In a guest post on the A Writer of History blog, writer Justin Reed talks about his method for writing about places and people that no longer exist.
Reed uses five resources:
- Site visits. When you can manage one, a site visit is an important tool, but be sure to view the site with a modern eye. Depending on your timeline, the setting has likely undergone significant changes.
- Modern maps. Modern maps can help you create boundaries for your story world and landmarks to orient your reader.
- Historical maps. Historical maps let you dig deeper, getting closer to the era of your story world. “I try to find maps published as close to the time of the setting as possible, which isn’t difficult for the past century, but becomes more difficult the further back I go,” Reed says. If you’re writing in a somewhat modern urban setting, look for bus, subway, or streetcar maps in addition to road or city maps.
- Historical images (photos, illustrations, artwork, etc). For stories set in the past 100 years, you’re likely to find lots of photographic or video evidence. Going further back, you may need to rely on illustrations, paintings, and newspaper ads.
- Historical descriptions. Finally, contemporary written descriptions can help you recreate a former era.
