Writer's Tools: Where Have You Been?

Most of us have heard or read the Dr. Seuss book, Oh The Places You Will Go. But what about the places that you have been? These few or many different places that we either have lived or visited. Do you track them? Are they on your list of places to go back to? Or do you never want to look back? Why? These places hold different meaning to us all. They hold dear meanings of great joy and sadness. There can never really be a way to explain the experience of an event without describing where it happened. As much as you have characters I truly believe that where the story takes place is a character unto itself. And if you have ever traveled outside of the place you were born you can see how things are very different and yet similar.

I have lived in many different cities and traveled to even more. The pictures represent every city that I have lived. Since I lived in three of them as a child I have a different perspective on them. Like I have never been to Los Angeles as an adult. So I remember schools and such but I don't remember where things were or how to get to them. Miami I was a teenager and started my adult life there too. Spending time at the beach or just hanging out at my best friends boat was normal for me. When I lived in Orlando, I got to know the different theme parks in a way most vacationers don't get to. Because I could go whenever I wanted and learned when not to go at all. In New York, I learned the great pleasure of just having a picnic in the park on any given afternoon, while everyone was rushing about. Or discovering great food in a restaurant that could only have about ten people in it at a time. These are the places that I have lived and have provided me with many great ideas for backgrounds to my stories. Even the places that I have traveled to, and as there are quite a few different places. I've been up and down and across the states. As well as to the Bahamas, London, England and Paris, France. These places have not yet been in any of my stories yet. But I have some amazing ideas for them.

I reference that use is Writer's Guide To Places by Don Prues. It is a great reference for places that I need facts that I never learned while at that place. I've also used many different travel guides or checked something out on the Internet. There is so much you can learn about a location that you might want to use for your book. Even something as obscure as taking a walk around where your story will be taking place can enhance your writing.

So take a look at your silent character. That place that your story is taking place. Can you see it? Do you feel like you can walk in that place? Does it feel like it's real, even if it Mars in the far future? Because as a reader they may not know that they are looking for it but they are. Some of my favorite stories are the ones that you feel like you are walking right next to your characters. It is also how I try to write my worlds.

(All pictures are from https://pixabay.com)