Writing Tip Wednesday #4: Explore Your World

Whether it is a real place (such as Oklahoma, where "The Outsiders" takes place), or a fictional world (such as Tatooine), the setting is where your characters live and where they develop much of their personality. Therefore, you need to know it inside and out. If it is a real place, the best way to do this is to visit and observe the area. Some authors go as far as to deliberately get lost in their locale, and try to find their way back to their hotel so that they get a good sense of it. However, if your finances are limited, less adventurous, or you are writing about a place in a previous era, it would be more practical to go to the library and do some serious research. In particular, find books with lots of photographs, and make copies of them which you can take home and keep with your notes. If you are making your setting up, draw detailed maps. Don't worry if they don't look like an artistic masterpiece. You are trying to develop a story, not get an A in art class. Additionally, draw sketches of what the people wear, what kind of creatures live there, and what the buildings and landscape look like. To go even further, make notes on the government, the social hierarchy, the local cuisine, how the world's magic/technology works (if applicable), the people's religions and mythology, etc. The key thing is to be consistent and detailed. Describe your setting so vividly that the reader actually lives in it as they read your story. If you do this properly, they'll never want to leave.