Good morning everyone it is time for our next Task. I am feeling a bit under the weather today but luckily it is a quick task to write, even if it takes a little more effort to write. I am afraid it is another list. This time we are making a list of any organizations or groups of note. For some genres these organizations already resist. If you are writing about a doctor and organization of note might be the American Medical Association. You don’t have to invent your own organization (even of in some cases you might rename it.) You can list the website of the actual organization in your notes so when you need to reference it, you can pull up the website. If you are pulling it up for procedures or something of that nature you might want to make a few notes on your list. For example, let’s take Bob.
I would be making mention of his degree in Marine Biology so my list would include a university where this degree is offered so I know where Bob went to school. I would also book mark the department in my website folders and look at the courses and specialties. Partially I would do this so that I know how to frame the consulting work Bob takes on the side. It will help me in my research of Bob. I could use the university as it is or I could rename it in my story if I felt the need.
I will also need to research divorce proceedings. Each state has slightly different rules and where I locate Bob will determine how I write his divorce. Having that research done, will really help with the writing.
Where this really comes in handy is if you are trying to create a small town. In your place names list you may have a town named something like Wallaceburg. Now you would obviously have all the details of why it is named Wallaceburg and what goes on there. You probably also have a size you want this town to be. It could be a town of 300 people or 30,000. You can then take your basic stats and go looking for a real life town to match it. CVB (Convention Visitor’s Bureau) sites are great for this. You can find a real world town and use the details to make your fictional town seem better. You can look up stats for weather and pollen if you were so inclined. Some towns even have online newspapers you can check for local news stories to find out the sort of things that might happen in the town. Sometimes it will give you insight you can use, other times not but it is a great way to build out a place and set it in a real world environment even if it is not a real place.
It can also be used if you write fantasy especially for weather and scale even if you change it to a mystical land. Maybe hay fever is tied to a mythical tree in your village.
And while all that does lean towards place, it is the organizations like the CVB that may list social organizations in town as well as place building info. As always, listing and researching now means you are ready to go when you write. After all you don’t want to reach a pint in your story and suddenly have to decide if your baker is part of a guild or an independent association of bakers not ties to the guild system for some reason. Best to list it out first.
And so, Task 25: Make a list of all the relevant organizations in your story and a few bits about them, bookmarking sites if need be. In addition add in any organizations or websites that you may use for reference in your story. And that is all for me. See you tomorrow!
Ten til Midnight 