Day 2: Setting sketches and research strategies Once you have a firm idea of who your main characters are, it's time to start thinking about where they are. This is also the time to start planning the research you'll need to do in order to make your characters, setting and entire story more realistic and specific. Setting sketches Before you start the story, you need to get to know your settings as well as your characters. Setting sketches, like character sketches, are very flexible. If all the characters live in the same area and time period, for example, you don't need to fill out this information for each character. Worksheets 2A and 2B will help you focus on even the smallest details of a given setting. Worksheet 2A provides you with a guideline for creating a setting sketch for each general time period (year, season) and area (state, town). Worksheet 2B, on the other hand, gives you a guideline for creating a setting sketch for each character's property (street, neighbourhood, home, interior, etc), as well as for his/her workplace. These two worksheets may sound similar, but they're actually quite different in scope. Worksheet 2A focuses on the settings shared by several characters at the same time. You will need a separate worksheet for each city or town in your book. If the action takes place over several time periods or seasons, you may end up with several sketches for one region. Now, let's look in detail at what this worksheet