For various reasons (comments, conversations, Spring Kink), I've been thinking about how people decide to flesh out their settings in video game fan fiction, if they bother. I know a lot of authors don't, either because it doesn't seem important, or because they don't want to do any research for a fanfic, or whatever. Certainly, when it comes to fan fiction, I advocate the midway approach - make an effort to study some useful details, but there's no need to have your fic historically accurate down to the last fingernail unless a) you get off on that kind of thing, or b) it's a historical setting.
In the latter case, well - do what you want, but a little more diligence in researching setting details (i.e. there weren't any marble castles in medieval Japan, bitches, get it right) would be appreciated by your discerning readers.
To explain what I mean, I'll use myself as an example.
1. Fire Emblem: HatariFE10 doesn't tell us anything about this place, so when deciding what kind of setting Hatari should be, I looked at Nailah's jewelry and accessories for inspiration. They remind me somewhat of Egyptian jewelry, specifically some of the pieces in my giant book on Tutankhamun's funerary treasures. Volug's getup reminds me of something more aboriginal, but I can't be more specific than that, because I ignored him for the most part. :D; This led me to depict Hatari is a desert state in my very first attempt at Rafiel/Nailah fic, but later I decided I liked the idea of a tropical forest better, and plugged the Egyptian elements, along with some Mesopotamian ideas, into that setting. That determined what food they ate, what fabrics they wore, what their buildings looked like, and so on.
2. Valkyrie Profile: anyVP isn't nearly as sparse with detail as the Fire Emblem games, so in almost every case, if you want to write about a character, you can visit their home city/country in-game and get a good idea of what people wear and what the architecture is like. (Imagine how hard it is to go from this to FE, which might give you a painted background - maybe.) However, there are a lot of details I like to include in my fics that this doesn't cover - food, for instance, incense, flowers, sensory details in general. To get these, I'll decide which real world country Crell Monferaigne might allude to and then do a quick research run on what the climate and plant life is like, and what historical costumes might be of interest. I might research the food, but in this case, I usually just open
Celtic Folklore Cooking (the closest thing I have to a cookbook that might apply to the sensibility in the game) and pick something that sounds likely.
I once based an entire story on marigold buns because of a cultural note in that cookbook. Inspiration comes from the strangest places.
3. In GeneralWhen nothing in a game stands up and shouts "I'M A DESIGN THAT WAS POPULAR IN 17TH CENTURY FRANCE," I make some really general decisions. My version of Etruria, Bern, and Lycia (FE6/7) is somewhere in the ballpark of 16-18th century Europe, excepting Sacae, which... I don't have an era chosen for, but base on various details I remember from studying Central Asian tribes and Mongolia. I'm not always very careful about it, but I try to use details that fit into that setting - so, for instance, if I'm paying attention, Sue won't eat much in the way of vegetables because she doesn't live in a culture that values agriculture, but she'll eat a lot of meat, cheese maybe, and they might buy grains and fruit from Bulgar if they can't get them somewhere on the plains. However, I haven't done any in-depth research on these sources in a while, so I just work from memory.
This isn't precise or anything, and I'm not advocating anything in particular, like I said above. But now that I've gone on at length about myself - everyone's favorite thing to do, right? - I direct the question at the writers on my friends list, and anyone else who feels like replying:
What do you do to flesh out the settings and details in your fan fiction? Does canon usually give you all the information you need, or do you have to make stuff up? Do you think it's important work these details out?
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