes that you are writing a contemporary novel, as the steps would be more involved for a historical one. It also assumes you are writing non-fantasy, although some of the steps would still be relevant.

If Your Location is Based on a Real Place

If your story location is a real place, it will be imperative to keep your facts in order. You’re going to need to know where things are, how to get there, and a little bit about how locals think vs. tourists. Ideally, this is a place you’ve been (or lived) so you can describe your personal reactions to walking down Michigan Ave at sunset, or braving the traffic in Los Angeles. But if not, there are still plenty of resources.

• Download some maps. You don’t need to know them inside and out, but you do need them available. There’s nothing worse than someone going from one end of a busy city to another in 5 minutes because the author didn’t understand correct distance. I remember reading a story once where a character made a left turn onto a road that actually ran parallel to the road he was on. It put me off the book entirely.

• Pick up a travel book or three for the city/area you’re writing about. No, seriously. Yes, you can get this stuff all online. But having the book in front of you is quicker and easier. You have your maps, for one, but you also have restaurant guides, things to do, and usually some notes regarding what locals like vs. tourists. They go into detail about the neighborhoods, travel times, ways to get around, and costs of living. There’s descriptions, pictures, and all sorts of things writers will go nuts over. I have five different travel guides on New Orleans at my writing desk, and I use all of them. Even if you have traveled to a place, these will come in handy.

• Read books from local authors. Pay specific attention to authors who use a location more than once, or authors who live in that location. The example I’ll use is one I use a lot, which is Anne Rice and New Orleans. She not only lived there many years, but she wrote about her own house! Her descriptions of New Orleans were then not only accurate, as a local, but also very vivid. Local authors tend to want to do their city justice, and you can often trust their experiences. Another example would be Stephen King with Maine. When I moved there for a couple of years, I already felt like I had seen everything through a different set of eyes once before, because of his writing.

• Bookmark an almanac site. If your story is set in Maine and you want it to snow in April, make sure it snows in April sometimes (for the record: it does). If your story involves farming, or any other trade that involves the seasons, this will be invaluable.

• Bookmark more sites. Find sites that talk about the trees, flowers, commerce, architecture, and other important physical details. Make sure your begonia is not in bloom too early, and that it can even grow there to begin with! And when you’re trying to plant something in Georgia, remember that you’re going to have go through layers of red clay first. Know what kinds of architecture are used for houses there. Know some of the local colloquialisms, sayings, expressions. Make sure they aren’t rife with stereotypes while you’re at it 😉

• Plan a visit! Yes, yes, I know. This is not always a realistic option. But if you can, do. The experiences of walking, riding local transport, eating local delicacies…the sights, smells, the way the air feels. Your visceral reaction. Those are not things that can be replicated in a travel book.

If Your Location is Entirely Fictional

Well, this is a heck of a lot easier, right?? Kind of. You still have to maintain accuracy…but the beauty of it is that you now have full creative power on what is contained in that accuracy. The trick is…well maintaining it.

• Draw a map! Just because your town/city is made up, doesn’t mean it doesn’t need consistency. Your readers will very quickly pick up on characters who turn down one street to get to the grocery store in one chapter, but in another the street name changes. Making a map will also help you judge accurate distances and ensure that when you say “Sally lived three blocks from Joe,” you don’t later accidentally have Sally go out her front door and walk three houses down to Joe’s.

• Respect regional details. If you’re writing a fictional city in a real state or region, you will still need to follow some of the advice up top regarding being true to the facts. For example, if you’re writing about a rural town in upstate New York, try looking into some other rural towns in Upstate New York to make sure your architecture, culture, vegetation, etc is correct.

• Flesh out your world. Give it some color. If you’re writing about a small town, for example, create a mayor and a location for his office. Develop your restaurants and local hangouts, and the places where the kids go. You might not even use a lot of it directly, but you might indirectly. “Jim walked past Martha’s Flowers and saw Martha in the window and waved. He kept walking, past The Watering Hole, his old hangout, and finally stepped through the doors of True Value Hardware.” Alright, that sentence was boring, but you get the drift. The world is gaining color.

These are only a few tips for keeping your worlds straight. The most important things to remember are accuracy and consistency, because nothing kills a story more than a rogue errant detail in the setting.

Anyone have others to add?