Place: The Final Frontier

Space: The final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship, Enterprise. Its 5 year mission to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations…to boldly go where no man has gone before.

Remember these words? Of course you do. For some of you, the split infinitive "to boldly go" causes you to cringe each time you hear it. With bit more literary license, and with apologies to Mr. Roddenberry, I would like to suggest a slight revision.

Place: The final frontier. Your mission is to seek out new worlds and to boldly take your readers where no author has taken them before.

Seriously, despite the pun, a sense of place can give your work more depth and make your characters really stand out against an unusual backdrop. Think of it as 3D writing. How to do this? Well, you can start by going to places that you have not gone before.

When writing Termination for Convenience, one of our characters is placed into a safe-house – which just happens to be a strip club. Naturally, Charlie (my co-author) and I had to research a couple of the local 'establishments.' (I can still hear my wife's questions. "You're going where? For the book? Right!" All this spoken with total disbelief. Not to worry, we had a comfortable couch.)

Anyway, our goal was to observe, how 'the girls' interact with clients, the managers, the sounds, the smells, the behaviors associated with (and I use this term loosely) a 'Gentleman's Club.'

The action on stage beneath the strobe lights is (at least to me) much less interesting than the action in the darkened corners of the clubs where 'the girls' prowl in search of likely prey – someone willing to spend $50 to $100 for a private dance. 'The girls' are much like a wolf pack. Each coolly scans the room like lioness on a hunt. There is almost always an alpha female to whom the other dancers show deference. A casual visitor will think that the male managers and burly security guards are in charge. Not so. The alpha female and 'her pack' is where the true power of the place is centered.

Another place we visited was LA's China Town. We toured some local restaurants, food and specialty shops. We skulked around alleys in an effort to understand the behind-the-scenes operations of this unique locale. Once again, our intent was to get 'a feel' and a sense of the place so that we could incorporate it into the novel.

Often times you do not have to go far to enter a world that is radically different than that which most of us experience on a day-to-day basis. I once visited a slaughter house and observed the process from the death of the animal, its cleaning, gutting, dismembering and processing of the meat all the way to the creation of neatly wrapped packages of 'product.' I can tell you this. Visit a slaughter house and the sights, sounds, and smells of the experience will remain with you for a lifetime.

There are hidden worlds closer than you think and the exploration of these places can be as much fun as the writing. For example, have you ever sat in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft? It is a lot more cramped and spartan than you think. There is none of the romance evoked by the Top Gun movie. Have you ever strolled the narrow hallways and warrens of an aircraft carrier? There are museums that allow you to do both.

Have you ever visited the basement of a modern skyrise building. Ask the maintenance guy in charge if he will give you a tour. The logistics and technology associated with the operation of a large building are impressive. You will need to explain why you are asking and, if you are able to satisfy their security concerns, you might very well be introduced to an invisible and interesting world hiding in plain sight.

Happy Writing!