Yet all too often beginning writers skimp on one part of the background — the culture. We have all read stories set in another time or place that give us no real sense of being anywhere but the here and now. The romance set in South Africa that gives us no flavor of the place at all. "Local color" consists solely of occasionally mentioning a baobab tree. The fantasy novel set on an alien world where society sounds just like suburbia, or an SF novel peopled with aliens who come across as nothing more than middle-class Americans in body makeup.

These stories forgot about figuring the local culture into the background. Yet culture may be the most important element of both worldbuilding and character development. Our society envelops every one of us from the moment of birth. Its culture permeates our lives. It permeates us so thoroughly that we never notice how it influences our every thought and action. Such as the way we use a knife and fork. Do you cut your meat with the fork in the left hand and knife in the right, then lay the knife down and take the fork in your right to spear the pieces of meat for their trip to your mouth, or...do you cut with knife in the right hand, fork in the left backside up and keep the fork in your left hand to bring the pieces to your mouth.

Culture influences which way we look first before stepping into the street. Americans look left, British subjects right. Culture determines which side we mount a horse from.

Walking along the street, do you find yourself unconsciously avoiding stepping on the cracks. Do you cross your fingers for luck. Knock on wood? Save the wishbone of the Thanksgiving turkey and pull it with someone? Your characters should also have unconscious actions peculiar to their culture. But often the beginning author's own culture ends up shaping how the characters think and act.

So how do we avoid that? Well, we can't entirely, but we can minimize the influence by realizing that what you don't know about your characters or their times, your unconscious will fill in with the most readily available source of cultural information. Your own. So...you have to know your character's culture inside and out, every aspect of it until you know it as thoroughly as your own.

I can hear some young writers saying: I don't need to worry about that. I have contemporary, American settings. Okay...but say your story takes place in a small town. If it’s in an agricultural area, the rhythm of the community might shaped by the rhythms of agriculture. Do you know what those rhythms would be? Is the main crop, say, wheat...which would cause a surge of activity in June and July during wheat harvest, with farmers bringing in grain. Not to mention the upturn in economy from cutting crews buying supplies and beer, and maybe occupying the local motel. If the town has a college, activity would be tuned to the college...business and population decreasing during the summer then jumping again in late August as students started coming back. The public schools might match spring breaks and end of school term to match that of the college because many of the students would be the children of college personnel and college students. Your characters living in those towns would be affected by the activity, from traffic patterns to the choice of summer jobs.

A story with a contemporary setting may not require working out the sewer system, but it’s good to know the form of the municipal government, and the size of Main Street and what stores are on it. If you're writing a mystery, you need to know the size and structure of police department and/or sheriff's office.

And as the setting moves away from the here and now, in distance to a village in England or Russia, or in time to the future or the past, there are more and more details to work out. In 1877 a stranger rides into town wearing gun on his hip and a rifle in on his saddle. What kind of gun and rifle? What makes were available then? What make of saddle does he have? If he's been military man, might he have a McClellan saddle. Do you know what a McClellan saddle looks like as opposed to our modern stock saddles? What do his clothes look like? What slang might he use when asking for a drink or service in a local bordello?

Perhaps the story is a Regency romance. A young woman leaves the house to go to a masked ball. Would a domino be appropriate wear? What is a domino? She is invited for a drive in the park. What kinds of carriages are appropriate for her to ride in? What kinds might cause scandal?

Maybe the story is a fantasy set in Africa, where the warriors include females. They are to be on their quest for two months, eating together. Would this work? No, because during their period, women in many African tribes become taboo. They must not go anywhere near men, and certainly not cook or touch men's food. Even at other times of the month, some tribes believe that if a woman steps over a sleeping man, she weakens him.

And of course in an SF story set on alien world the author needs to work out everything about the society...from anatomy and agriculture to warfare and weights and measures.

Whatever the story, the devil, as they say, is in the details. And when the those details of background are worked out, they can generate conflicts and story twists peculiar to that setting. All helping to create a more solid, believable story.