Developing a sense of place is very important to a novel as it adds flavor and color to the plot and characters.
Establishing a Sense of Place
Tony Hillerman's popular series set on the Navajo Reservation shows what a vital role a sense of place can have on a work of fiction. Whether your book's setting is a Southwestern desert or an English village, a sense of place can add a touch of reality that makes the story come alive and has the readers coming back for more.
A story can be set in a big city, a small town, or just about anywhere in between. A sense of place is more important in some kinds of novels than others. Your job as an author is to make sure your sense of place is in harmony with the characters you are creating.
Creating a Fictional Setting from a Real Place
A real setting can add authenticity to your story and give it a sense of reality. If you know the place well you want to write about, you have a big advantage.
A fifty-foot gorilla can rip through town, banging his giant chest and creating havoc. The aliens can land a spaceship on main street. But the bank better be on the corner of fifth and Main if that’s where it sits in real life, and the nearby river or mountain range that sits just out of town better be named the right name.
This is because readers will suspend belief for fictional monsters or events, but the mind will immediately contradict something it knows is not true. If using an authentic setting, especially a real town, be sure to do your research and make the layout of the town as accurate as possible. Readers have certain expectations, and if you do not do a real setting justice, locals will complain. Also, each town has its own unique atmosphere that should be respected.
Larger cities are often more “forgiving” than smaller communities. While a made-up street in San Francisco will be accepted by the reader as simply one of the thousands they haven’t noticed, a made-up street in the center of Midvale, Iowa, population 200, might stick out like a sore thumb.
Making up a Fictional Town or Place
Some authors find it easier just to make up a fictional town or setting. If you create your own town then you are free to name the streets whatever you want and put the bank and post office wherever suits your plot. Some writers make up a similar name that is close, but not an exact representation of the town they have in mind. This gives writers more freedom to add detail that may not be a part of a particular place without suspending a reader who is familiar with the area’s sense of belief.
In The Bridges of Madison County, author Robert James Waller wrote so convincingly about the area that readers actually went in search of the covered bridge mentioned in his story. There are covered bridges in the area—but the one in his story was fictional.
Writing about Places you've Never Been
Say you want to set your book in China. Sometimes it's just not possible to have an extended stay in China, though a ten-day trip might be in your budget. It does help to visit your setting, even briefly. But if it's not possible to travel to China at all except in your mind, the Internet and the library become your new best friends.
Pictures, written narratives, websites with shots of the area can give you a feel for the setting without actually traveling to the location. The Internet, especially, has become a good source for viewing remote areas through specialized maps and photographs,providing details that were once not possible without an actual visit.
Creating your Own World
We've all heard the old adage "write what you know." However, if authors stuck to this literally there would be no fantasy or science fiction. There would also be no historical novels. One of the pleasures of being a writer is you can create your own special world. You can write about your own community or some far-off place you’ve never been, or even a place that doesn’t exist. Some authors set their books on other planets, or in a prehistoric age, or in a world that is entirely fantasy.
Even then, there are subtle, unspoken rules that must be followed. When writing science fiction, readers expect the author to know enough about time travel and other common themes to make the story in harmony with what is known and accepted as true about scientific fact. The same goes for the prehistoric age or historical time setting. The writer must know enough about history to make the setting seem real and believable. A totally made-up world, in order to set well with a reader, must have the same sense of reality and continuity as our known world.
For more story-building tips, see the following articles:
