Writerly Ways

[cornerofmadness]

I've been thinking about writing to relive and explore things. My trip to Vegas, for instance, I hope will revitalize my Vampires in Vegas story. (It's going to be my Camp Nano story. It's at 31K, so halfway to novel. I need to get this finished. I need to be finishing anything). It's a way of reliving my trip there and beyond that, putting a twist on the trip. Now I have to imagine living there. What would that be like? What would it be like to track a killer through those super-packed streets? How would a gay man's experiences differ from mine?

I did this to good effect in my story in the anthology, Two Tickets to Paradise. The gay lovers in this case were following my foot steps in Victoria on Vancovuer Island almost step for step as they documented the hauntings. It was a great way to go back there in my head. (I need to think up a story for my Wales trip too). Of course, a bare travelogue isn't that interesting so there needed to be more. Some of it had to come from the internet (like the gay club I took them to since it would not have been something I visited).

I have learned that getting things from the internet, however, isn't always helpful. Take my post earlier in the week over on jana_denardo. The building I was using was not where I thought it was. Google Earth is a great new tool for that, provided the area was mapped.

I think that's one of the reasons I often reuse areas for my stories, places I've lived and know well. Deadwood, SD; Pittsburgh, PA; Madison Wi; Cassadaga/Orlando, Fl. (though others I've avoided, Columbus and Cleveland and well anywhere I've lived in OH). These are areas I know well and I think that adds something to a story. Some readers disagree, judging by goodreads reviews but you can't make everyone happy. I think the setting adds another level to the writing and I enjoy using it.

Some helpful links: What’s your excuse for not writing? So many of us have excuses, waiting for 'inspiration'or the voices to talk to us. This takes a lookat that excuse.


Revise like you mean it I have such troubles with revision

yearly word count -

62471 / 125000
(49.98%)

not bad, I'm about halfway done and it's halfway through the year already (WTF!) I'm trying to revive my steampunk story but I fear it's too late to meet the deadline. sigh.

PS anyone else doing camp nano in July?

Comments

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

I had to look up the "Sky" condos, 'cause they were unfamiliar to me -- Sean Patrick lives in the Turnberry Estates, and his condo looks north and east, overlooking the golf course and the Las Vegas Hilton. And the reason I CHOSE the Turnberry Towers was because, when they were built, somehow I'd ended up on a mailing list for them, and I got a HUGE promo package including a CD with virtual tour and the building layouts and available floorplans and everything -- so that was where he bought.

And since vampires live so long, one has to remember that neighborhoods always change and go through ups and downs. In another twenty years, I'll bet that area's gorgeous again, as it was twenty years ago when they built the Turnberry Towers! :)

Anyway, when you read about Sean Patrick's Vegas condo, that's where it is.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

that is really cool that you got that.

You're right.I'm sure in another decade things will be rebuilt around the Sky. The real reason I'm moving it is that the action of the story can't happen as I have it if he's all the way down there.

I'll have to go google earth Turnberry Towers

[sholio]

Just speaking for myself as a reader, I absolutely love a strong, well-developed setting in a book. I love getting the feeling that the writer is familiar with the area and that I'm learning something about a particular place by reading the book. One of the weaknesses in a lot of romance (for me) is that the setting feels pasted on -- it's a generic small town or some vague part of cattle-ranch country or a big city that's never named or really seen. And I read for setting almost as much as I do for character and plot; possibly it's a side effect of reading sci-fi and fantasy all these years. :D

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

this is how I feel too. the Anita Blake series, everyone was praising the early books for their St Louis setting and I'm like WHERE? So I sent it to someone from there and she had the same reaction.

To me it matters. I know some people change reality to suit their stories (so long as they say so in the notes, I don't mind so much). I had one agent tell me it didn't matter. it was fiction. I will not use that agent, I know that much

[priarani560.livejournal.com]

That is a great article.

Thanks for the link

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

thanks. No problem