Writing locations: on the road

Stories which do not focus on one location, instead the character keeps moving; it may be their choice to travel from place to play, or they do it to fulfil a task (given to them by fate or someone else), or to escape something (their last, an unwanted marriage).

It's a very common way of writing fantasy stories in particular. Let Lord of the rings serve as a perfect example. And if we look at my own stories, My Nepenthe fits that narrative as well. 

Discussing this topic I can't ignore “Hero's journey”. It's a story structure which emphasizes the traveling aspect. Outside of that, if you wish to read more about creating a map for your fantasy story or about world building in general, I invite you to read some other posts of mine as well.

This post is a part of the "Writing locations" series. Make sure to check out writing a medieval village, writing a medieval city and writing a castle as well.

“On the road” could be understood as…

→ majority of the story happens on the sea (like My Nepenthe does)

→ the MC travels throughout an entire continent

→ the story is located in space, with characters visiting different planets

→ the MC could travel through dimensions

→ the MC wanders within one specific country, but doesn't settle for any specific place

Don't let yourself be limited by that categorisation, of course. Let your creativity run wild.

As for HOW the character travels, you can use the typical means of transportation (a train, a car), a horse (perfect for middle ages based stories), a different animal or a magical beast (like a dragon), they can travel by foot (Lord of the rings), by a magical object (like in Howl's moving castle), or by a magical power (teleportation, flying).

WHY is the character constantly on move is crucial and should be well thought-through. Even someone who claims there's no reason for it they still have one, even if it's not conscious. As I mentioned before, they could be on their way to fulfill a task or to escape something (psychical or metapsychical), as a part of their calling (missionaries, wizards), to find something / someone (a lost family member), to prove something (being able to survive on their own), to fight (assassins, warriors, soldiers) etc…

I highlighted it many times before, but a good, thought-through world building is important. When a story is focused on one or two locations we should spend some time growing those locations in depth. And when throughout a story the MC visits NUMEROUS important locations, we should dedicate at least half of that time and effort for developing each of them. I strongly recommend keeping notes. It's better to give up on a location than to deliver one that's empty and doesn't feel real.

Traveling is a perfect opportunity for…

→ character growth

→ introducing new characters

→ learning more of the MC’s backstory

→ getting to know the economics and politics of the MC’s world

→ showing more of the world's culture, traditions, cuisine, architecture

→ expected and unexpected adventures

→ things not going according to plan and its consequences

→ a love / romance subplot 

If you choose to create more central characters who travel together, make sure they're all unique in their own ways and don't blurry together with time. Sometimes, when there's a bigger group of people you just need to acknowledge, but they're not that important, you don't need to create a backstory and a motivation for each of them. One characteristic is often enough, if a specific character appears once or twice to, for example, swipe the floor.

Remember your own journeys and draw conclusions. Your characters will also need to rest, sleep, eat and bathe, so if you want your story to be realistic, don't forget about those aspects of it. That doesn't mean that you need to describe what they're eating and how many times they go to pee, I'm pretty sure most readers would find it a bit much. With that being said, a character that's on the road for some time already will behave different than a character who only begins. Keep in mind an experienced traveler will realistically be able to stand more unpleasant conditions and know some tricks for survival, whereas an inexperienced traveler probably won't.

(taken from Pinterest, I unfortunately don't remember the author)

Some interesting TV tropes examples where the story or its part is set “on the road”:

Run for the border - a character, on the run from the law, has only one chance left at evasion: get out of the city, country or other jurisdiction entirely

Hitchhiker Heroes - describes a band of warriors or (more commonly) would-be warriors who join up with The Hero over the course of his journey to defeat the Evil Overlord.

An Interplanetary Voyage - a specific type of science-fiction story that takes the phrase "getting there is half the fun" very literally. In most cases these stories focus just as much, if not more, on the actual process of traveling in space as they do on the destination itself.

River of insanity - any expedition that involves a hopeless journey along a set path (or path of least resistance) to an unfamiliar (possibly hopeless or nonexistent) destination

Wandering culture - A culture that spends its days wandering with no fixed home

Homeward journey - a story where the main goal is to get home. These stories begin with some sort of displacement: The child is separated from his parents, the family moves and accidentally leaves the dog behind, or the hero winds up Trapped in Another World.