On-site research
can be a blast. While on location for a story, you can discover obscure histories,
anecdotes, and locales that weren’t initially in your storyline. These insights
can inspire new directions in your plot as well as unexpected characters. Don’t
be too discerning at this point.
Write down everything. Later, you can pick and
choose which material to use for your novel.
·
Interview people at the locations represented in
your story. Have these folks talk about the place’s history, why they live
there, how this area differs from others, what are its peculiarities, slang the
locals use, where people hang out, what they eat and drink.
·
Go on tours and jot down what the tour guide
says.
·
Note the sensory details so later you can make
the scene come alive for your readers. What gives this place its unique quality?
How does the air feel on your skin? When you close your eyes, what do you hear?
What can you taste on your tongue? Does it have an emotional resonance? What
smells hit your nose as you stroll along the street?
·
Pick up tourist brochures, maps, restaurant
menus, guidebooks, and any other printed material about the area.
·
Visit a bookstore and look for sightseeing guides,
local history and legends, regional cookbooks, haunted places in the area, and
local authors. If you have a scene set in a particular spot, see what you can
find on it. For example, I bought books on copper mining and the life of a
miner when in Arizona researching Peril by Ponytail. Copper mines play a role in my story. We also toured the
Bisbee Queen Copper Mine in person.
·
Take photos everywhere, even down to
architectural details. Photograph houses where your characters might live,
restaurants where they might go, street scenes with details like power lines
strung overhead and cracked pavement. Note the foliage and wildlife.
On our trip to
Arizona, I already knew the places we had to visit for Peril by Ponytail, but so many other sites begged to be explored.
We drove from Scottsdale to Jerome where we stayed overnight at the haunted Jerome
Hotel and took the ghost tour. From there, we visited Sedona, scouted out a New
Age center, and took a jolting jeep ride into the hills. Then we headed toward
Tucson, taking a caverns tour along the way and spending a day at Bisbee exploring
the copper mine and seeing the historic town.
We visited museums
and ghost towns, including famous Tombstone. But most importantly, we stayed on
a dude ranch. In Peril by Ponytail,
Marla and her husband Dalton honeymoon at an Arizona dude ranch owned by his
uncle. Things take a bad turn when a forest ranger is found dead. The Tanque
Verde Ranch was perfect as a model for my fictional location. Hopefully I’ve
recreated every mesquite tree, saguaro cactus, and abandoned wagon wheel in my
story.
It wasn’t
possible to fit all of my wonderful experiences into one book. I might have to
set another story in this state. The adventures I did use took me back down
memory lane for one of our best trips ever. Pick a place you’ve wanted to
visit, and it becomes a fabulous vacation as well a working trip. But go with
your writer’s eye, looking for details, and recording those sensory impressions,
like the desert dryness irritating your nostrils or making your hair stand out
from static. These are things you can learn only from being in a place. So determine
where you need to go and book that trip.
_________________________________________________________________
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