Does your story take place somewhere you’ve never been? Of course if you have the budget, traveling there to check it out is the best case scenario. Furthermore, you can then write off the trip as a tax deduction as a business expense. However, since most authors don’t have that kind of income, there is a reasonably good alternative.

You can use Google Earth to visit vicariously! You’ll be surprised how well it will feed your imagination and enable more detailed descriptions that make a story come alive. It will feel as if you are there and thus convey that to your readers. When I was writing “The Terra Debacle: Prisoners at Area 51” you can bet that I have never been there, neither have I been to Brazil, where another part of the story takes place. However, I felt as if I had been there using Google Earth. I took a trip down the Amazon that really fueled my imagination writing those scenes.

Even if it’s some place you’ve been in the past, you can refresh your memory or bring it up to date in this way. Then be sure to use your imagination to add the other sensations such as what a place would smell like, the weather conditions, and so forth. It needs to feel real to you before it will to your readers.