Locations are much like characters, each with its own unique history and culture that affects the stories written in them. A story that takes place in England will be different than a story that takes place in Australia or America. Likewise, a story with a Californian setting will have differences from a story with a New Mexico or Delaware setting. The settings, from town to state to country, in which our stories take place should influence our stories as much as the characters or the era. Differences include, but are not limited to, laws, politics, holidays celebrated, behavioral norms (what's and acceptable thing to do in Los Angeles, California may not be and acceptable activity in Cleveland Heights, Ohio or even Redding, California despite being in the same state), even how people generally dress. Knowing the location, whether real or imaginary, of a story helps a writer to infuse the story with the setting. The location sets up boundaries that a writer can choose to adhere to or break (and to prepare for the reaction in the story when the boundaries are broken).

I've begun working on my various locations for my world of Alden and, in the process of doing so, have developed a locations profile. As with my character profiles, I don't always have the answers (although I hope to eventually figure them out) for every location, but am finding that the profile gives me things to think about as I develop a place I want to use in my writing. What I learn as I develop a location then influences my revisions of the stories I write in that particular place. For example, in my current novel in progress, I did a profile of a small town and realized that the town is usually misty every morning, not very warm most of the time, and generally has some kind of breeze or wind. None of this showed up in previous drafts.

Below is the profile I've created to help me come to know the locations in which I write. It's not comprehensive, I'm sure, but it does give me quite a bit to think about as I develop the places in my world. You can download a zipped copy of this profile here.

There is one other thing that I do with some places and that's make a map. In one of my initial drafts of my novel, I had the characters walk out on thin air because I didn't have a map of the ruin to help me with the direction they were walking. Now if I expect a character to be wandering around a place for an extended period, I make a simple map on 10 squares per inch graph paper. I indicate windows, doorways, and anything else structural. Sometimes, if I want to keep something in mind for the actual writing, I also note what the room is - kitchen, living room, great hall, etc - or what objects may be in the room. And I always indicate which way is north. This way I have a visual representation that I can translate onto paper when determining where my characters can go in a specific place. Not all writers need something like this to help keep their characters from walking onto thin air, but I find it to be a definite help in my own writing.

Outline of form below last updated 09/2004. Zip last updated 09/2004.

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Name of Place

kind of place:
where located:

general weather patterns:

description of surrounding area:

description of place:

sensory - smells, sounds, etc:
touch:
smells:
sounds:
tastes:

animal/creatures present:

history:

culture, customs & society
influences:

leadership:

list of leaders/time period:

makeup of populace:
culture & customs:
languages:
deities & religion:
community celebrations:

source of revenues:
weapon laws:
magic laws:
crime, legal system:
political/social organizations:
political issues:
social issues:

housing, architecture:
relations with other places (trade, etc):

structure specifics
room/place:
description:

Novel by Novel
novel:
leaders:
other characters:
other notes: