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Basic Writing questions is not a crit forum. All crits belong in Share Your Work
How can i write about a area that i have never visited?
- Thread starter HGDaGr8One
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I guess I did not mention that but that is what I plan on doing. That is the beauty of fiction. A New Orleans flavor from some simple research. There will be nitpickers regardless but it is the nature of the beast.
What kind of person nitpicks fiction? It's not even real.
It has been along time since I asked for advice on this thread. After taking everything into consideration I put together the part of the story that would describe how a New Orleanz neighborhood would look. Thank you all for your helpful replies.
While writing I ran into a dilemma...how would I write the way they speak in the NOLA?
While writing I ran into a dilemma...how would I write the way they speak in the NOLA?
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I say this about all accents/dialects - give the reader the flavor of the speech rather than try for verbatim. Don't make your readers have to translate.
This thread reaaaaally makes me want to go back to New Orleans. That place knows how to have a good time.
Use the power of Google, young Jedi. For truth is knowledge, and knowledge can set you free, and freedom comes at a price, and...
Aw sheepshit, make something up!
Seriously, if you're going to write about a place you've never been to, do that research. There are Wikipedias for everything, travel brochures, library books...you name it, it's there. In my own novels, I use places that I've never been to mainly as a jumpoff point to alien worlds. Most often I set my initial action in Portland, Oregon. Why there? Honestly, couldn't tell you. I've never visited nor do I know anyone from there, but when I started writing my first novel, something inside me said "Portland" so I went with it.
That's just me. If you're going to base most of the action in and around a place (i.e. Nawlins) then you best get those street names right. Restaurant names or hotel names can be changed, but the interior description from travelogues can be used as a basis. Not plagiarising, mind, just as a basis.
As for the accent, I can't even guess, so doing an approximation should serve well enough. As someone said, the 'flavor' should be enough. Doing too much imitation might make the characters sound like parodies.
Aw sheepshit, make something up!
Seriously, if you're going to write about a place you've never been to, do that research. There are Wikipedias for everything, travel brochures, library books...you name it, it's there. In my own novels, I use places that I've never been to mainly as a jumpoff point to alien worlds. Most often I set my initial action in Portland, Oregon. Why there? Honestly, couldn't tell you. I've never visited nor do I know anyone from there, but when I started writing my first novel, something inside me said "Portland" so I went with it.
That's just me. If you're going to base most of the action in and around a place (i.e. Nawlins) then you best get those street names right. Restaurant names or hotel names can be changed, but the interior description from travelogues can be used as a basis. Not plagiarising, mind, just as a basis.
As for the accent, I can't even guess, so doing an approximation should serve well enough. As someone said, the 'flavor' should be enough. Doing too much imitation might make the characters sound like parodies.
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Google Street view is your friend, and Yelp, and so are forums with members all over the world, and YouTube videos, and documentaries at your public library, and the tourist agency of the place concerned . . .
All that said—you can invent a place that doesn't actually exist and place it in fairly vague geographic terms, but use place you do know for inspiration . . .
Or you can even write about life on Mars.
All that said—you can invent a place that doesn't actually exist and place it in fairly vague geographic terms, but use place you do know for inspiration . . .
Or you can even write about life on Mars.
Even worse, trying for too much authenticity opens the door to making mistakes that anyone from there will point to and laugh.
Use idioms, not pronunciation. You can get an idea of current idioms from New Orleans broadcast news, and Internet Radio, and even Treme, the series.
You can always Google New Orleans Dialect—and notice that there are several.
I did this for my first novel, which was set in Brighton Beach, New York. I'm Australian and hadn't been to New York at that point, though I had been to the USA.
If you're writing in an unfamiliar location, you have to satisfy the six senses of yourself and the reader to get it right:
- Touch
- Smell
- Taste (of the air, water, or food if there's food involved)
- Sound
- Sight
- 'Vibe' or energy
'Vibe' is the feeling a particular place has, and it is the hardest to get right if you haven't been there. Some places just 'feel' a certain way. It is an intuitive, partly subjective thing. It's partly based on the preconceptions you have of a place, and of the combination of environmental factors.
For example, a forest in France and a forest in Germany 'feel' completely different to me. German trees often have really dark bark, black soil, and luridly green canopies in comparison to the trunks. The effect makes it very dark and close at ground level, with shocks of color in the canopy. In France, the soil is lighter and sandier, and the trees are much paler. French forests have a breezy, open feel... even when both forests have very similar species of tree.
To find out about smell, you're best off hunting down a local and asking them about it.
Google Maps streetview, research on the neighbourhood, and YouTube videos (look for your neighbourhood there) can pretty much fill in the rest.
On saying that, I was able to nail Brighton Beach to about 95% accuracy. The other 5%, I was able to fill in when I got there. That was a REALLY surreal experience.
If you're writing in an unfamiliar location, you have to satisfy the six senses of yourself and the reader to get it right:
- Touch
- Smell
- Taste (of the air, water, or food if there's food involved)
- Sound
- Sight
- 'Vibe' or energy
'Vibe' is the feeling a particular place has, and it is the hardest to get right if you haven't been there. Some places just 'feel' a certain way. It is an intuitive, partly subjective thing. It's partly based on the preconceptions you have of a place, and of the combination of environmental factors.
For example, a forest in France and a forest in Germany 'feel' completely different to me. German trees often have really dark bark, black soil, and luridly green canopies in comparison to the trunks. The effect makes it very dark and close at ground level, with shocks of color in the canopy. In France, the soil is lighter and sandier, and the trees are much paler. French forests have a breezy, open feel... even when both forests have very similar species of tree.
To find out about smell, you're best off hunting down a local and asking them about it.
Google Maps streetview, research on the neighbourhood, and YouTube videos (look for your neighbourhood there) can pretty much fill in the rest.
On saying that, I was able to nail Brighton Beach to about 95% accuracy. The other 5%, I was able to fill in when I got there. That was a REALLY surreal experience.
Easy answer, write what you know. Pick a setting you have been to. Hard answer--Do a ton of research and hope for the best. It is entirely possible to pull it off, but even google and books and other guides will never give you the same sense as actually visiting it. I would ask why you decided to set your story in a place you have never been, what your plans are for this story (publication hopes?) and advise you to make it as easy on yourself as possible. I once wrote a story about Allentown Pennsylvania, having never been there because I thought it would be fun and challenging. Now that story is laid to rest deep in the depths of my memory, never to surface again. I did research, but I never fully felt connected to the setting.
good luck
good luck
Research, research, research! I find it one of the most rewarding things about writing something. Although most people tend to write 'what they know' its always good once and awhile to write something a little alien to you so you research and learn stuff.
I'd also watch tv shows too. While not always accurate, they can give you a decent portrait of a place. Read biographies of people who lived there, and books written in that area (If you're writing about Dublin you could probably use James Joyce as your only resource).
Research, research, research! I find it one of the most rewarding things about writing something. Although most people tend to write 'what they know' its always good once and awhile to write something a little alien to you so you research and learn stuff.
Researching can be an adventure on its own.
I'm not a fan of baseball or sports in general, but one of my characters likes baseball so now I gotta do a ton of baseball research. It's like going to a different planet.
On the contrary, I am focusing mainly on the Red Sox. So if anyone has a hook up, let me know.
Stephenie Meyer wrote Twilight without ever setting foot in Forks. I don't remember much of the descriptions she used, other than it rained a lot (which is easily googleable). It's all about how you execute it. You could, after all, just mention that it's set in New Orleans and people will assume that (though a touch of detail wouldn't hurt!). At least that's what I tell myself when I get to the ever so tricky 'I've never been there but I want to write about it!' issue. I wrote a story set in California without having set foot there and a reader asked me if I was a local . tl;dr - don't panic, take deep breaths, you can do it.
P.S. THIS website is an absolute godsend.
. tl;dr - don't panic, take deep breaths, you can do it.P.S. THIS website is an absolute godsend.
Sounds like a plan. Give'em flavor and not verbatim. I will give that one a go. Thank You.
- Touch
- Smell
- Taste (of the air, water, or food if there's food involved)
- Sound
- Sight
- 'Vibe' or energy
Those are elements that I like to incorporate into my writing. I like to take the reader there threw the reading. I'm going to just make up a place that is like New Orleans but not.
Stephenie Meyer wrote Twilight without ever setting foot in Forks. I don't remember much of the descriptions she used, other than it rained a lot (which is easily googleable). It's all about how you execute it. You could, after all, just mention that it's set in New Orleans and people will assume that (though a touch of detail wouldn't hurt!). At least that's what I tell myself when I get to the ever so tricky 'I've never been there but I want to write about it!' issue. I wrote a story set in California without having set foot there and a reader asked me if I was a local
P.S. THIS website is an absolute godsend.
If possible I would definitely go to the location, but you can remedy it through other means.
An old quote, I think by Faulkner, mentions that from Observation, Experience, and Imagination, you need at least two of those to write well.
If you ain't got the experience, observe and imagine.
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