writing about a place you've never been to?

Discussion in 'Setting Development' started by Tesoro, Feb 19, 2012.

  1. BFGuru

    BFGuru Active Member

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    This is just silly. If we are going to be such sticklers we may as well say goodbye to any historical fiction piece. The fact is none of us will ever go to medeival Europe. I'd be surprised if any of us have been to even WWI Germany. Sure we all cringe when HOUSE gets on his asshole tangents, but we watch it anyway because of the conflict it brings to the show. Research is important. Most of the famous shows based off of carreers have individuals who actually work those jobs as consultants, but the writers most definitely are not in those careers in most cases. We read to escape reality. If a few details are off...again, we read to escape reality. There is much that can be said for research. A lot really. And properly researched settings can be just as effective as settings where the author has resided his/her entire life.
     
  2. Nakhti

    Nakhti Banned

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    I think this is one of those questions that will always polarise people - some people like to stick to the 'write what you know' mantra, others believe in freedom, creativity and artistic licence to open up new vistas and push boundaries. I'd much rather be in the latter group, as it seems a bit more positive and less dogmatic. Write what you feel inspired to write, but make sure you do the research to back up your facts and inject verisimilitude and authenticity to your subject matter.
     
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  3. Lily J.

    Lily J. New Member

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    So true!!! :) And you can always use Google to get more information on the place you want to write about.
    I usually prefer to make a town up rather than provide incorrect information. Since I'm not from the US (I'm from the Netherlands) and most books written in English are anticipated to take place in America, I feel like it's better for me to create towns and the surrounding all together. :redface:
     
  4. minstrel

    minstrel Leader of the Insquirrelgency Supporter Contributor

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    I have to take issue with this. Setting "write what you know" on one side and "freedom, creativity and artistic license to open up new vistas and push boundaries" on the other is drawing a very false dichotomy. There's just as much freedom, creativity, and artistic license you can use when you're writing about what you know as when you're writing about anything else, not to mention opportunities to open up new vistas and push boundaries. Ignorance is not freedom. Ignorance is not creativity. And it's not artistic license, either.

    I'm definitely not in the "write what you know" camp. Somewhere else in these forums I said that "write what you know" isn't enough, that it should be modified to "write what you love." I stand by that (I usually write science fiction or alternative-history fiction). But to suggest that "write what you know" is uncreative and limiting is simply false, and impugns those wonderful writers I listed earlier in this thread, who did write what they know, and created brilliant, vivid, and true fiction doing so.
     
  5. shadowwalker

    shadowwalker Contributor Contributor

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    I would say that "write what you know" in this case is a matter of taking it to the extreme - writing only what you know, not what you can learn. And then, of course, to what degree does one have to learn about any subject in order to be able to write well enough to suit the needs of the story.
     
  6. Nakhti

    Nakhti Banned

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    Thank you, Shadowwalker, that is precisely what I meant - I think Minstrel rather mistook my meaning. To say that you can only write what you are an expert in IS limiting and lacks imagination, IMO. But I never said that writing what you haven't the first clue about is the epitome of freedom and creativity - that's just twisting my words. I just meant you don't have to be a Geisha to write Memoirs of a Geisha, nor do you have to have lived in ancient Rome to write the Senator Falco stories. You can learn enough to make the story seem real and vivid, but you don't need to trot off and spend ten years in the field or get a PhD in forensic science.
     
  7. LandonCE

    LandonCE New Member

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    In my humble opinion, I would think that you would need to have been there, lived there, in order to convey feelings about the location. The location can be a huge part of your writing, I think it needs to be almost alive. How do you pick up on a locations feeling from pictures? I would be lost to do that. I think the obvious aspects would be apparent, but what about the underlying aspects?

    What about getting familiar with locations people you know have been to? That could be helpful in getting to know the location or give you other ideas.

    Just my 2 cents worth.
     
  8. Nakhti

    Nakhti Banned

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    Yes, precisely - this is called research. You can interview actual people who HAVE lived in a place you want to write about, without having to live there yourself.

    No one said research had to begin and end with google.
     
  9. Doug Moore

    Doug Moore New Member

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    I'll give you three descriptive settings and you tell me weather I've been there or not.They are from my self-pubbed novel 'Playing God.'

    Interstate 40 twisted through the Pisgah and Cherokee National Forests which draped the Smokey Mountains in remote, wooded, nothingness. Barren trees, wind-blasted cliff faces, and shadowy dark chasms. No vans running in tandem sporting North Carolina and Florida tags.
    Waterville Lake, rest stops, and information centers flanked by steep hills covered in dense forest. Trailers perched high in the surrounding hills. How they had been placed there might pose a mystery to passersby.
    Still no visual, thought the Major.
    A violent, rushing river snaked along the interstate, plunging out of the mountains and foothills to descend the natural ragged ladder that feed the vast farmland below.
    Newport and Edgemont lay ahead.
     
  10. Zappy

    Zappy New Member

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    Whenever I tend to write about distant lands or foreign countries, I do my research for a few days to learn the customs and geography of the place that is my subject then I meld my writing into that form.

    But that is just me of course.
     
  11. Doug Moore

    Doug Moore New Member

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    Sorry about double post.I must have been too long winded and only been allowed to post one.

    My point is: What does it matter? Its fiction and most of your readers probably won’t be able to tell if you have or not either. If you’re really worried you can keep it kind of vague. Street level Google is amazing and makes you appreciate the authors of our past. Yes, I agree cities have a feel, regional nuances and dialects, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use them in your work. The research is there you just have to find it. It took me four years to write my book because it's my first novel and the story takes the reader across America (a ton of research) and I’ve never been there.
     
  12. madhoca

    madhoca Contributor Contributor

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    This is pure telling. It has very little interplay between the POV and environment (his feelings about the place), and no human interaction (dialogue, the narrator meeting people), so it may or may not have been written with a personal knowledge of the place. This kind of writing can be fine for a few passages; however, if the entire novel is set in this area it needs more knowledge about the qualities of the landscape and the people who live there, otherwise it reads like a holiday brochure. Sometimes thriller-type novels can get away with it, but IMO the better ones still keep away from purely omniscient, telling writing all the time.
     
  13. TheWritingWriter

    TheWritingWriter New Member

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    I think it depends on the writer, personally. And I don't think I need to live there, I think I should have at least been there, though. I haven't lived in NY, but I've spent a good bit of time there to where I have enough information to get creative and place a story in that setting.
     
  14. shaylyn

    shaylyn New Member

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    When I write about a place that I haven't been to, I go so far as to find the place on google maps and follow my character down streets in 3D view.
     
  15. Cogito

    Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

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    Most of the places I write about, I have never been to. I primarily write science fiction. But I strive for realism and scientific accuracy/plausibility nevertheless, so I do my research to whatever degree possible.
     

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