Taking your reader there – Eva Glyn

My books are set in Croatia, for no other reason than I came across a fabulous story while I was on holiday there, one which had to be told and which formed the basis of The Olive Grove, but how could I take my readers to a country I didn’t live in myself?

I could not have done it without a friend on the inside, a Croatian who was prepared to talk to me about everyday life and check my descriptions of it. I wasn’t writing stories just about visitors, I wanted to take readers inside the homes and lives of my local characters too.

Domestic detail is important, but you don’t want to drown in it. In my first draft my characters spend so much time making and drinking coffee it was holding the story back, so now when I’m self-editing I keep the phrase ‘fiction is life with the boring bits cut out’ at the front of my mind.

There are similar perils in detailed descriptions of places too and it’s a fine line between giving enough for the reader to walk alongside your characters, and slowing the pace of the novel right down. Unless, of course, you intend to slow the pace – but that’s another story. I start by visualising where my characters are and deciding what they notice the most. Often just two or three phrases are enough, for example, to introduce one of the key settings for The Olive Grove:

The door swung open on broken hinges and as he shone the torchlight from his phone upwards there was an angry flap of wings and a dark shape disappeared through a hole in the roof. The earthen floor was damp in patches where the rain had crept in but still he found comfort in the old walls and the musty tang of bitter olives in the air.

And that would be my final top tip for taking readers with you; use all the senses. I struggled to get my husband to understand why it was so important to visit my settings when I could invest in a virtual reality headset until I mentioned that how would I know if the village smelt of fish or fresh sea air? How does traditional Croatian peka actually taste? What do you hear when you lie in bed at night?

For me, it’s so important to experience the places I take my readers for myself. And if I love them as I sink into them, so much the better. On the other hand I once read a book that absolutely transported me to Cuba. A while later I met the author and she was very honest in saying she’d never been there, so one size definitely does not fit all. Every writer will find their own way.

So however you decide to make your readers’ journey real, bon voyage… or sretan put as they say in Croatia.

Eva Glyn writes relationship driven fiction inspired by beautiful places and the dark secrets they hide. To find out more visit www.evaglynauthor.com or follow her on Instagram.