Five tips for 'setting' the setting | National Centre for Writing | NCW

Visit your setting.

If possible, go to the setting itself. Even if your story takes place somewhere familiar, go visit. Sometimes we think we know a place, but when we visit again with our characters' preoccupations in mind, we see it differently. Take a field trip and challenge yourself to notice ten things you hadn't realised before about the place. If your setting is inaccessible - perhaps it's too distant or only exists in the past - there are other ways of visiting. For example, photos, newspapers, maps, documentaries and archives all offer ways of accessing a faraway time or space. As for imaginary or speculative settings, coupling real images and resources with imagined concepts can be a delightful pathway into world-building.