Close your eyes and picture your favorite place in the world. Have you imagined it? Good, because you're going to need that place! This post is all about writing locations. Now, this may mean the landscape of a place or writing from personal experience. It's a wonderful thing.

The picture you see here is one I took in January when I visited Culloden Battlefield in Inverness, Scotland. Now, it doesn't seem to be much, but it was one of the most beautiful places I've ever visited. I know I'm never going to write about that specific place because it's already been done. But being in this place, I could feel the inspiration radiating off of it. I wanted to write a story based in Scotland so bad.

This is the infamous Loch Ness. Doesn't look like much, right? I didn't really appreciate being there at the time because I was tired and car sick, but hey, I made it to Loch Ness! And no, I didn't see the Loch Ness Monster. But standing on the side of the road next to the Loch, it made me think of all the stories that have been inspired by the legends that took place here.

I think what was most inspiring about this place in particular wasn't the Loch itself, but rather, it was the low clouds and the rolling hills in the background. This place made me want to write a story about a fisherman; almost like Old Man and the Sea.... Already been done. But the point still stands, the places you are inspire something within all of us.

Writing about a location can be tricky, especially if you haven't been to the place you want to write about. Ahead of this trip, I knew I wanted to go to Scotland one day. Mostly because my very best friend mesmereyes lives in the wonderful country, but I also already loved Scotland so much, I have it planned out in my head that the sequel to Vigilant will be taking place there.

Going to the place where my heart desires, it basically solidified why I wanted my second book to take place here. It was one of the most mesmerizing places I've ever been to. I loved everything about Scotland. From the cobblestone streets in Edinburgh to the mushy moor at Culloden. It was all so beautiful. I loved Edinburgh so much, I rarely took any photos there.

When writing about a specific location, or using a place to inspire a fictional place, research that place to no end. In my research for Vigilant, I've been researching Scotland high and low looking for a place that's not so easy to attack yet big enough to put a large group of people (about 800 to 1,000 members of this community). With my research, I did finally find somewhere to put them, but it takes tons of research.

One of the most important things when researching somewhere is to think about how many people are going to be involved. Since I have a very large group of people, I had to be realistic about the size and place, so I began looking around for somewhere I can realistically have these people live. So, since I was placing them in Scotland for book two, I thought there was no better place than a castle. I knew I wanted this castle to be in the highlands, so I began to research about which castles there are in that region before settling on Dunvegan Castle in the Isle of Skye.

Picking the place for your novel, whether you've been there or not, is extremely important. You have to find a place that will work for your story. I chose Dunvegan Castle, despite still having never been there, because I knew I could work with the terrain. I'm someone who likes to have a good setting to help improve the story. The setting, or location, of your story is just as much a character as your MC's themselves.

Your land/region/country has to be able to help tell the story. If you have to justify why you're somewhere, maybe you should rethink the reason why you're some place. I knew I wanted Scotland involved in my story because I adore Scotland, and it's an underappreciated place. However, I know I can utilize it in my dystopian novel because of the simple fact that the terrain works for the story. I can use the forest surrounding the castle to hide people and do whatever I want with it.

Some of the ways you can make your location fit your story is to use Pinterest. It is a great resource to all writers, and I highly recommend you sign up for an account now if you don't have one. You can find everything you would ever need if you go on there. If you wanted to find some cool warrior chick, they've definitely got that on there. It's the perfect place to find really unique settings for your story.

If you're a high fantasy writer and are making your own island/world, then I highly suggest using the freeware program called AutoREALM. This program allows you to create a landmass and insert your points of interest on the map. I'm going to attach a video by the WordNerds on YouTube because one of the people associated with the channel made a video all about this. I downloaded the program, but have no idea on how to use it yet.

https://youtu.be/C-GFuRchl5Y

If you have any questions about location, please feel free to ask me. I'm always open to answering your questions about writing locations. Even if you want to know if a paragraph on your location is making sense, message me. The world you are building in your story is so important. If your readers don't understand your world, they will never stop asking questions. Trust me on this, this is the case for my fanfic The Prince. I had to explain before the book started on how the world/setting worked because people weren't understanding it.

To sum this all up, remember that your location is a setting itself. Your characters aren't in a place without a reason. Manipulate your setting to how it works best for the story.