Creating context around a book’s main character and arc can bring to readers an enlarged understanding of their story and its importance to their time. It can also lead the writer into the weeds, causing a reader to lose interest in your work. In this talk, Prof. Michael Meyer will discuss his approach and methods whilst writing about 1870s London and the many “B characters” in ‘A Dirty, Filthy Book,’ which recounts Annie Besant’s obscenity trial. Meyer has also written extensively about China, and will talk about about world-building for readers unfamiliar with a story’s setting, history, and language.