Thank you William. Im writing a story for my own benefit based in Crewe. "Crewe?" my wife asked. She said no one will ever want to read about Crewe. She's right of course, but my character used to work in the railway sheds and moans now about modern life. I love learning about the way the carriages were build. I'm also writing another story based in the Caribbean to do with Slavery. Every day is a school day. My wife think I'm weird. So my locations allow me to learn about it rather than provide a good location.
Nice points. Saruman couldn't have wreaked believable world shattering terror from the castle of a fairy princess. If everything in a story has the job of furthering the tale, then location must do its part, too. Passive voice should also have no place in a powerfully written story, but I couldn't decide between "a fairy princess' castle" and "a fairy princess's castle." I could have settled on a whole herd of them with joint title and used "a fairy princesses's castle" but I hate to put that much wear and tear on my S key. So, the castle of a fairy princess, passive as it may be, will have to do. Looking forward to Location, Location, and Location, Location, To Be Announced.
I said something similar on your previous Workshop video, but the way I approach stories, I view characters and settings as different aspects of the same general thing. Of course there are exceptions, because there always are. But in most stories, the characters are going to be a product of the world they live in. If you're writing a story set in Houston, Texas for example, it'd be odd if everyone spoke with Brummie accents, with no explanation. Not saying it can't work, but... it'd be a choice. As such, when I'm developing a story, there's a constant back-and-forth between setting and character. Whichever one I begin with, I reverse engineer the story to fit around that and flesh things out.
And sometimes, the location is like a character in the story. Think of the movie Twilight, or The Island. The locations of those stories added so much to the story. And I think location needs to be clarified more distinctly in scripts, but it's also important in novels. I'm reminded of a line from Star Trek, the Next Generation, when Captain Picard says, "When I leave town, the town leaves with me." So often in science fiction, the setting is a spaceship, where we're surrounded by technology, and dependent on. it. Think of the movie Alien. Trapped on a ship with a hostile and powerful life form. Location is crucial there. It would have been an entirely different story if the location were different. And the location in Arrival greatly contributed to that story. Again, it would have been a different tale in another location. So yeah, we agree. Perhaps it might be worth an episode to talk about when location becomes a character in the story, or the equivalent of one. That would be an interesting video.
Thank you William. Im writing a story for my own benefit based in Crewe. "Crewe?" my wife asked. She said no one will ever want to read about Crewe. She's right of course, but my character used to work in the railway sheds and moans now about modern life. I love learning about the way the carriages were build. I'm also writing another story based in the Caribbean to do with Slavery. Every day is a school day. My wife think I'm weird. So my locations allow me to learn about it rather than provide a good location.
Location: Washington, D.C.
Date: January 20, 2025
Characters and Plot: I'll let you take it from there....
Nice points. Saruman couldn't have wreaked believable world shattering terror from the castle of a fairy princess. If everything in a story has the job of furthering the tale, then location must do its part, too.
Passive voice should also have no place in a powerfully written story, but I couldn't decide between "a fairy princess' castle" and "a fairy princess's castle." I could have settled on a whole herd of them with joint title and used "a fairy princesses's castle" but I hate to put that much wear and tear on my S key. So, the castle of a fairy princess, passive as it may be, will have to do.
Looking forward to Location, Location, and Location, Location, To Be Announced.
I said something similar on your previous Workshop video, but the way I approach stories, I view characters and settings as different aspects of the same general thing. Of course there are exceptions, because there always are. But in most stories, the characters are going to be a product of the world they live in. If you're writing a story set in Houston, Texas for example, it'd be odd if everyone spoke with Brummie accents, with no explanation. Not saying it can't work, but... it'd be a choice.
As such, when I'm developing a story, there's a constant back-and-forth between setting and character. Whichever one I begin with, I reverse engineer the story to fit around that and flesh things out.
You might need a little heater in there!
And sometimes, the location is like a character in the story. Think of the movie Twilight, or The Island. The locations of those stories added so much to the story. And I think location needs to be clarified more distinctly in scripts, but it's also important in novels.
I'm reminded of a line from Star Trek, the Next Generation, when Captain Picard says, "When I leave town, the town leaves with me." So often in science fiction, the setting is a spaceship, where we're surrounded by technology, and dependent on. it. Think of the movie Alien. Trapped on a ship with a hostile and powerful life form. Location is crucial there. It would have been an entirely different story if the location were different. And the location in Arrival greatly contributed to that story. Again, it would have been a different tale in another location.
So yeah, we agree. Perhaps it might be worth an episode to talk about when location becomes a character in the story, or the equivalent of one. That would be an interesting video.
Also, the location app, no?
Great tip. Easy to fake and lull the reader into thinking you're the absolute expert in (fake world).