Fiction Craft Essays

Laura Spence-Ash emphasizes the creative and practical benefits of drawing maps for fictional settings. Writers often know their fictional places intimately, but that knowledge doesn’t always fully translate to the page or may contain inconsistencies. Creating a map, whether of a whole town or a single room, helps externalize and clarify the setting.

Laura Spence-Ash expresses her love of maps, especially digital tools like Google and Apple Maps, which allow exploration of familiar and new places through satellite and street views. Spence-Ash shares a vivid personal anecdote of discovering a funeral procession in a satellite image of a cemetery, which then inspired their fiction. Additionally, street view allows writers to explore interiors like restaurants, offering sensory details—such as candlelight or window views—that enrich storytelling. Includes several writing exercises.