The very first book I wrote (never published and likely to remain buried in my file drawer) was sort of set in London. I’d read dozens of Georgette Heyer books and thought I’d try writing a regency. The reasons it will remain just faded pencil on yellow lined paper are many, of which the setting is just one. I’d never been to London, so I wasn’t even familiar with the current day city. I also didn’t do a lot of research. I thought I knew enough about the setting just from reading other books set there. How naïve of me. Back then the internet hadn’t been invented and we didn’t even have email, so no google maps, and no searches to see what things might look like.

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One thing you can’t do is “guess” or make something up that isn’t part of a real place. Anyone who is familiar with the setting will find your mistakes in a heartbeat and call you on it.

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Today there are so many wonderful avenues for learning about a city, town, or country where you want to set your story. My personal favorite is VISIT the place. Turn a vacation into a deductible expense and have a grand time walking down the very streets your characters will find their stories unfolding on. Historicals will still require more research about what that place was like in the past, but even so, physically being there gives an author and insight into things you can only experience in person. Writing a story set in the future can have added things that don’t exist now, but it still adds authenticity to the story if a character thinks, or comments on something that “used to be here” or “remember when they tore that down?” And for current stories, there is even more to be learned.

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I start with copious photos. Another plus of the digital age. Some of them I’ll likely print out and keep nearby as I write, and the rest remain in a file I can access when I want to remember what it looked like. These visuals are helpful for setting the scene and making it “feel” real.

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I visit parks, monuments, historic buildings, street corners, public transportation centers, shops and more, and I chat with folks. Talking with people who live or work in these places can produce a fountain of information, some of which you might never have thought to look up or ask. When I was writing my first romance series, I set it in a fictitious town in coastal North Carolina, but even though my setting was to be a fictional town, I went there for a few days to check things out. I chatted with a gentleman who was trimming his lawn and learned about the tides and the climate.

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I had already started one of the books in this series which opened on a scene at the Wilmington airport. I’d been in airports all my life and it never occurred to me to wonder if this was any different. My scene opened with my hero awaiting the arrival of his wife at the foot of an escalator and seeing first her legs come into view, then the rest of her. So, on this visit, I’m driving around Wilmington getting a feel for the city and I see a sign for the airport. Why not check it out? I thought. To my consternation, I discovered it’s all one floor. No escalator. Time to rewrite that scene. I hustled up to the security area for a better idea of what my hero would be seeing as he waited. Of course, the TSA guy came to my side in a heartbeat to remind me I couldn’t go down there. I explained what I was doing and that I had no intention of storming the security area. He described what I couldn’t see, then directed me to the information desk. The ladies manning this counter were thrilled to not only discuss the airport, but imparted information about the city itself that I might like to know. They also suggested more places I might want to check out while I was touring their city, and some of those very places ended up in my books, despite the fact that most of the action took place in the next town up the coast which was entirely a figment of my imagination.

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When I wrote the only historical novel yet to be published, it was set partly on an island off the coast of Maine and partly in Boston and Salem Mass in the time of the American Revolution. I began with a day sail out to that island. It was at the time my book was set, an active community. Today that island is abandoned, but the cellar holes, an old cemetery and a few buildings still stand. I’d read about the island in a book about the area and its history, but being there ON that island gave me a feel for what it might have been like over 200 years ago. Then I visited Boston. I’d grown up just north of the city and had been there often but on this trip I was seeing the city through a different lens. What had it been like back then? I visited a couple cemeteries and a dozen buildings that had been there way back when. I noted the difference in the shoreline, where the wharves had been and where they were now. And I read dozens of placards that shared tidbits of information about Boston at the time of the revolution. Then I drove over to Salem and repeated my exploration.

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Another way to envision a place in the past is when there are re-enactments. Definitely join that fun. The folk dressed up in costume are fountains of historical information. AND they do fun stuff like cook over open fires, or create things of leather or fur, or clay just the way it would have been done in the past. More pictures are in order because now you will have a visual of the clothing of the period. Museums are another great way to gain insights into the past and docents are even more willing to share information.

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But now, you are back home and halfway through the book when a question pops up. Google is your friend now. Start with google maps and plug in an address as close to where you want to be. Then click on street view. You can virtually walk up and down that street and peek into yards, parking areas, down lanes and streets, check out the buildings, street signs and vistas.

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I am currently writing a story set in 1928. Google is my BEST friend. In a single afternoon, I googled to find out what the most popular song was at the time, how men wore their hair, when the opening of a bridge happened, if peanut butter sandwiches, or even any kind of sandwich was a thing, what was the most common material used to put a roof on a house, was central heat available yet, and what about indoor plumbing? (This has nothing to do with setting but another great find online is when you are naming characters, plug in the year and find out what the most common given names were.) For the plotting of another book in this series, I wanted to know when the age of sail began to give way to steam powered ships.

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There is literally nothing you cannot find with a quick search. Some of the things you come across will require more poking about to get more than one opinion. Not everything you read online is true or accurate so it pays to look for multiple sources but take the time. Make sure the settings you are creating are authentic and realistic. Don’t let a reader catch you out by guessing and getting it wrong.

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Bob Rich 

Diane Bator

Helena Fairfax 

A.J. Maguire 

Judith Copek 

Anne Stenhouse 

Sally Odgers

Belinda Edwards