You should be able to determine how long the journey will take him and also what he might see along the way. This will also be useful if your character is, say, driving from point A to B. I’ve personally found Google Maps helpful in some instances when I physically couldn’t see a place for myself. All of these experiences lend credibility to your story and will help to fuel the imagination. Walk the area and experience the culture, the vibe on the street, even the smells emanating from the restaurants or street vendors along the way. If you are going to be writing about a city or place it will be helpful to physically go to that place. Your reader may even know this fact or happen to stumble across it.

Let’s say you are writing a period novel set in 1880 and you describe how your character walks under the giant steel arches of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, you may want to note that the tower was only built in 1887 to 1889. This gives your story a greater depth and will help your reader visualise the surroundings in which your characters find themselves.īe very careful when setting your story in the past. It’s good practice to establish street names and familiar landmarks that your reader can relate to. If however you are writing about a real place, you will need to thoroughly research that area you are writing about. The time and places are after all in your own imagination. Again, if you are writing science fiction you will be able to get away with faking it. On the other hand, if you delve deep enough into the subject, you might discover little nuggets of information that will be informative to your reader and you will have them well and truly hooked-no pun intended.Ī story, any story, is set in a time or place.

Otherwise your readers, if they know something about the subject, will soon pick up on the fact that you as the author know nada about the subject and they will lose confidence in your ability as a writer. Unless you are au fait with the art of fishing, do your research on the subject. Let’s say for instance your character is a fisherman or is watching someone fish. HOOK them or LOSE them, and I’m not talking about fishing here, although that is a good segue into the topic. Member blog by Gavin Fisher A JOURNEY AND CONFESSIONS OF A FICTION WRITER

30 day writing challenge prompt occult