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6 Tips for Adding Life to Your Locations
by Nils Ödlund
Fantasy writers like to talk about world building, but what do you do once the world has been built?
One of the things I enjoy with fantasy is how it can transport me to a different world. A place that only exists in my mind. To achieve this, world building is important, but it's also important to create a sense of place for the scenes of the story.
I want the locations to feel like they could be real places – somewhere I could visit.
How to achieve that?
The basic principle is as follows: give your reader a chance to put something of themselves into the scene, and they'll make it their own.
This is what makes it come alive to them. It's no longer just a description, but a place that exists in their mind, and which they helped create themselves.
It may sound a bit whimsy, but it's not really all that complicated. Here are few tips that work for me.
Level of Detail
Do not overdo it with the descriptions. Rather than describing a location in exact detail, give the reader just enough information for them to be able to create their own impression of what it's like, and then leave it at that.
It's easy to think that a fully detailed description is better, as it provides a closer representation of the writer's vision, but this isn't necessarily the case.
Add too much detail, and the described location changes from a scene to a list of attributes.
Continue reading the Original Blog Post.
6 Tips for Adding Life to Your Locations
by Nils Ödlund
Fantasy writers like to talk about world building, but what do you do once the world has been built?
One of the things I enjoy with fantasy is how it can transport me to a different world. A place that only exists in my mind. To achieve this, world building is important, but it's also important to create a sense of place for the scenes of the story.
I want the locations to feel like they could be real places – somewhere I could visit.
How to achieve that?
The basic principle is as follows: give your reader a chance to put something of themselves into the scene, and they'll make it their own.
This is what makes it come alive to them. It's no longer just a description, but a place that exists in their mind, and which they helped create themselves.
It may sound a bit whimsy, but it's not really all that complicated. Here are few tips that work for me.
Level of Detail
Do not overdo it with the descriptions. Rather than describing a location in exact detail, give the reader just enough information for them to be able to create their own impression of what it's like, and then leave it at that.
It's easy to think that a fully detailed description is better, as it provides a closer representation of the writer's vision, but this isn't necessarily the case.
Add too much detail, and the described location changes from a scene to a list of attributes.
Continue reading the Original Blog Post.
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