WHERE IN THE WORLD Linda Mitchelmore

Okay then, here we go .... a question for you. How many times have you been told on writing courses or by those who have gone before you in the world of writing to 'write what you know'? When my cousin Barbara suggested - many moons ago now - that I write a novel I told her I couldn't possibly do that because I'd never been anywhere - a world traveller I am not, nor ever likely to be, although I have been on a plane and a ship! Barbara's response was 'Rot! Where did Jane Austen ever go?' And, of course, she was right. So, I gave what she had said some thought. I came to the conclusion that emotions, feelings, life experiences of all sorts are - for the most part - the same all over the world. Why then, couldn't I transport those feelings to somewhere exotic, or adventurous, or plain scary even though I hadn't been there? What is the internet for if not to explore other worlds from the seat of our chair? Until that moment my stories were very firmly set in places I know well - the beach, the moors, the inside of a cafe where friends/siblings/lovers talk through a problem over cappuccino and a pain au raisin. So why not have the same emotional crises, the same characters in, say, Venice? And why not set it during the annual carnival they have there? It's very easy to find a map of Venice, and I got super-lucky and found a video someone had made as they walked around. Lots of ideas, lots of fabulous images to look at and a serial set in Venice was born.

Where next? I love markets, especially French markets, but up until then my experiences of them had only ever been in Northern France. How different might the market in, say, Antibes be? What sort of fruits and vegetables might they have there in abundance? How could walking through a food market there help a couple save their marriage? Well, in my story it did as she held out a pear for him to take a bite from, then bit from it herself, and so it went on until only the core was left and they had pear juice dribbling down their chins, reaching out to touch and to wipe said juice from each other's chins. Say aaaah ....

I began to get a feel for this sort of travel. It was cheap for a start - no flights to pay for, no special clothes to be bought, no expensive meals out. I have a cousin in Canada who has been to visit me but I haven't - yet - made the journey to visit him. But that didn't stop me using the Rockies for a serial. My heroine was in two minds about her adventurous boyfriend - could she live with the heart-in-the-mouth life he liked to lead, kayaking and climbing, and long-distance walking in remote places? She takes a huge leap of faith and follows him and it is she who ends up saving the day in a remote spot.

This blogpost is just about a sense of place in our stories, and places we don't have personal experience of. But it could be extended to include experiences we haven't had ourselves as writers - divorce, childlessness, serious illness, a tragic bereavement. So what I'm trying to say is don't keep your wings clipped in your writing .... get out there and fly!