Freeman's Guide to Writing 4: All About Location

Now that you've got a character or two, it's time to write the story, right? Ahahahaha-WRONG

Having your character go through a story is certainly one thing, but there's an important aspect that needs to be considered: where are they? Not just "where are they in the midst of this cosmic expanse" or "where are they in terms of their lifestyle choices" - I mean physically, temporally, spatially, WHERE are they. Setting is one of those key elements that you don't give much thought to because, well, it's just a place right? You just want to throw your character in and just tell the story of them farting away already, why do you have to think about the location?

Well, setting is partly the location and partly the time frame, and these two elements are important to figuring out how your character would react to things. You probably recall some TV episode or movie where they drag someone out of their own timeline and thrust them into modern-day or in the future or just somewhere else in general, right? If it's a character from the past, they always have this moment of awe and wonder and marvel at all the technology, but they also have a moment of horror in terms of how much new stuff is around, new threats abound, new terrors awaiting them around every corner. If it's a character from the future, they find it all fascinating but remain cautious, knowing the dangers that come up in this time frame and in some cases aim to not damage anything in case the butterfly effect is a thing. This probably seems like a tangent on time travel shenanigans, but the main point is that different characters react differently to different situations.

In order to really nail the setting, you've got to know where and when you are. By default, most people will make it easy - it's modern-day and we're at, say, Taco Bell. That's about it, that's all there is to it! Okay, but then how do most characters in these stories usually interact with the scene? They don't really. They end up at Taco Bell, order a bunch of tacos and burritos, and then go on their merry way. There's very little interaction with the cashier, the other customers, etc. cause they're aiming to get straight to the good stuff, but I'll talk more about that whole bit next time. For now, let's stick to the location - your character is in Taco Bell, modern-day, waiting to order some food.

If you've ever walked inside of a Taco Bell during the night, you know it's not as abundantly packed as when it is during the dinner rush or the lunch hour. Already, you have something to consider! What time of day is it? Are there a lot of people in line? Is the service fast or slow? Is there a rowdy customer? Are the bathrooms blocked off? Is there a section of floor getting cleaned up? Is there a table getting wiped down? How's your character feeling about all of this? You don't have to get into the heads of everyone present in the restaurant at any given time - you mainly just need to focus on your character, and that's where perspective comes into play.

Most of the time, I'll write my stories in 1st person - kinda like how I write this guide. The 1st person POV gets right into the head of the character -  you imagine seeing things from their perspective, smelling all the aromas, feeling that fuzzy feeling in your gut, listening to all the sounds of the hustle and bustle in the meanwhile. You're right there in Taco Bell, waiting in line! That's 1st Person! Of course, the trick is that you need to believe that you're the character when you're writing and reading it, which means you're going to miss details, which means you might have to react to something new. 1st Person can be tricky in that regard, since you're aiming to BE the character in the scene, and if you start including things like the entire thought process of everyone around you, you're going to lose track of what's going on pretty quickly. Though sometimes depending on the character, that might play to your advantage...

There's also a few other perspectives you can take on though in this moment of waiting in line at a Taco Bell. There's the 3rd Person perspective, which can be either Limited or Omniscient. 3rd Person is all about talking about how your character is reacting to things within the scene while outside their body - you don't need to say "I" all the time. In the Limited perspective, you can keep the focus on your character, pulling off some of the same tricks you do in 1st Person by keeping information a secret from the character until they notice the smell of fire in the kitchen, or you could work in the Omniscient perspective, acting out as a narrator to all the events unfolding in the restaurant and explaining how the chef, after a disgruntled day of work, ended up accidentally spilling some oil on the fire that has now spread in the kitchen and begun setting the restaurant ablaze. The 3rd Person Limited is focused on a character, but the 3rd Person Omniscient can focus on all the details in the scene.

And then there's the uncommon "2nd Person" - the "you" story. This isn't something you'd write very often if ever, but if you're aiming to have people role-play within the scene, you can try and set them in the scene. Again, you'd use the tricks of the 1st Person but replacing "I" with "you" and so forth, but as I've said, this is a very uncommon thing to write. Most of the time, people aren't looking to read through a story to be told how they're feeling at any given moment, so I would steer clear from this unless you're setting up an RP scene for people.

Knowing the perspective of how you're writing your character can help in figuring out how you write out their reactions to what's going on in the scene. Fortunately, you're also working with a character you've fleshed out or at least have a read on their personality, so you know how they'll react to the smell of fire while they wait inside the restaurant to order their food! Then suddenly they could get a phone call, or maybe they're just impatiently waiting, or they're wondering what's going on in other parts, or maybe something catches their eye somewhere but why and such. A lot can happen within the setting, and a lot can affect your character's perspective - a lot of events can take place.

Events are pretty much anything and everything that can happen, and your characters are going to react differently depending on what's going on around them, what they think is going on around them, what they're feeling, what time period they're in, where they are in the world, etc. I don't think I need to explain in-depth what an event is in this context, but different events can occur at different locations. In terms of what could happen at Taco Bell in modern-day, chances are that someone infected with the bubonic plague isn't going to casually stroll onto the scene and infect everyone before dying and what-not - that's highly unrealistic and extremely unlikely. Events are contextual based on the setting - when you are and where you are can determine what happens at that time.

...unless it's like, magic or sci-fi, then just about anything can happen really.

This is all just stuff to take into consideration - Location, Perspective, and Events. You don't need to have a Masters in English in order to understand and write about all of this - you probably do it all the time already! But when you begin to consider the deeper layers of when and where you are, who you are in the scene, what's happening in the scene, it can add a lot to the story being told and really flesh out details to immerse a reader in the scene! Probably even better than a simple "you" instead of "I" perspective. But that might just depend on what story you're writing.

And that's where I'm gonna talk about next time - what's the story you want to write.