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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/36776
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/36776
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

It's a bit hard to give advise with so little information to base it on, but if your story is about the characters rather than the locations, and your problem is that it takes the characters to meet in the first place, couldn't they all (or at least some of them) meet at some event outside their place of birth?

Consider, for example how the Fellowship of the Ring all meet in Rivendell, at the Council of Elrond; Tolkien never (not in _The Lord of the Rings_, that is) takes us to Mirkwood (Legolas's home), Erebor (Gimli's home), and it takes more than half the book until we reach Gondor (Boromir's home).

@Pawana is right - if a place is introduced, I want to experience it in full. But if it's relevant only for a chapter, is it all that relevant at all? What is it that makes the place relevant? Can't this aspect be conflated with another place, or shown in a different manner than actually visiting the place? For example, Tolkien sets up Gimli's home in one passage, instead of taking us to a place that's irrelevant to the story at hand:

> In metal-work we cannot rival our fathers, many of whose secrets are lost. We make good armour and keen swords, but we cannot again make mail or blade to match those that were made before the dragon came. Only in mining and building have we surpassed the old days. You should see the waterways of Dale, Frodo, and the fountains, and the pools! You should see the stone-paved roads of many colours! And the halls and cavernous streets under the earth with arches carved like trees; and the terraces and towers upon the Mountain's sides! (_Lord of the Rings, II 1 - Many Meetings_)

In this short passage, we get what the dwarves do (smiths and architects), how they live (under the Mountain), something of their history (dragon), and a notion of what excites Gimli (aesthetics). Couldn't some of your locations be condensed the same way, instead of being visited?

Original score: 6