This is topic I need writting help in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.


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Posted by gwan (Member # 6194) on :
 
I am working on writing this, novel/novella/how ever long it ends up being... I am still working on developing my characters, right now. This is my problem... you know how your supposed to write about places you know, places you've been? Well I live in Saskatchewan, and I've never so much as left the province... Frankly, I've never read a book which was set in sask, that wasn't absolutley terrible. So any suggestions on what I could do? Its becoming quite frusterating.
 

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Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
 
I saw your subject line and thought to myself, "Yes. Yes, you do."



Seriously, though, why do you think the books set in Sask all suck?
 

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Posted by gwan (Member # 6194) on :
 
Have you read any?? They all start with a discription of our fair, flat land, and the sea of golden wheat... they are horrid. I am ashamed of my province after reading such smut.
 

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Posted by Sopwith (Member # 4640) on :
 
Just remember, Asimov, Heinlein, even our esteemed Mr. Card have never traveled to another planet. Write the story and set it where ever you want it to be. Do some research and then use your imagination.

Just tell the story...
 

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Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
 
So write about why Saskatchewan novels suck. It seems to be quite a passionate point with you.
 

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Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
 
Well, why not start with something like, "3000 years in the future, Saskatchewan -- formerly a flat land full of lovely, waving wheat -- had been transformed first into a bustling neometropolis, and then finally into a smoking crater. Billy, our hero, lived at the edge of the crater, and eked out a living scavenging wreckage."

j/k
 

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Posted by AndrewR (Member # 619) on :
 
The advice "write about what you know" is a mistranslation. (Ignore the fact that it was originally written in English--that doesn't matter. ) What the phrase really meant was "write about what you love."

To love something means you know about it. You understand it, you know how it is unique, and you can share your passion with someone who is unfamiliar with it.

You don't need to have actually seen it to know about it and love it. As pointed out, Heinlein never flew in a rocket ship. Bradbury once wrote a wonderful passage about someone thinking how the Earth looked like a baseball during liftoff of a rocket. This was absolutely ludicrous, because the reality is that no one would think of such things while being jostled about by the rocket. But it worked because he imbued it with his passion.

So if you need to write about Saskatchewan, write about the parts you love about it. And if there isn't anything you love about it (like my old neighborhood of Pomona, CA), look closer. It's there.

And when you're done, let me know. I've never been to Saskatchewan, and I'd love to know what it's like.
 

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Posted by gwan (Member # 6194) on :
 
AndrewR, you are so very encouraging. Thank you, I am feeling a whole lot better. Though I am sorry, it still will not be set in Saskatchewan.... there really isn't anything here. I'm not just being dramatic.


 

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Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
 

quote:

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Well, why not start with something like, "3000 years in the future, Saskatchewan -- formerly a flat land full of lovely, waving wheat -- had been transformed first into a bustling neometropolis, and then finally into a smoking crater. Billy, our hero, lived at the edge of the crater, and eked out a living scavenging wreckage."

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