Before I begin developing my characters for a story, I either draw or paint locations, take photographs of interesting places, and make maps of where my main characters live. I want to be able to see where they are while I write, and what the areas look like if I want to use location descriptions in my stories. This exercise pleases my artistic muse while I build my storyline—a.k.a. plot.
Likely, because I am an artist, I make many drawings to familiarize myself with the major locations. Many of my stories happen in a fictional community called Ridgewood, and Myers Ridge and Alice Lake are two major areas in the town. I have drawn extensive maps of the places, and I have street and road names, houses and house numbers, and interiors and exteriors of them. I even show furniture placement and I have notes about wall hangings and knickknacks and what books are inside bookcases (if important).
I also list what color the walls are, and if they’re painted, paneled, or wallpapered and what pattern the wallpaper is. Some floors are carpeted, others are bare wood with throw rugs.
All this information makes writing books easier, which is especially true for series.
Informative maps also let me know where my characters are, what they’re doing, and importantly—what they see around them. Whenever someone rearranges a room or adds something new, it goes onto my map and added to my notebook.
I have included a small sampling of my character drawings of Vree Erickson and maps of Ridgewood and her house below.
All my drawings (or maps, as I like to call them) make the process of writing my stories go smoother by helping me keep the visual details in my stories straight, which moves me along side by side with my characters through my fictional settings with confidence.
Thanks for joining me today for this look back at another 2011 excerpt from my blog.
As always, until my next post, peace and love.
Steve, 5/24/2024
This post “2011.2.28 Writing: Fictional Places” copyright © 2011, 2024 Steven Leo Campbell at stevecampbellcreations.com – All rights reserved.
Steve Campbell Creations 
Very detailed and awesome drawings.
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Thank you Joseph. When I lose sight of my book in progress and can’t write (some people call it writer’s block), I get my pencils and watercolor paints out and sketch visuals of the people and places in my story. Sometimes I get very detailed with my sketches, as I showed in my post; other times they’re cartoonish with little detail. Either way, this puts me back into the story and often gives me clarity of where to go next.
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Thanks Steve…that was interesting. I’ve read IT the novel many times…and the reason I like it is because of his description of the town Derry. I thought to myself…he must have made a drawing or a map to better describe it and to have everything jive…
I didn’t know if writers did that or not…but it makes sense.
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Thank you Max. I think I read that King based Derry and the Barrens on real places in Maine. I already did that when I read his novel. My Ridgewood is a conglomeration of towns in Crawford, Erie, and Warren counties in Pennsylvania. Myers Ridge is mostly Shreve Ridge in Crawford County with elements of topographic sheering from ridges in Warren County that I’ve hiked in my younger days. And Alice Lake is Canadohta Lake, also in Crawford County, but without any ridges next to it. They’re mostly childhood places, but they’re close enough I can visit to stir up memories. I think all writers of fictional places sprinkle in elements of real locations in their stories, though I tend to turn my sprinkles into floodwaters of the real thing.
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That makes complete sense since you know them so well. It would be easier to track what you are doing.
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