I've noted there are a few writing stories about journeys around the world and I wondered if you considered your own travel essential to this. I got quite annoyed with the number of times I heard someone say back to me 'But you've never been anywhere!' when I said I was writing about backpacking. Yes, it could be perceived as the Bronté approach, but I genuinely felt that if I had been to any of the places I was writing about, my experiences would seep through and colour the otherwise pure fictional tale. I fear I am alone! Have your travels made it in to your work?
Jennifer, that makes perfect sense. And a landscape manipulated my your own mind can be anything your characters need it to be. Good luck with yours. Vxx
George, thank you for making my point. If you include smells, sights, and sounds and the feel of the atmosphere as you experience it, the characters become people in YOUR world, not theirs. If your characters don't percieve the world in a different way from you, are you really creating separate characters, or just clones who look different and make the odd different choice?
This is just my point of view. Your way of working is seemingly the norm. You too, Christina. I just wanted to throw in this idea that maybe true creation in storytelling comes completely from the mind.
I have put in places I have visited into my fictional work. I have usually visited the place and I can describe it as I write but that is just the way I work.
My personal view is that visiting a place adds to the texture that you can add to a story. Walking through the markets in Muscat and smelling the spices, or watching the people scurry about their business can only add to the story that you write. The same can be said of the town you live in. However, as long as you can describe the place in a way that engages a reader, then you can probably get away with it - however, I tend to only use places I have been when writing as I am uncomfortable with making too many assumptions.
Even just recently I wandered down to Fremantle and just sat looking out to see for 15 minutes jotting down what I could see, what I could smell, what was going on in the nearby port. I might not use this in a story about Fremantle, but I will use it in a story where I want to describe a port city and what is going on.
If you can include smells, sights, and sounds, and the feel of the atmosphere can draw the reader deeper into your world.