TRUTH. What you need is imagination, and you don’t need to go anywhere to use it.
Yeah, sure, seeing new things is helpful as a fantasy writer. But. Don’t make the mistake of assuming that exposure to new things is the same as traveling. You know what else exposes you to new things? The internet. Documentaries. Books. Freaking Youtube. So when you’re bored of cats and cooking tutorials, go on an adventure!
You wanna write create some fantasy creatures but don’t know where to start? Go check out some videos The Weird Creatures Earth has Had.
Want some inspiration for your Super Evil Villain’s Villanous Deeds?
Or maybe you want some weird locations to kick start your Fantasy World Terraforming?
Or maybe you need knowledge of bunches of historical places and cities and cultures?
But maybe you’re basing fantasy on the modern world?
Okay but lets say you want to start from the same inspiration as GRRM? (and part two!)
That’s just the stuff I could quickly grab. Things I’m subscribed to, that I know offhand. There is So. Much. Stuff. Online.
The best thing about the internet is that it means its not just the fortunate sons that get to learn, and explore and imagine and write. We get to see stories from all over the place, from all sorts of people, who bring All Kinds of New Ideas.
In my opinion, traveling serves one of two purposes–as a world building exercise or fodder for lazy writing.
As world building: Traveling allows you to learn a new place for the first time. Mundane things that pass you by in normal life now come off as new and exciting! Is the fauna a brighter green? The ambient pedestrian noise higher in pitch? louder? Quieter?
It can really help you learn how to build a scene so that the reader feels like they’re experiencing a new place!
That being said, I totally agree with @caitymschmidt about getting the same resources online. I, for one, tend to spend a lot more time learning description from stock photos than I do traveling the world.
As lazy writing: Real places aren’t your fantasy backdrop. It’s fine to take inspiration from other countries and cultures, but describing real places and saying they take place on alien planets is not only lazy but verging on problematic depending on how it’s executed.
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In other news, I read the article and Jill Criswell, the author, acknowledges that urging people to travel now is problematic and privileged. I don’t agree with her viewpoint personally (there are TONS of new experiences people can fold into their writing WITHOUT “saving every penny” to travel), but understand that her motivation for incorporating travel into her writing comes from a good place.
From what I read, I didn’t get the sense that she was gatekeeping so much as confusing her desire to use her work to encourage people to travel with legitimate writing advice.
Actually wait.
My good will pretty much ends at the title which, reportedly, she chose herself. I was going to argue that Criswell was just naive, but I changed my mind. So, yeah, this is gatekeeping at worst, clickbait without care of the harm this sort of mentality can cause at best.
