One of the advantages of setting a story in your home town or city is that you can bring in a lot of local color. Perhaps you love your landscape, or perhaps you thinks it’s drab and uninteresting, but whatever it is skillful depiction of it will engage the reader. And writers often see what others don’t until they have it described to them. For instance, a commuter might see the same people and places everyday on their journey to work without giving much thought to them, but when they read a story about those very same people and places they are suddenly brought to life.

In the new novel I’m working on, I’ve included some descriptions of my city’s landmarks and the landscape of nearby semi-rural areas. It’s important not to just describe the landscape for the sake of it, but to make it an organic part of the story. Something that is just as integral to it as the characters, the plot and the narrative.

Look around at your familiar world and see what might be worthwhile adding to your own stories.

Posted on May 20th, 2009 by Pat Turner
Filed under: News