[This post is excerpted from my free workbook on character development!]
Just as there are people our characters’ lives wouldn’t be the same without, there are places that become fixtures, even iconic, to them. Where do they spend their waking hours?
All too often, characters go to the same generic restaurant or the same cookie-cutter park, and yet even places like Starbucks have a different feel at each location, despite having the same menu! A Starbucks near the beach in California is going to differ from one in the Rocky Mountains, right? Things change from season to season, too: new drinks and snacks get added to the menu, and the décor shifts.
Sorting out these go-to locations for your character will improve your storytelling by:
- showing where to set scenes when your character wants to be alone, or when you want someone to intrude on their everyday life
- e.g. what if their pesky in-laws get a membership at the same gym they frequent?
- providing a level of detail that will help the reader relate important places in the character's life to their own
- e.g. imagine reading about a character's jaunt through Amsterdam and realizing you've stood in exactly the same spot
- hinting at what would cause a major disruption to your character’s day
- e.g. what if your housebound character’s grocery store ceases their delivery service?
- giving a sense of their priorities and spending habits through the places they frequent and how often
- e.g. someone who goes to the library every week is likely a big reader and possibly a wee bit frugal, or someone who needs to access the services offered by the library, such as free internet
To get started, here are a few questions to consider for your character!
Home
Does this character live alone or do they share the space with anyone? Do they prefer time spent there or out and about? Is it their dream space, a stepping stone to greater things, or a roof and four walls?
Work
Assuming your character doesn’t work at home, do they work for a small company where everybody knows everyone’s name (and actually cares) or do they work in a disinterested division of a larger corporation? Is it a stressful environment or an inspiring one? How much time does your character spend there?
Social
Where does your character regularly meet up with friends? Are they part of a monthly book group that meets at the library? Do they take over a long table at a board game cafe each week? Do they belong to a knitting circle whose members take turns hosting home knit nights?
Leisure
When your character wants to relax, where do they go? Is it somewhere your character goes to get away from people or be around them? An ice rink that pipes in classical music three times a week? The indie bookstore downtown with a neighbouring gluten-free bakery? The weekly swing dance at the old community hall with vaulted ceilings?
From Past to Present
Some places have a more historical sense of meaning. Consider where your character grew up, for example, or where they went to school; where they spent early adulthood, where they’re raising their family, where they're moving after retirement. Did your character take a backpacking trip they’ve never forgotten? Did they fall in love while working at the tea house in Lake Louise?
In the Mass Effect video game series, Tali'Zorah grew up on a spaceship, part of a fleet that took to the interstellar skies after the home planet of her people was made uninhabitable. She has never felt fresh air on her skin.
Your Assignment
Ready to take a wander in your character's shoes? Try the exercises below and see what you come up with!
- Where does your character spend their time? As well as thinking through their home and work environments, consider their favourite restaurant, the cafe where they get their morning caffeine jolt, the club they frequent, the path they bike to work, the treehouse in their best friend’s backyard, or the bar where their spouse bartends. Go into detail for each location. Think what it’s like in different seasons, why they go there, what they get out of it.
- Which buildings or locations are most important to your character, whether they visit them often or not? Maybe it’s the trail they hike every summer, or the house where they grew up. Maybe it’s a place they haven’t thought of in years (or tried to forget), but something, or someone, jogs their memory. Typically these kinds of locations have stories attached: write a few snapshot memories to give yourself both a sense of the location and your character’s attachment to it.
- Write a scene where your character goes to one of their most important places, and something has changed. What is this change, and how does your character react? How does it affect their perception of the place?
- Is there a place your character purposefully stays away from? What repels them?
Craving more prompts like these? There are oodles of them in Create an Epic Character Foundation!