In retrospect, I seem to write a LOT about journeys. Upon further consideration, I suppose that is because much of my life was travelling, much of it on foot round the globe and ultimately, I view my own growth/evolution/maturing as a journey in and of itself.
Drawing upon what I know/have experienced, the journey itself often establishes the life... You turn right here when you should have turned left, what happened. You see this or that, how does it affect your mood? You encounter this person, that if you had taken any of a gazillion other routes you would have missed them.
So to me, the journey itself lends itself to setting up situations, moods, difficulties and even outcomes.
What follows are examples from what I've written... (only read if you're bored).
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One of the first longer works of mine, the character hitchhikes to Alaska, then spends a decade wandering it. The HH aspect takes a couple months, noting perhaps ten events, yet is covered in a mere two paragraphs. Its sole purpose to point out the character's determination. On the same token, as the character spends that decade wandering, arriving at and leaving each place is important, yet between is left vague... BUT, there is little question left regarding what the character saw and experienced during those vast swatches of time and distance.
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In contrast, my next work covered a single day, within a single maze of a building. Well over 100 other characters are encountered and the interactions are noted in significant detail... BUT, the sights, sounds, smells, everything about the journey itself is noted in tremendous detail. I even have an entire chapter devoted to a mere 'ten-steps.' In fact, though the distance is not that great, the description of each step, change in the maze and so on is so well described that most readers claimed they could smell/see/hear the place, everything the character did... and because of that envision it all without question.
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What I'm currently working on, finds the protagonist walking through a massive, densely crowded (shoulder to shoulder) city. Each novel in the series uses that base aspect. The exposition during those long walks are what really establishes the mood and sensations of the characters. Otherwise, the reader (I believe) would have difficulty understanding the dire situation, why people act a certain way and why things happen.
The journey itself imposes hardships that must be dealt with. That generates scenes where the trip affects how the characters act and forms them. Without the journey noted, in many cases there is no reason, simply chaos and confusion for chaos sake.
In those works, I'm using actual maps, buildings, considering how the collapsing environment and system would alter them, even geology of the area... which in turn makes it very easy to determine those future shifts and changes. The journey and the surroundings often determine what options a character has. Those options otherwise make little sense.
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In my 1870's Western novel, the character from 1871-1877 covers roughly 4,000+ miles. The full story (aspects referred back to and the years that follow) ranges from 1841-1905, the protagonist's life. All of the route is noted on a pair of maps that marks the highpoints in the character's entire life and obviously everything in the story. It takes place in what is arguably some of the most rugged terrain found in the United States and Baja, California (Mexico).
The route follows accurate Native American trails, old immigrant trails, passes that few people today are aware of, and to determine all of that I utilized numerous period maps and documents to get the names, routes and who travelled them right/correct (plus I've travelled those routes myself). It also helped cue me in to population numbers, and aspects of the old West that had vanished by the time the story ends.
Understand, most of it was on horseback, parts on foot and minimal bits by stage and eventually a tiny trek by train. Most areas were unpopulated except by Native Americans and even they were being moved by that time.
Describing the scenery, this difficult trail or that natural terrain significantly immerses the reader into the story. It gave the characters time to interact with a massive backdrop. It also helped to explain the solitude, how certain events and ways of living were acceptable or even mandatory... and in the end described a time and place where absolute freedom clashed with the beginnings of western civilization. Proving out the term "Wild West."
The trip helped make the story seem more like a real life accounting rather than just the events that made up the story. It took little to add a sentence or two here, a paragraph there regarding the journey, yet without it, it's just a bunch of yammering and action.
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Think of you going anywhere or doing anything. How much does the journey affect you and the possible outcome?
K2
