Question of location for contemporary fiction

[Coldboots]

I've been languishing in various fantasy genres for most of the time I've been writing (which has been mostly recreational, as in forum-based roleplays and such for an embarrassing amount of years). Anyway, the main roadblock I come up against when trying to write in contemporary fiction, is writing about a real place. I could write from experiences that are purely personal, but my life is boring. Halp.

Seriously, does anyone even try to write about a location that is foreign to their understanding? I feel this is my greatest weakness in general, that I can't seem to break out of the fantasy mold and accomplish something in the literary world. I enjoy fantasy, but fear I'm suffering burn out and have never really finished any useable projects.

Halp, please send halp.

 

[Garren Jacobsen]

I'm afraid I don't quite understand your question. Are you having a problem writing an unfamiliar real world place or an unfamiliar fake world place?

 

[Coldboots]

I'm afraid I don't quite understand your question. Are you having a problem writing an unfamiliar real world place or an unfamiliar fake world place?

Apologies, in trying to be cute and coming off a bit desperate, I failed to clarify exactly what I was asking.

A little of both. I could make up a fictional place that's unfamiliar in theme to what I'm used to dealing with. What I'm concerned about is lack of life experience getting in the way of the creative process, and causing me to tell boring stories.

I could also write about real places that I haven't experienced. I could research them, and then risk my writing coming off a bit clinical in details.

I don't know what I'm trying to say. A friend once told me that from the age of eight or so we've all have experienced and suffered everything we need to develop a creative process. But I still feel this block and need to understand everything about what I'm talking about.

I could write about a young green character in a strange place, and come away with some credulity in his/her inexperience. But I don't want to get cornered into the young adult space, simply for... reasons, although I shouldn't be concerned with achieving such success when it's so far away from me.

Well, whatever anyone has to say about this, thanks for reading anyway, whether you leave advice is up to you.

 

[Brian G Turner]

I could write from experiences that are purely personal, but my life is boring.

Well - get some more life experience - and travel more, for starters.

At some point a writer has to make a leap of faith, by using experience analogously to write something that could not realistically be experienced. For example, few SF writers have probably been on a FTL ship. And few of us are likely to visit the mediaeval period.

But - on the latter point - there are historical places and events you can go to which will help make it feel more alive. Literally put yourself into those situations. If you're anywhere around the Mediterranean then ancieint ruins abound. But even in North America there are apparently plenty of "medieval/renaissance fayres" you can visit for an idea of living history.

Experience, then extrapolate. And, although writing is a solitary process, don't cut yourself off entirely from the real world.

2c.

 

[Penpilot]

Experience, then extrapolate. And, although writing is a solitary process, don't cut yourself off entirely from the real world.

Yep, I totally agree.

I'd also like to point out, writing in a young adult head space is a life experience you could use in your later writing in many different ways. Just because you start off writing one thing doesn't mean you can't explore other things later on.

IMHO, writing is about taking personal experience and translating that into story experience for your characters. I'm probably never going to ride a rocket into space, but I can use my experience riding amusement park rides as a basis for describing how it feels to ride a rocket.

And finally, we all have to start somewhere. More likely than not, it's at the ground floor, especially when it comes to emotions and the like. The stuff I write now, I couldn't write when I was younger because I was a different person. Unfortunately the only way to gain experience is to experience.

 

[Garren Jacobsen]

As fiction writers, especially fantasy fiction, we need to develop the skill of extrapolation, as Brian G. Turner noted. That skill is critical to world building. However, another important skill is the ability to smash things together. In terms of locations look at places that you have been to. They have a character. That character is based on buildings, streets, and most importantly people. Now try to abstract this out to general ideas. Run down buildings indicate a higher propensity for crime and indicates a poor socio economic level. Similar to poorly made streets. And the people there will have a higher percentage of criminals, due to desperate circumstances. How exactly the streets, buildings, and people look is just window dressing.

To sum up, look at your own experiences (and keep experiencing things), consider defining characteristics of areas you've been to, abstract these characteristics to usable principles, mash the principles together with your general setting and see what comes out.

 

[Incanus]

I agree with the above advice. I would add to it: read more, read wider, read smarter. See how other writers (especially those you admire) are handling these things. Writing fiction is, in a way, building on all the fiction that came before. Build up a solid foundation, familiarizing yourself with the conventions of general and genre fiction.

Also, understand and acknowledge that writing is a loooooooong-term commitment. It's like filling up a bucket one drop at a time.

 

[CupofJoe]

You can make just about anything fantastical... Even the most mundane and normal locations.
If you take the locations of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" on Dartmoor and divide the distances by five, it becomes a map of common and moorland near Arthur Conan Doyle's home in Surrey. He apparently never went to Dartmoor...
Multiply his dimensions by five and you have some very rugged fantastical landscape.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Writers do homework for a living, be that through books or in-person experiences. Guidebooks and travel documentaries are your friends when researching locations on a budget. Also this tutorial by Rachel Aaron is right useful in making fantasy maps out of existing ones, especially when one writes urban fantasy as I do.

Pretentious Title: Tutorial: How to make your own fictional city using Google Maps!