Create a Sense of Place When You Write

 

When we write fiction or memoir, a sense of place should hold a significant spot. Many How-To books on writing offer special exercises on this important part of a story or a memoir, or even an essay. I have posted two photos today that are totally different places. Anyone writing about either one would have plenty to work with.

At one of my online conferences, one of the workshop presenters spoke for nearly an hour on a sense of place, and then she had us do a ten-minute exercise highlighting same. She was the editor of a travel website, so who would put a priority on a sense of place more than someone in her position? Her presentation and exercise left an impression on me. 

I recently subbed a memory piece to my online writing group. When the critiques came back, I noticed one glaring thing. A sense of place was there but not strong enough. Part of that error was that I knew the place so well that I transported myself there as I wrote but I didn't bring my reader into the place with me. They are not mind-readers so it's up to me, the writer, to give them a clear picture of where the story happened. This is probably the most important point in today's post.

Some Points About a Sense of Place:

A. It draws the reader into the story, takes them to another world than the one they are in.

B. It helps let readers know how characters feel about where they are. It's not only a description of where the story happens.

C. The writer should use specifics to give a sense of place. Don't just say there were animals. Name them. Let the reader see the elephants, the zebras and giraffes in the game reserve. 

D. Dialogue specific to the place helps give that sense of place. Consider the Scottish brogue or the idioms used by the mountain folk in Virginia. 

My husband and I visited Peggy's Cove in Nova Scotia several years ago. The place is so picturesque and has a sad history, as well. I was so taken with it that I wrote a personal essay about our visit. The good part about writing the essay is that it gave me something to also use in a fiction piece. If I had a character who visited Peggy's Cove, I know that I could give my readers a real sense of place. 

When you write a short story or a novel, what happens and to whom is important, but where it takes place ranks high on the must-include list. Give some thought to a sense of place when you write. 

As an exercise, write a paragraph or two using each of the photos included here. Use sensory details to help bring your reader into what you have written.

 

Bring a Sense of Place Into Your Writing

Several years ago, I listened to an editor of a travel magazine give a presentation on the sense of place in writing. I'd never given a great deal of thought to the topic, but ever since, it is something I watch for in my writing and others' work, as well. 

When we weave a sense of place into our short stories, books, and personal essays, we give the reader a clear picture. I recently read a book that left me wondering about the physical characteristics of one of the main characters. I wanted to 'see' her more clearly. It's possible that I could relate to her and the story better than I did. It's the same when we bring a sense of place into our work. We want the reader to feel like they were there, that they can see the place where the story happens very well.

Don't spend several paragraphs describing the place where the action occurs. That's telling and a bit boring. Show the place as you weave bits and pieces into your story.

Place does not always have to be a state, country, or land. It can be a block, a neighborhood, a house, a business, or even one small room. Place is what surrounds your characters. It may even make your characters act a certain way. 

I grew up in a 3-story apartment building that housed around 65 singles, couples, or families--mostly families. That building affected my life in many ways. Below are two paragraphs from one of my family stories that might illustrate this point. It's about a special lunch we always had at least once when my grandmother was visiting. 

(From Love on a Plate)

I lived furthest from school so traveled alone on the final two blocks. The sight of our large red-brick apartment building usually made my stomach growl with hunger. I'd walk a little faster, adding a hop, skip, and a jump now and then. Cars rumbled past on the brick street, and trains that ran parallel to the road often rolled and clattered by. Our vestibule doorway was one of seven entryways surrounding the formal grassy courtyard in the center of the U-shaped building. My degree of hunger set the pace as I scurried around the bushes and green area that led to our entrance.

I knew the day that  Grandma made a special lunch had arrived when the aroma of hot date muffins greeted me the moment I opened the vestibule door. At the first sniff, my heart skipped a beat, and I felt a flutter of excitement deep inside my stomach. My nose twitched with genuine pleasure as the scent of the hot muffins floated down all three flights of stairs. My feet slid quickly across the cold, tiled entryway door to the softer, carpeted stairs. My fingers touched the smooth stairway railing only once or twice as I flew up the steps to the third floor following that ever-stronger fragrance.

I wanted to show the reader the place where we lived as well as the joy of the day Grandma made date muffins for lunch. My home was different than many of my classmates who lived in single dweller homes. Some lived in what we called a 'two-flat' which had one apartment on the ground floor and one on the second. 

The place where you lived as a child has great bearing on your family stories. Whether it was a farm, a ranch, by the seashore, or in a big city makes a great deal of difference in those stories you tell about your growing-up years. 

Don't tell us that Ella walked through a forest. Give us a sense of what that forest was like. Show us how the forest affected Ella as she walked. If Phillip is running away from the bad guys in a tenement area of a major city, that place influences what he does, where he goes, and whether he escapes or not. 

Place can almost be considered another character when you are writing fiction or even a family story. Give place the importance it deserves. 

 

A Sense of Place in Writing

Where in the world is...?

This morning a friend who lives and writes in Australia made a comment on a Facebook post citing a question she'd been asked. The person wanted to know whether my friend thought the plot more important than the characters or vice-versa. She replied that, after thinking about it, she would put a sense of place before either plot or characters. She said she needed that first before the others. It grounded her.

It made me think about the importance that place has in our writing. We have the entire world to choose from, and sci-fi writers can even create a whole new world in their stories. 

Place in writing includes the physical environment, culture, social, and even time. To give a reader a feeling for where what you're writing about occurs, you need strong description. To strengthen description, use sensory details. Remember to show rather than tell if you want your reader to feel the place. 

When do you do this? There are fiction writers who spend the first few pages describing the setting with no character involved, no problem appearing. If they write beautiful prose, a reader might enjoy that. My personal reaction would be let's get on with the story. This kind of opening might not hook a great number of readers, some yes, but many would get impatient. 

Instead, weave the sense of place within the plot and the characters. Bits and pieces of place add up to the reader knowing exactly where the story happens. Readers are wanting to know whether it is urban or rural or a wild, uninhabited area. They need to be able to pinpoint the time the story starts--present, past, or future. The area culture and social mores come into play when working on giving a sense of place.

At one of the writing conferences my critique group held, we had a session on creating a sense of place. The presenter gave us ten minutes to write about anything we wanted but to give a distinct sense of place. Several read their offerings aloud, and each one had brought us to somewhere different. In only a few paragraphs, we learned a great deal. That was because we all concentrated on including place as the number one element, but when we went back home, did we all give it the same importance? 

Even so, her presentation made us very aware of the significance of place in our writing. You might google sense of place in writing to read further on this topic. 

Writers--Consider A Sense of Place

When we write fiction or memoir, a sense of place holds a significant spot. Many How-To books on writing offer special exercises on this important part of a story or a memoir, or even an essay. I have posted two photos today that are totally different places. Anyone writing about either one would have plenty to work with.

At one of my online conferences, one of the workshop presenters spoke for nearly an hour on a sense of place and then she had us do a ten-minute exercise highlighting same. She was the editor of a travel website and who would put a priority on a sense of place more than someone in her position? Her presentation and exercise left an impression on me. 

I recently subbed a memory piece to my online writing group. When the critiques came back, I noticed one glaring thing. A sense of place was there but not strong enough. Part of that error was that I knew the place so well that I transported myself there as I wrote but I didn't bring my reader into the place with me. They are not mind-readers so it's up to me, the writer, to give them a clear picture of where the story happened.

Some points about a sense of place:

• It draws the reader into the story, takes them to another world than the one they are in.
• It helps let readers know how characters feel about where they are. It's not only a description of where the story happens.
• The writer should use specifics to give a sense of place. Don't just say there were animals. Name them. Let the reader see the elephants, the zebras and giraffes in the game reserve. 
• Dialogue specific to the place helps give that sense of place. Consider the Scottish brogue or the idioms used by the mountain folk in Virginia. 

My husband and I visited Peggy's Cove in Nova Scotia several years ago. The place is so picturesque and has a sad history, as well. I was so taken with it that I wrote a personal essay about our visit. The good part about writing the essay is that it gave me something to also use in a fiction piece. If I had a character who visited Peggy's Cove, I know that I could give my readers a real sense of place. You can read the essay here.

When you write a short story or a novel, what happens and to who is important but where it takes place ranks high on the must-include list. Give some thought to a sense of place when you write. 

Travels And Thoughts of Writing

We left Sikeston, MO on an overcast, showery morning. I knew we'd cross the Mississippi River but didn't realize we'd also go over a bridge on the Ohio River, too. The two rivers meet with Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky around them. It was kind of neat and it made me think about the importance of place when we write. Had I enough time, I could have written much about my feelings while crossing these two mighty rivers and could have described the place better. But I didn't have paper and pen handy and we were past the area too quickly. I will definitely remember this event, however.

We drove only a short way in Kentucky, then spent most of our day driving across the length of Tennessee. The picture above is a good one to show much of the scenery we saw today. Once again, the sense of place in writing came to mind. Magnificent scenery which could bring forth so many wonderful adjectives and sensory details.

We left the highway and drove into the small community of Baxter, TN at lunchtime. We'd seen The Whistle Stop Cafe on a sign as we neared the exit. The quaint restaurant was across from an old train station and not terribly inviting on the outside. Inside, it was really cute and cozy. Lots of framed photos on the walls of trains and the station and more from long ago. We ordered a small pizza to share and enjoyed both the pizza and the local color provided by other diners. Once again, the sense of place came to mind.

Characterization also came to light as I watched the various people in the diner. A little boy with beautful auburn hair, another who had lost his front teeth--both caught my eye, mostly because I am working on a new story for kids.

We spent the night in Newport, TN at a Best Western Hotel that is old but totally renovated and very nice. I watched several people unloading and entering their rooms. All from other states and all have a story to tell, most likely. 

Even when we travel, I cannot stop using my writer's mind. Sometimes, it's all I can do to keep myself from starting a conversation with these strangers to find out more about them. As we left our hotel this morning, 4 men were standing by their car with the hatch opened. I noticed they had a Florida plate and hunting gear stowed in back. We started chatting and it turned out they were on their way to South Dakota to hunt pheasants. Wish I'd had more time to chat with them and learn more about each one. 

Wednesday, we arrive at the home of one of my brothers. Family stories on tap, for sure.

Where The Heck Are We?

Harbor in Falmouth, Cornwall UK

A lot has been written about paying attention to the sense of place in the stories we write. Only yesterday, I read a good article highlighting the topic in the October issue of The Writer magazine. Last spring, at my critique group's conference, one of our outside speakers (as opposed to members in the group who spoke) was an editor who discussed the importance of place in writing. She gave us some exercises which we did on the spot. 

Several read what they'd written aloud. As the words floated through the room, the rest of us gained some terrific mental pictures. We knew exactly the kind of place the writer was transporting us to. We could hear it, see it in our mind, almost smell it. Sensory details are of great use in establishing place.

When you begin to read a short story or a novel, or even a memoir, you want to know where you are. Is it city or rural? Mountains or seaside? Bleak or beautiful? Industrial or upscale shops? The problem comes when the writer knows where the place is but doesn't convey it to the reader. In other words, I, as the writer, know the place well but unless I show it to the reader, they're going to feel like they're floating in space.

When friends or family move from one home to another and you haven't had an opportunity to make a visit, you can't picture their surroundings. You might talk to them on the phone and they mention they are just cleaning up the kitchen after dinner. Fine. But you have no clue as to what that kitchen looks like. Is your friend wiping down black granite countertops or white formica? Is the fridge white or stainless steel? Is the room huge or a small utility type kitchen? After your first visit to see this new home, you'll have that sense of place whenever you call or think about the person, or send a birthday card. You have to see it to have it.

That's the job the writer has--to let the reader see where the story happens. It's tempting to write several paragraphs describing the place, but I think a far better way is to weave it in around whatever is going on with the first character we meet in the opening of the story. 

The picture at the top of today's post was one I took when we visited England earlier this summer. Use it to try a quick writing exercise. Write a few paragraphs showing us where this is. Note that I said show. Telling us about it is far too easy for the writer, far too mundane and can be a bit boring to the reader.

Now try it again in the picture below. This is a favorite picture of one of my longtime friends. I love it because of who is in the picture but I also love this picture because of the place it was taken. It's a place I know well. Can you show us the kind of place it is?

So, Where Are We?

Monet's Home

One of the sessions at the writers conference I attended in April dealt with making sure your stories and creative nonfiction gave the reader a sense of place. 

It's not enough to say that you visited Monet's home in Giverny, France. You need to add enough details to give the reader a clear picture of where the famed artist's home is. Let them feel the surroundings as the person who makes a visit there would. 

Add sensory details. What did the air feel like, smell like? For me, there is a difference in the way the air feels on humid days versus dry ones, clear days versus stormy. If the gardens were in full bloom, was the air scented with the aroma given by the flowers? What about sounds? Bees buzzing, leaves rustling in the breeze? 

Beyond the sensory details of the immediate area, you can add something about the area where the home is situated. Show the reader whether it is surrounded by other homes, businesses etc. Let them feel what Giverny itself is like. 

A family on a beach

Look at this picture. Write a paragraph that gives the reader a sense of place. It's obviously a beach, but what about the kind of beach it is. Is it a private one or public? What kind of people inhabit the beach? What kind of sealife or animals are found there? Climate? Businesses around the area? Wealthy or poverty area? Give the reader an idea of the surroundings as well as what this family is doing. Add sensory details. You don't want to write sentence after sentence of pure descritpion, however. Intersperse it in the narrative so that the reader absorbs it unknowingly. 

When you tell a story, it's the little extras like giving a sense of place that makes your writing better than average. Often the writer knows the place in their mind so well that they forget the reader does not. Let them see what you already know.