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Q&A How does a person go about describing a place/experience that they never personally experienced before, like a circus?

Experience it yourself This is one of the things that you should be able to experience yourself. Living the moment will give you so much more information than any book, video, picture, or other de...

posted 7y ago by Secespitus‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-12T23:01:19Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/32464
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T07:39:58Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/32464
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T07:39:58Z (about 5 years ago)
### Experience it yourself

This is one of the things that you should be able to experience yourself. Living the moment will give you so much more information than any book, video, picture, or other description of any kind could ever could.

### Be careful when writing about things you don't know anything about

Chances are you will severly misjudge something. You might think that's not a big deal with a circus, but if you are planning to describe a normal circus in great detail there are many opportunities to get something wrong.

### If you can't experience it yourself try to get as much information as possible

Try to read books that focus on the topic and see how they describe it. Ask a friend for his experience. Go through the boring, long articles on the internet that describe everything far too detailed to be a little light reading and see what sticks. Watch YouTube videos all day long. Go to Google pictures and type "circus" or "circus popcorn" or "circus elephant" or certain animals or anything that you think might be interesting. Listen to Podcasts that have something to do with the topic. Read short stories and Blog articles.

Especially the experience from other people is important. Ask your friends and family if this is an important part of what you are writing. You will get a few opinions and can then judge what parts seem to be most important. The closer to your target audience your interview partners are the better.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-01-10T19:16:05Z (almost 7 years ago)
Original score: 4