As we come pointing along this monograph on narrative creation, verisimilitude is one of the essential features of all novel worth its salt. Therefore, one of the factors that we must take care of with more care is the space treatment.
The spatial enclave in which the novel takes place is the stage that readers should visualize. Of course, in a novel there are multiple scenarios, but all of them must be well constructed if we want them to be recognizable as real.
For this reason, it is perhaps one of the points in which the work of documentation, especially if we decide to set it in a place that is not particularly familiar to us. If you decide to set your novel in a specific city, you have to document yourself about that city to try to be as faithful as possible to it.
On the other hand, the type of environment requires its own documentation, if you intend to use a natural space, you must have basic notions about factors such as vegetation, while if you have chosen an urban space you must master the operation and distribution of the different types of city to know which one fits what you are looking for.
Of course, this is where descriptions play a very important role, since they are the way we have to build before the eyes of the reader the space in which our characters develop their actions. Developing space cards, one for each possible scenario, is a good tool that can facilitate the task of describing them in a rich and accurate way. Remember that we aspire for the reader to feel within that space to which we are referring, to see it with their own eyes.
In addition, as we all know, spaces have a direct influence on the people who inhabit them, so in order to achieve the aforementioned verisimilitude, it is crucial that we work on this aspect conscientiously, allowing there to be a certain transfer of traits between the spaces and the characters that are there, and also in the opposite direction, since many times they mold their environments to their needs: the spaces also evolve.
Finally, note that space can be used in many cases allegorically and can even become a collective character, as would be the postwar Madrid in the famous and celebrated La Colmena, by Camilo José Cela.