Researching Your Way to Believable Settings: It’s in those pesky little details, isn’t it?

by Terrie Leigh Relf, M.A.

Creating believable settings sometimes takes research—especially if you don’t have direct experience of what you’re writing about.

What happened to write what you know?

Exactly. But no one person knows everything, hence the indispensable aspect of research.

Research isn’t always difficult or particularly time-consuming, though.  True, you could read volumes on history and local color, architecture and the local business scene before you even begin the first draft of your novel.  You could also cruise the net, make a few phone calls—or send a few e-mails—in order to access these same volumes.  It’s not that  I don’t suggest or encourage reading, but I for one know how it can be an excellent avoidance tactic.

How do we know when it’s time to conduct research?

It depends upon what you need or want to know. It can be something simple, like determining which plants thrive there and which may need a greenhouse. Finding out the name and location of a trendy café is often just a click or phone call away. The same holds true with local parks, markets, post offices, and high-rent districts.

That said, what if we’re writing a novel set in Seattle, Washington, and we haven’t lived there since we were three?  Maybe we remember picking berries at grandma’s house, or going ‘round-and-round in the little boats at the park.  Or maybe we remember riding the elephants or how fun it was to trudge through the cold, wet snow in our little red snowsuit.  These memories may be “flashshots” in our mind, a collage of experiences without much running narrative; they may also be based on photographs in an album, and what we “remember” arises from these images and the ongoing narrative from family and friends.

While I would like to revisit Seattle, it’s not feasible now, so part of my early research involved contacting friends in the area who were more than happy to send me all sorts of links and quite colorful commentary.  My parents also shared a story about a restaurant that has found its way into the novel.  Several realtors also responded to my queries for information and seemed to really enjoy participating in my madness!

I’m co-authoring a vampire saga with Henry Lewis Sanders currently titled Blood Journey. Who knows what major revision this is, but the good news is that now we’re laying in more specific details.

For example, our family of vampires wants to travel by ship from London, England, to Seattle, Washington. At first, we gave the ship a name, had them ensconced in a comfortable cabin, and made a note to find out how long it would take to travel from point A to point B.  We didn’t think this was going to be a big deal, just a minor detail, a matter of a phone call to determine a few details to make the trip believable.

Well, after calling a few travel agencies and cruises lines was I ever surprised!  The agents were extremely helpful, by the way.  I pretended to be taking the trip with friends with the first one, but with the second, I fessed up, told her I was a writer trying to get her characters from point A to Point B.

Not only did I learn (amidst chuckles and sighs) that this wasn’t a very practical trip, but that it would be difficult to do—period.  It would take about four months, several different cruise lines, and thousands and thousands of dollars!

I’ll be honest.  I wanted to get them on a plane as fast as possible.  Forget the ship.

After a few minutes of realizing that this was one of those unexpected challenges, I took a deep breath and thought about it.

And thought about it…

And thought about it…

Without giving too much away, I decided that it could be a short cruise—from London to Boston.  A mere twelve days.  The cruise trip could be a special treat for one of the vampires, as she missed traveling down the Nile on her barge. After arriving in Boston, they could take in the sights, then take a plane to Seattle.

Whew! I feel like I went on the trip already…and I’m not even finished writing about it.

So, the next time you sit down with your novel, look for the details.  Readers will forgive a lot if they like the book, but what if one of your biggest fans is a travel agent—or an Egyptian Queen traveling from London to Seattle?

You want to give them the details that they crave…

Until next time,

Terrie Leigh Relf

Terrie Leigh Relf is a writer and writing coach living in South Park, a community burgeoning with writers in San Diego, CA. You may contact her at tlrelf@cox.net.