Globe Trotting (Writing Multiple Settings)

Okay, writers, let's talk about settings. Not setting, as in the singular, but settings, such as when you bounce your characters all over the place to tell your story. 

Do you have a sort of "master setting" you tend to use and then sprinkle it full of "little settings" such as how Batman's Gotham City has Crime Alley, the waterfront, etc.? How does this approach work for you?

Brian K Morris: My early work was peppered with planting the story in a spot and leaving it there until I came back to take it home for dinner.

Sheela Chattopadhyay: In my characters' running away from me stories that need fixing, it's all the same continent but different places. I hadn't tried for a bit more simplicity in that world because of how long the story was supposed to be. In my current one, it is within one house so far and that's been working for me.

When you need to bounce around the world with your characters, how do you determine that and how do you make it work as a writer? Do you continue to let a setting become a sort of de facto character in its own right (again, like Gotham for Batman or Los Angeles for Philip Marlowe)?

Sheela Chattopadhyay: In the series that needs fixing, it depended on the timing that the characters needed. In my current short story, it's still based on the timing and pacing. The setting itself is a factor, but I haven't really analyzed if it is at a de facto character level for the story. If it becomes a de facto character, I'm ok with that.

Brian K Morris: For much of my current work, I have a setting of Raceway City, which serves as my Metropolis/Gotham City for many of my characters. For other works, I'll set it in real world locations (which means research since I've not been in many of them).

How does needing multiple settings work into your plotting and planning for your novel? Is it something that you have specific reasons for choosing each location or is it more relaxed than that? Give me an example from your work.

Sheela Chattopadhyay: In the stories that need fixing, each one is supposed to be novel length. That's why the fixing is going to need to happen. I chose to have multiple settings because of the plot being quite large of several interwoven characters trying to solve a problem and overcome a common enemy. Each location is often refuge from temporarily escaping th villain, learning something useful to them, and building another ally.

Brian K Morris: The locations are mostly to disorientate the protagonist and give him/her one extra challenge. This works mostly because my stories tend to take place no less than forty years ago in a pre-GPS age. I also select locations with a bit of a mystique to them, to add to the mood and sense of isolation for the protagonist. For instance, what kind of story can I tell if it takes place in WW2's Paris, or Carnaby Street in 1964, or San Francisco as it rebuilt from an earthquake?