I’m currently reading a great book by Wilbur Smith about the siege of Khartoum and the battle of Omdurman in 1884 entitled The Triumph of the Sun. When I finish it, I will be sure to include a review here. But the reason I mention it today is because of the topic of location. Where your story happens is important, and being familiar with that location is equally important.
Wilbur Smith has written many novels about Africa, and it is obvious that he is intimately familiar with the continent and its history. And I make it a habit to almost always base my stories on locations where I have actually been. Why?
Well, it comes down to this reality. Your imagination is a synthesis of what you are exposed to. That can be by looking at books, at movies, online, or by being there personally. I truly believe this. And the more you are exposed to it, and the more personal the exposure, the easier it is to recreate it in your stories.
That means the easiest locations to create in your stories are places you are familiar with. Makes sense, right?
But what if you are writing a science fiction story based on another planet? Or, in my situation, telling a story based in Millsap, Tennessee, a town that doesn’t exist and which I have never visited to begin with?
The same rule applies. You have to base it on what you know. So when I describe Millsap, Tennessee, I am describing (1) a location on an online map; (2) my own hometown; and (3) portions of my parents’ hometown. Millsap doesn’t exist, so there is no one to argue about whether the Foster’s Freeze is on Main Street or not, or how I described the local tire story.
Yes, use your imagination. But the more you can anchor it in your own reality, the more solid your image will be.
