Putting Yourself in The Right Environment: Place

Some have suggested that there is only one story, structurally speaking. Others claim that there an infinite number. One thing is for sure-setting is one of the most important elements of a good piece of writing. The right details about a particular time and place draw the reader into your world and make them forget they're an innocent bystander. The wrong ones keep your audience on the outside. Want to represent your world authentically? Go there. Think you can't go there? Guess again. 

Now, things are pretty straightforward if you're writing a work of nonfiction. The time and place you're seeking to portray is a real one. That means you can visit it, or somewhere like it. You can also talk to others who have visited, read first-hand accounts from tourists. Your outlets for gathering information are numerous in most cases. 

Yes, the setting research process is work, and it's work for which you may never receive any thanks. Many won't stop to analyze the impact your setting had on their reading experience, but it will improve that experience drastically. Take my word for it. Just give thanks that your path forward is fairly straight-forward. 

Fiction-writers: you may very well have your work cut out for you. You're likely to know what kind of research you'll be doing in order to tackle the nuances of your setting if you're writing a historical romance or a fictionalized travelogue. But what about that sci-fi or fantasy novel? You can't visit an alien world or other dimension. You can however envision what you'd like to create and visit places that might give you some feel for how to portray your made-up place. Believe it or not, an overwhelmingly large amount of speculative fiction has some basis in what we know or can find out. If it didn't, readers would get lost on the journey and throw down the volume in rage. The Shire isn't a real place, but there are certainly places in the United Kingdom that are likely to remind us of it. World-building is hugely important, and it all begins with the act of exploration. 

We've talked a great deal about place, and not much about time. How do you write about the future? The past? The present for that matter? Get ready to brush up on your "Show, Don't Tell" skills. Believe me when I say you're going to need them.