Guest blogger, Carole Gift Page, continues to share her Ten Steps in Writing a Novel.
STEP FIVE: WRITE DESCRIPTIONS OF THE MAIN LOCATIONS TO BE USED IN YOUR NOVEL. Your descriptions may include foreign locales or your own hometown, historical sites, imaginary or futuristic cities, or your own living room. The point is, do your homework. Be accurate and vivid in setting the scene, drawing from all five senses to capture your characters in their natural environment. Small but insightful details will hit home with readers, providing that ring of truth that makes your story live and breathe.
Don’t trust your memory for such details. Whenever possible, go to the location where your story takes place and write out your descriptions on the spot. You may even wish to videotape or take photographs for future reference.
When Doris Elaine Fell and I co-authored the “Mist Over Morro Bay” series of mystery-romance novels, we selected a cruise ship to Alaska as the setting for our last novel, Beyond the Windswept Sea. We both had the opportunity to take separate Alaskan cruises for our research. I personally interviewed officers and staff, toured the ship, took pictures, and even videotaped a man-overboard drill in the icy waters of Glacier Bay. Did such research make the novel more authentic? I think so. After reading our book, a woman who had also been on an Alaskan cruise told me, “I enjoyed your cruise more than mine!”
Next blog we will take a look at a few descriptive passages from Beyond the Windswept Sea.