Last week a commenter on my blog asked a question about how to research a setting you don’t know well — or one you’ve never been to at all. I had been thinking about this very thing lately!
Fantasy and science fiction writers have to go to the trouble of inventing a whole new world, but unless they have inconsistencies, nobody can say they got their facts wrong. Historical writers have to do a lot of research, but they only face criticism for inaccuracies from people who know about the period (or at least, from people who believe that they do.)
Researching real-life, present-day settings for stories is harder. Plenty of people know more about it than you do.
My romance novella Wicked Garden, which is coming out in a boxed set this fall, is set in Savannah. When I first started writing it, I didn’t realize that it was a perfect place to set my ghost story — many people consider Savannah one of the most haunted cities in the United States. In fact, I didn’t know much about Savannah at all.
I was lucky enough to get to visit Savannah this past spring, which did give me a little extra inspiration. Here are a couple of gratuitous photos — me + live oaks, and a statue in Bonaventure Cemetery.
Spending some time in the place that’s the setting for your story is ideal. However, it’s often impossible.
In the case of this story, I had already written a complete first draft before I visited Savannah. Here are a few ways I learn about places, and I bet you have some suggestions, too!
1. YouTube.
This is my number one favorite resource for researching settings. You can find all kinds of tours of cities and regions, and videos of snippets of life there. These range from professional segments made for television to casual videos with only a handful of views, which can be just as helpful. Even if you do searches on specific locales or experiences, such as restaurants or hikes, you’re likely to find something.
I’ve used Youtube to research lots of things in addition to settings: figuring out choreography for fights, understanding how to handle a Glock, and even describing a bear attack accurately. (Watching videos of bears attacking people made me feel like a horrible human being, but one does want to get this stuff right.)
2. City-Data.com.
This is specific to the United States. City-Data has a lot of forums where people ask questions like, “What is Savannah really like?” and locals give their answers. Google “city-data.com (name of your city)” and see what comes up.
3. Ex-pat blogs.
This is specific to international locations. Lots of English speakers who live in foreign countries like writing about their experiences in blogs. A good Google search for this is “blog living in (name of the place you’re researching).”
Admittedly, it might be better to read a blog about daily life from someone who grew up there. However, they might not write in English or a language you read, and because it’s just their normal life, they are less likely to blog about the details.
4. Books about living abroad and memoirs of living abroad.
Similar to the above. “Ex-pat memoir (place you’re researching)” or “living abroad (place you’re researching)” are good searches on Amazon or the Barnes and Noble website.
5. Put out a call for an expert on Facebook.
On Facebook, you’re connected to a bunch of people. All of them are also connected to a bunch of people! Post something like this:
Hi, I’m writing a story set in Armenia and I’d love to talk to someone who lives or has lived there! Please share this post. Thank you so much!
You’re likely to find somebody that you can interview. If you don’t, well, the worst thing that can happen is that you took three minutes out of your day and reminded everybody you’re a writer who works on interesting things.
6. Books and movies set in the same place as your story.
The one caveat here is that you’ll want to scan reviews and make sure that author or director got the setting right.
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Most people will forgive small mistakes. If I see a TV episode set in Kansas City and everyone is wearing cowboy hats, I roll my eyes. If they make a smaller gaffe, I don’t really care. Hey, they tried.
I don’t think the fear of making errors should keep you from choosing a setting that’s less familiar to you. One of the reasons a lot of us write is because we want to experience more than we could ever fit into one lifetime. And one of the most overlooked benefits of writing is that it spurs us to learn.
Do you have advice on researching places? I bet you do. Please share in the comments! Thanks for reading, and have a great week!
I swear to god that sometimes your posts the result of your being able to read my mind!! I was literally sitting and thinking about this very issue for a fantasy romance piece I wouldn’t mind writing about time and universe travel. For some reason I’m attached to an era and location that I actually know very little about and was problem solving how to approach that very issue!!
Thank you so much for your blog. I just love it!!
Meg, oh my gosh, thanks for the kind words 🙂 It’s funny how you can get attached to a time and place even if you don’t know much about it… I have to think there’s a deeper psychological or spiritual reason why that happens.
Good luck on your work — I’m sure you don’t need it, though!
I completely agree. Bryn has been a wealth of knowledge and experience but more than that, a constant provider of courage for me. She really does have one, if not the best, writing blogs around. My hero.
Lou, that is so kind! I want to print out your comment 😀 Thank you so much. You made my day!
Love this! In all honesty, I hadn’t thought of YouTube so thank you for that. Most of my main series is set in a fictional village I created that’s set in an area I’ve been to and near I city I’ve been to but, still, I find myself scouring Google maps for plausible scene locations (real or at businesses I make up), distances (so I can get timing right), building descriptions and so on. I’ve actually had a reader from the area comment about how much he enjoyed reading a story set in his ‘old stomping grounds’.
It’s hard work to get it right but the payoff is when a reader notices the effort in a good way.
Anne, that is a pretty great compliment from a reader! I never heard of that before — a fictional village outlying a real city. That’s pretty brilliant.
This is a great post! I never considered YouTube, even though now that you’ve mentioned it, it seems totally obvious. lol.
So far, most everything I’ve written is set someplace that I’ve been, or similar enough that I feel safe describing it.
Taking a day trip out to the site where the town of Canyon Diablo once stood was pretty exciting for me. Even though there isn’t much left of it but for a few crumbling walls, it helped me feel connected to the place and the people who once lived there.
I’ve never heard of Canyon Diablo… I will have to look that up! That sounds so cool 🙂
Great Advice Bryn! I have Googled the city/towns before; landscape; community information, etc. I have also watched movies (The Summer of ’42 for example) to get details on the above information and clothing, house decorations etc. I have been fortunate enough to visit New England a few times for details as well. I never thought of YouTube or other blogs though. Thanks for the information. Have a great week!
Hi Cheryl! Movies can be so helpful for period pieces… and it’s so great to get the chance to really visit a place.Thanks so much for commenting — have a great week yourself!
I can relate to your weird feeling watching videos of bear attacks. When I wrote a centaur erotica story, I too felt a little weird when I discovered how many videos there are of horses mating.
HAHAHA oh my goodness.
I like reading these blog posts but I do not agree with this as advice for serious writers — a YouTube traveler really can’t convey the magical qualities of a place. I appreciate the fact that there are imaginative writers but there is no substitution for experience. Often when people write about places and things they don’t know it really shows. You can’t cover up anything in fiction. The truth seeps through. Even when we write what we know it is very hard to put on a good show.
Hi Ephrat! I can respect that point of view. Thanks so much for reading and for communing!
And… how many bestsellers have you written? Ahh, that’s right, none! I think “serious writers” will take what they can get, be it blog posts, travel magazines, or even YouTube clips. Serious writers aren’t too snooty to turn down a potential source of information because it’s not their taste. They do whatever they can to research their topic. Not everyone has the income to travel everywhere they want to write about. Serious writers also don’t talk down to other serious writers when they use different methods of research than each other. And the last time I checked, writing fiction is ALL ABOUT using your imagination. That’s why it’s called fiction. It’s cute how you’re trying to act all wise though. Better luck next time!
Thank you so much for this one! Exactly where I am at right now. Can’t imagine what a stranger would think of all the bookmarks and saved articles I have on the computer from researching for my writing….witchcraft, serial killings, folklore and healing, Fae….it goes on and on lol. Never even thought about youtube of all things duh!
Hey Yvonne, oh my goodness, I know what you mean… I have secret Pinterest boards for research that are filled with crazy things! 😀 Thanks for reading!
When I need to know more about a place I haven’t been to I virtually walk around the place using street view on Google maps.
Jennifer, I have never thought of that… that is such a good idea!
Confession: I am somewhat lazy when it comes to research. I did a sci-fi erotica story, which I wanted to be set somewhere with legalized prostitution. I did visit some Vegas-area brothel websites, but I’ve never been to Vegas myself. My solution was to use what little knowledge I have picked up through pop culture and create a fictional version of Vegas (with a new name), where I didn’t have to sweat the details. I think people are imagining Vegas when they read the story, and that’s good enough for me. In the comic book world, Marvel uses mostly real cities, whereas DC uses fictional versions. Spiderman is set in NY, Superman is set in Metropolis, etc. I think it does become somewhat problematic when your story stretches beyond a local setting into the world at large, because then people start to feel the need to directly relate. For instance, when Superman leaves Metropolis, what state is he in? Depending on the genre and writing style, this might be off-putting for people. I am somewhat of an absurdist myself, so I don’t think people expect accuracy. I mean, the “science” in my sci-fi erotica is completely preposterous, so the settings are probably not scrutinized too much.
Ryan, I … never thought about where Superman is when he leaves Metropolis, and that kind of freaks me out. 😀 An alternate-universe Vegas, that is so cool!
Bryn, thank you for this post. You have given some great advice – and several avenues of research that I had not even considered. The book that I am currently working on is a western that takes place in several different locations. One of my characters has been hired to deliver a package from Las Cruces, New Mexico to a fictitious town in west Texas. Not being personally familiar with the area, I had to do a lot of research. One thing that I found very helpful was to use Google Maps (particularly the satellite view) to see what the terrain and the geological features of the area were like. If my character was going to travel twenty-five miles in a particular day, I could see which mountains or rivers he would encounter, or which mesa he would be likely to camp on for the night. I also try to use actual copies of period maps if I can find them, but Google also works because geological features don’t change that much over relatively short periods of time. A mountain that was there in 1873 is probably still there.
Michael, I can’t believe I never thought about Google Maps before! That’s so brilliant. With a Western especially, I would think knowing the literal lay of the land would be so helpful.
“A mountain that was there in 1873 is probably still there” — that made me laugh. 🙂
I use Google maps too, but I also check out what street cameras might be around. Some of my books are based in Washington DC where there are lots of cameras. It gives a good feel for how busy streets are at certain times, what kind of cars are common, lighting at night, and other things you may not notice on Google maps.
Alison, that is so interesting! I never would have thought of that. Thank you!
Great tips. I use Google Street View in some of my books to describe buildings and streets that I might have visited at one time, but don’t have a vivid memory of the details.
I am definitely going to start doing this. 🙂 Thanks for commenting, Don!
Thank you so much Bryn! I really really love the fact that you took out time to answer my query. This post really solved most of my problems. I love your blog so much. All the love❤️❤️
– M. K
Yay! So glad you liked it. You raised such a great topic!
Bryn, it’s funny you should mention youtube. I use it all the time. One story I was working on took place at a cabin during the winter where they rode snow mobiles. I was born and raised in Florida so needless to say, my knowledge of snow mobiles was zero, nada. On youtube, I not only saw how they darted through the snow and how you have to lean with them, but I got to see how to operate and load it on a trailer. I was amazed to learn you can water hop ponds with them…LOL It was really cool! But the point is, my story was believable and I didn’t cringe with the details. I have also used youtube documentaries and movie trailers for details and information. I use city web pages to learn about what plants, flowers, trees, animals, birds and insects are native in that area. We can’t always visit the places we write about and it’s amazing how much information is out there.
Tammy — that is awesome. Research like that takes time but it really pays off!
I love the idea of city web pages, too.
Thanks for commenting!
This has to be the most helpful and great way to create a story, just using this information to benefits writer’s imagination to either to choose a place they want for their story or create a place or a world by being inspired by place, city, and culture.
Thank you so much, Bryn.
Hi, Nismah! Thanks so much for reading, and for the kind words — so glad you liked it!
Great article, Bryn! I’ll add these resources to my growing list! I believe setting is very important to a story and should be treated with the same (okay – almost) care and attention as character and plot.
Heck, sometimes the setting almost is a character, right? Thanks so much for reading, and for the kind words, Jack!
Wow, that’s what I was exploring for, what a material!
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Hey, you’re very welcome! Glad you found it helpful! Follow the blog if you want to get future posts about writing — there’s a place you can sign up on the lefthand side of the page. Thanks for commenting!
#5 is a great tip. I recently finished a book set partially in London in the 1950s-60s. I’ve been to the city several times (I’ve got family there), but of course it’s very different now. There’s a page on Facebook I follow that posts old photos of it. A lot of commenters shared reminisces, which gave me some ideas. And one of the other followers agreed to answer any questions I had. He helped me a lot–and I made a new friend in the bargain! 😀
Hi I’m writing a thriller which is based on the place newyork. so i want to know the place there.. what should I do
I second the YoutTube suggestion! I am writing a novel that will partly take place in India. Now, I lived in India for 9 months last year so I have that on my side; HOWEVER, at the time I didn’t think I was going to ever get the gumption to attempt to write a novel (my background is in journalism) so it’s not like I took notes or anything, lol. So, I turned to YouTube and found tons of videos people have taken at the same locations I plan on using in my book. It has been so helpful (along with some of my own photos and videos).