Jules and I were chatting recently and I said something about doing some back story writing and research. She mentioned that one of the problems she has had with writing fiction is that she gets lost in writing the back story and forgets to write the FRONT story, if you will. I know that this is one of the clues to discovering if you are avoiding your actual writing…if you are ONLY working on back story or research chances are good you’re hiding from your work in progress.
While I try to keep an eagle eye on any sneaky writing avoidance tendencies, developing a solid history for my Main Character and her world makes all the difference in knowing who she is and where she comes from…and where she is currently. It’s part of what brings it all into focus for me so that I know the answers to any question that might come up. That seems to be the trick with good world building. Whether you are writing crime fiction or horror or science fiction or whatever, for the reader to believe it the writer MUST know all the answers. Even to questions that the story may not ever ask. Because if you’re lucky enough to have some readers trust me they WILL ask every question imaginable.
So my work in progress is set in north central Florida. I was born there but I haven’t lived there since I was about four years old. It’s safe to say I don’t know much about it. Why did I set my story there? Well…it sort of set itself there. Yeah, yeah I’m The Goddess of my World but as I think any Goddess will tell you once you get the creation ball rolling it pretty quickly gets away from you and does whatever the hell it wants to do. I tried to jam it into other locations that I know better and it just wasn’t having it. Luckily I have family in that exact part of Florida that I can pump for information and, if it becomes necessary, I can visit (getting points for visiting family) and do some direct research.
Because along with back story, location clarity is extremely powerful in sucking me in when I’m reading, especially if I do NOT know the area where the story is set. I need every clue possible so I can sink into the story. I both love and dread when a book is set in Los Angeles, first because it seems like so few books are set in L.A. (excepting some of the great detective fiction, both classic and modern), second because if they get important details wrong it drives me bat-shit. Dumb things like you can’t get from Silver Lake to the West Valley at rush hour on a Friday in less than about two to three hours and there is not a chance in hell there would be a White Supremacist club at Glendale Blvd. and Alvarado…that area is now, and has been for decades, Latino…VERY Latino. White Supremacists are in Tajunga and Sunland…just so you know for future reference.
So all that to say that getting the details right is important and I may find it difficult to do that in a story set in an area that I am not really familiar with but I’m going to try and I’m going to be asking family for a lot of silly information and favors. I can only hope they find it fun enough to play along with their crazy writer cousin.
I’d love to know what experiences you have had with creating back story and doing research for your writing projects. Certainly Google and the internet in general has made this easier for writers but also…it’s giant and messy and easy to get lost in it. Have any of you developed or found any tricks or shortcuts to this process? Also do any of you have any ideas about ways we might pool our resources here at SBI to help each other with research, because that might be super cool too??? Anyway, I’d love to know about your research and back story/world building experiences.
My current WIP is set in a fantasy land…dreampt up in my own head. People might think that's easier than using an actual real location, but it's meant a lot of back story and building of a land that no one else can see except in their imagination. I suppose it does mean that if readers 'see' it differently to me that's okay…I mean, they don't have a real reference point, but being so OCD as I am I 'want' them to see it my way!
It's meant creating maps, and history, and inventing place names, locations and everything else. Then I have to get my travel time right, how long does it take to get from Lake One to Mountain Three? And that depends on both distance and mode of travel…
I enjoy creating from nothing, so maybe I prefer a fantasy world to a real one!
But, oh, I agree with you about authors getting it wrong…I read a book set in my home town and was so frustrated that the writer had obviously never, ever been there!
Thanks Lisa! Yes making up a world from scratch is fun but also…A BIG THING TO DO! My hat is off to you. I'm starting to think I'm gonna end up on some Homeland Security Watch Lists for researching semi-automatic shotguns and razor fighting, and that's just the beginning of things…LOL! It does make one appreciate all the work that writers have done over the years in their world building.
I don't build a lot of backstory, but I pinpoint key incidents, things that shape and color the character we see on the page – when I interject backstory, it's well into the story and I only allow myself a paragraph or two, just enough to deepen the reader's empathy with the character and his/her current situation.
Yeah it's funny how some of it does go INTO the story…but also a lot of it doesn't. It just sort of ground me IN the story.
I tried to write a story set in Alaska. I've never been within 100 miles of Alaska but I looked used Google Earth / Maps / Streetview and virtually walked around the town, I read tripadvisor and restaurant and bar reviews and looked up google images. I quite often use forums and boards… so for example, Dublin. I know Dublin a little but I wanted to know where the roughest bits to grow up were and so I found views from locals on the .ie boards. For Regency stuff I find 18th century travel guides on google books. I try to get it from the horse's mouth as much as possible. I try and limit the research though – you can always fill that stuff in later, once you get the story down.
Oh those are great suggestions Meg! Thank you so much. I didn't even THINK about using Google Earth and streetviews. I mean it seems obvious now, but that really hadn't dawned on me.