The old adage is \u201cwrite what you know.\u201d Most writers, though, have to step outside that comfort zone sooner or later.<\/p>\n
If you are writing something set in the \u201creal world,\u201d you might set it in your hometown, or a town where you have lived for several years. However, you might also want to set your story somewhere else. One way, used by many, is to create a fictional town or city. DC Comics has Metropolis, Lovecraft has the infamous Arkham, and Agatha Christie has created wholly invented towns like Chipping Cleghorn.<\/p>\n
Ah, but what if you really do want to use real-world locations? Maybe you want to set your book in San Francisco but have never been further west than Minneapolis. Or, you discover that Copenhagen is the Las Vegas of Europe and need to do a shotgun wedding.<\/p>\n
This article has tools and techniques for writing in somebody else\u2019s town without, hopefully, having a bunch of locals inform you that there is no such Metro station as \u201cCathedral Heights.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, how do you start researching settings for your writing?<\/p>\n
Like everything else, writing in somebody else\u2019s town takes research. For most of us these days, the first stop is the internet. Here are a few good sources you can start with:<\/p>\n
I have no idea how people wrote in other places without\u00a0Google Maps<\/a>\u00a0and Street View. If you\u2019re writing in a city you have never been to, or even one you are only somewhat familiar with, you can literally \u201ctravel\u201d around the city virtually and move your characters from place to place. You can go down a specific street in a neighborhood and see what style the houses are. Trace your characters movements during the outline or the first draft. You can also use the directions function to work out travel time if it\u2019s relevant.<\/p>\n On a related note, for big cities, do look at the transit map so you don\u2019t make a Cathedral Heights level mistake. Unless, of course, you intend to. Check opening hours, too\u2026<\/p>\n Repeat after me, libraries are good. You might think that somebody else\u2019s public library system is too far away to be any good. You would be surprised. More and more libraries will now give access to their electronic collections and research databases to people from out of town for a fee, which is usually $40-60 a year. This option is seldom available for people in another country. But access to a library\u2019s digital resources can be priceless. (It might even be worth contacting the librarian and telling them you\u2019re writing a book, they might be able to do something for you).<\/p>\n When the internet and library collections fail you, you may need to actually talk to real people. As a note, if you are setting your story more than five years in the past, you definitely need to find somebody who lived there at that time. Big cities, in particular, can change surprisingly rapidly. Was that park there when your characters were?<\/p>\n For novels, a targeted beta reader is a good idea. You can even find one by using the search phrase\u201csensitivity reader.\u201d Although most sensitivity readers are concerned with demographics, location is important too. You might have to pay them, or you might be able to find another writer willing to do a trade on beta reading.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re lucky, somebody who lives in the place you\u2019re researching might be in your chain of social media friends. It\u2019s always worth asking. Failing that, there are several sources for local experts:<\/p>\n Needless to say, research trips can be completely out of reach for many writers. If you do have the cash, though, there is really no substitute for getting the feel of a place. Here are some tips to keep your trip within budget:<\/p>\n But if you can\u2019t afford to go there, don\u2019t be afraid to set your book (or short story, or few chapters of a book) in a city or town you have never personally visited. If you do your research, you can make it work without annoying the locals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","categories":[40,15],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/1002"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Libraries<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Local People<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Trips: Researching Your Setting Firsthand<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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