I’ve spent a huge portion of today researching elements of my novel. Two different libraries, and a few Websites. I have to get to know the house she purchases as if I actually live there myself. I also wanted to figure out which town the story takes place in specifically. At first I was going to make one up, then I changed my mind and chose one that is about 45 minutes away from my home. It’s the perfect town for the story to take place, and its close enough to a big city that hopefully that can play a bit in it. (since Detective Hudson works for a major Metropolitan police force and if it was any further than an hour away, it wouldn’t be too believable that he lived there.)
Have you ever researched your MC’s home. I even found a floor plan that seems to work for my story and where I’m taking it. I’ve saved pictures, interior ideas, key reference points in the town I’m moving her to, etc. It should be interesting to see how it all fits when I start writing.
Do you prefer to create your own town, use one that exists, or a little of both?
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interesting thought..I am having my first stab at writing a novel so I went with an established town ans area..which I think is a little easier for a novice
I love your site design. And to your topic about researching characters, what if your MC is yourself ten years ago. My alter ego is the adolescent me, who I research by continuing to mine deep into the past life of who I once was. Naturally what arises from this sort of an investigation is not “the actual me” but a fictional one, mixed with elements of memory, fantasy, and deliberate story-telling.
I’m a first time novel-writer, so I’m using existing places. Actually, I’m incorporating most of the places I’ve lived in. This way, I don’t have to do a lot of researching.
Good luck. Thanks for dropping me an EC.
Tasha