I recently returned from a research trip for the latest western fiction novel I’m writing. The characters in my story leave Austin, Texas traveling the Chisholm Trail to Fort Worth. After crossing the Red River, they take a train northeast until they disembark to chase the outlaws they’re seeking on horseback who ply their trade from a secret cave in eastern Oklahoma.
When a reader picks up one of my books, I want them to walk away thinking, I felt like I was really there. Visiting the locations where my characters live and die as part of my research is a “must” for my writing. Imagine….
Sitting on your bedroll as a red sun rises with your back against an old log by a smoldering campfire sipping coffee after a hearty breakfast of bacon and biscuits while listening to longhorns lowing across a bubbling stream may not make you a cowboy, but it certainly will help you “get the feel” of “being there” on a cattle drive headed north to Abilene, Kansas.
Standing in a dark, dank, musty prison cell where a mass murderer continued his killing spree by ending his cellmate’s life with a shank as he savored his final meal before becoming San Quentin State Prison’s latest dead man walking to the gas chamber may not make you understand the mind of man slayer, but it certainly will help you send shivers up and down your reader’s spines as you incorporate what you experienced while sitting on that very prisoner’s cot.
But, of course, it doesn’t have to be such dramatic places as these two. A simple old farm house or battlefield, a certain street corner or pew in a church building, a parlor in an antebellum home or the slave quarters out back may be the fuel for the fire that brings your story or novel to life in greater ways. Nothing quite compares to being “at the scene” of your writing in modern times or even if the story is in the past. I’ve found visiting locations is essential to good writing. Here are four reasons I choose to visit the places I write about:
1. It helps maintain the integrity of my writing.
First, and foremost, I want my readers to know that I went to the places I write about. I want them to know I sat atop the fortification, gazing across the battlefield where my 2G Uncle Lummy Tullos fought during the siege of Vicksburg, that I walked ground he farmed in Louisiana before he enlisted in the Confederate Army, and stood at the intersection across the street from the building in Vicksburg where he joined the Union Army to keep his oath to the Stars and Stripes. I walked where he walked.
2. It enhances research.
I get to experience the surroundings in which my characters lived and died as closely as possible with all my senses when I’m at the scene. Doing s will enhance story with true descriptions of the actual places. There are aspects of your location that can only be experienced in person. But, those could find their way into a scene, description, action, or dialogue some way. Visiting locations, as they say, puts a face on good writing. What becomes more real to me will become more real to my readers.
3. “Being there” allows me to listen and meditate.
When you arrive and understand the “lay of the land,” humble yourself in the place you visit. Quiet your spirit and meditate in the location where your characters live and die. Listen. You may be surprised at what comes to you in the location you write about.
4. By recording and documenting a visit…
…I bring back treasures for my readers by way of photos and information I post on social media. My readers enjoy the extra effort and it certainly is better than simply posting a picture of a book cover and saying, “Buy my book.” Posting photos, maps, and other information gathered at the scene helps readers come closer to understanding my characters’ setting.
I’m sure there are more reasons to visit the locations you write about, but hopefully these four will encourage you to “get out there.”
As a final note, I understand that it may not be financially feasible, physically reasonable, or time appreciative to visit your writing locations. I find myself having to deal with those hindrances as well at times. The internet offers an endless universe of research with a myriad of descriptions, past and present, as well as virtual tours which are the next best thing to “being there.”
So get out there if you can and be where your characters are in their settings. Remember, the most important reason to visit the locations of your writing is so that your reader will travel with you everywhere your characters go in your story or novel.
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