I love tennis so am glued to Wimbledon at this time of year (well as much as I can manage anyway, other commitments allowing!).  Really loved the matches today between Federer and Cilic and Murray and Tsonga. Two very good match ups, two matches I think which will go down as classics.

In your fiction what would count as good match ups?  For example, in my stories, Eileen trains up a young fairy called Hanastrew, who develops into powerful fairy godmother in her own right and takes over Eileen's role in fighting evil when the latter defects to Earth.  Eileen, prior to her defection, realises how talented Hanastrew is and, rather than resenting it, encourages it.  She sees Hanastrew, correctly, as a good match for her. 

So who would be a good match for your main characters?  The great thing is they need not be friends.  They can be someone unexpected but there should be a good reason why they are the match up to that character.  Sometimes someone can reflect the virtues/faults of the main characters.  Equally they can react against these things so the main character(s) could see how things might have gone for them had they chosen to take a different path in life.

If ever there was an appropriate place for a wish list, it is in the magical realm!   A fairy godmother's wish list could look as follows below.  In my magical realm, they are not allowed to grant their own wishes but have to submit their requests to the Queen and her Council for consideration. They don't rush their decisions, much to the frustration of the law abiding fairy godmother who feel she has submitted a reasonable request.  So her wishes would be:-

1. That the Queen and her Council take less than 72 hours to make up their minds to grant wish requests.  The fairy government needs to be less bureaucratic.  This is really annoying given the government makes up its mind much quicker than this on a whole range of other matters.
   
2. That the fairy godmother in question does not have to go out and fight any more dragons as both godmother and dragonkind are sick of the sight of each other.
   
3. That fairy godmothers can top up their natural "in the blood" magic less often from the Fountain of Youth at the Palace.  It is inconvenient for fairy godmothers to come so far to get to this point.  Not everyone lives near the Palace.
   
4. Or the Queen installs a second Fountain of Youth at a more central location, making it easier to reach.
   
5. That the fairy godmother might have a better selection of materials to work with.  There is a limit to what you can do with pumpkins.
   

What sort of documents exist in your fictional setting(s)?  Diaries, letters, reports and so on?  Who writes these?  Are these documents available for anyone to see? 

In my fiction, the Queen keeps her own archives in the Palace Library but there is a restricted section where you need authority to read on so most do not bother.  In any setting there must be some information where  restrictions of access are necessary, almost certainly on security grounds, so what or who is the threat here?  Who is your historical expert in your fiction?  Is there anyone writing alternative histories (because they disagree with the official version or feel things have been left out)?

What controversial documents are in your fictional archives?  Could the archive documents unleash choas if they were made public or is it  a case everyone knows what is is them, it is just the fine details that cannot be published?

Away Days: Salisbury is my latest Chandler's Ford Today post and takes a look at one of my favourite places to visit.

What are the special places your characters like to visit in your fictional setting and why did they pick the ones they have?  Are they allowed to go there or is tourism discouraged?  What places are of national/global importance and why? 

Different characters will also have different places that are special to them (though there will be some overlap with some places). So why has character A chosen one place and character B another?  Do they fall out over this?

What is special about your fictional world as a whole?  What makes you want to write about it/for it?  What makes your characters happy to dwell in this fictional world?