I’m building a town. Not a real town you understand – but the town where my next three books are going to be set.
It’s a mining town in the Australian outback – and it’s going to be as much a character in these books as some of the people who live in it. The books are about people – but they will tell the story of the town as well.
For a book to seem real – the characters have to seem real. They need depth. So to does the setting. If I use a real town, I have to stay faithful to reality with its history, locations and character. I wanted the freedom to fit my town to the stories I want to tell (and I don’t want to get sued) so I am building a fictional town.
Like any other other character in a novel, the town needs a physical description and a history – a backstory.
I knew my town was in outback Queensland, but I had to knew exactly where so I’d know how long it took to travel there and back again. On a map, I found a spot that was roughly where I wanted my town. Towns usually grow up near transport routes, so I needed roads. But there has to be a reason for those roads. They have to lead from somewhere to somewhere –or else they would never be built.
Then I saw the national park. A park would have visitors and they would need roads to get there. Visitors would need supplies, which they’d buy in… my town! I put in three roads – one from the north and one from the east on which these visitors might arrive. I also added a road south-west towards the desert. I have a plot strand that will take some of my characters that way. So now I had a crossroads – always a good place for a town!
The next step was water. In the dry interior of the outback, this is particularly important. So I had to have a river or a creek. It didn’t matter that for much of the year the creek would be dry, it’s existence proves there would be underground water as well – enough to support a settlement.
Thus my town was born. It started its life with a petrol station, a store, a pub and a handful of houses. There was no reason for anything more. No reason for people to live there.
Then a mining company did some exploration – and found a huge mineral deposit. So they built a mine.
To support the mine and the people needed to work it, the town grew. The mining company laid in a railway line for supplies. They built houses for their workers. Some shops were built to supply household goods. Most of the mine workers are single men, but some have families, so a school is needed. By now we have a over a thousand people, so we need a police station and doctors – perhaps the mining company will contribute to building a small hospital.
I have to position all these things in the town – in a logical, believable way. And I have to remember where I put them! So, I am drawing a map. I need the map for consistency, so I know if my characters have to turn left or right to get from their home to the main street. How long will it take to get an injured worker from the mine to the hospital? Can the publican see the road to the airport from the front bar?
I did a map of the town of Farwell Creek when I wrote The Bachelor and Spinster Ball. You can see it here. That was a town of fewer than 100 people, and I changed it and moved things around several times before the final version was reached.
It’s going to be a lot harder for this new town, because it’s so much bigger. I’ve got a large piece of poster card stuck on the wall next to my desk. It started with just three lines on it – the roads. Then I put in the river. I needed a reason for the river to curve the way it did, so I put a rocky ridge in there. That gave me an idea for some scenes from the book – because surely adventurous kids would go climbing there. I’ve drawn in the mine, the airstrip and the hospital. I forgot the railway line at first – so I had to move some mine workers homes to put that in.
I’m now a few thousand words into the book, and the characters are starting to tell me more about the town. I didn’t really think about a town square – until the Mayor told me he wanted one. I put it in. I’m drawing the map in pencil because there are going to be many changes. I’ll need to add things as more of the characters walk onto the pages of the book and need places to live and work and play – which will mean more of those tasteful fluorescent post-it notes on the map. I’ve also got some coloured makers but I’m going to be working in pencil for a little longer before I trust myself with the markers.
This is only version one of the map. I have three sheets of card… that’s six sides to draw on… And I’m writing three books.
Hhhmmm….. I may need more poster card.
The other thing I need is a name for this town. I think that will come when I’ve spent a bit more time there.
This may seem a lot of trouble to go to, but what I know about the town tells me a lot about the people who live there, and how strangers will react when they arrive. Now the town is real in my head. I hope that one day you’ll read the books, and the town will seem real to you too. That’s what makes all this work worthwhile – well, that and all the fun I have with coloured post-its and marker pens.