The Most Difficult Character I’ve Written.

eastlooequayMay2008FS

I thought I’d share five things about the most difficult character I’ve ever written—Looe, Cornwall.

Okay.

It’s a village, not a person, but in After the Scrum, it felt like one. It’s not easy as it seems to bring a place to life.  So here we go:

  1. Colourful villagers. It takes villagers to raise a village. That’s not right, but it does take interesting individuals to make a place stand out.
  2. Plausibility. If my readers can’t believe a town exists the way I write it, they won’t buy into the story.
  3. Making it likeable. I wanted people to not only believe Looe existed, but want to visit.
  4. Research. Self-explanatory, right?
  5. Bringing it to life without turning it into a caricature of itself. I wanted readers to laugh with the people of Looe in After the Scrum, but not necessarily at them.

Do you think a place can be as critical to a story as the characters themselves?