Settings for my Novels

Many years ago, some scenes for a major British film were shot in my home town.  We watched some of the filming one evening.  When the film was shown the following year, of course we went to see it.  In one scene, a bus pulls up outside the Town Hall.  You could sense the reaction all over the cinema, with people muttering ‘Buses don’t stop there.’  In that split second, the illusion was lost as people with a personal knowledge of the location were distracted by an inaccuracy.

A minor detail, I know, but it has stayed with me, over 40 years later.  I’ve read similar inaccuracies in books – someone looks out from the White House and sees Pennsylvania Avenue beyond the Washington Monument (wrong, the Monument is south of the White House, and PA Ave is north), someone gets a train from Victoria Station in London to travel to Edinburgh (nope, you’d have a long time to wait at Victoria for a train to anywhere in the north of Britain!), someone pulls their car to a standstill in Quay Street, Galway (it’s in a traffic-free zone) .

In my opinion, writers must always take into account of the fact that one or more of their readers will know the place(s) in their book(s) unless, of course, they are completely fictitious.  All the research in the world will probably not give you the information to avoid making an error which causes the reader to say ‘Buses don’t stop there’ (or similar).

This is why, so far, I have set my novels in places with which I’m familiar.  ‘His Leading Lady’ is set mainly in London, which I know fairly well.  ‘Fragrance of Violets’ is set mainly in the Lake District, an area I know intimately.  My current WIP is set in Egypt.  A year ago, that setting wouldn’t have occurred to me, but having spent two weeks in Egypt last autumn, I think (hope!) I absorbed enough to write reasonably authentically about Luxor and the Valley of the Kings.  I’m having to do more research than, for instance, a novel set in the Lake District, but at least I have a basic knowledge on which to build.

When I was writing a fan fiction story, I set part of it in Galway in Ireland.  I’d never been there and, to my knowledge, none of the people on the loop where I was going to post it had been there either.  However, still wanted to make sure my setting was accurate, so I went over to Galway for a few days.  I walked fromthe Cathedral to Eyre Square and then down Quay Street to the Claddagh harbour.  Maybe I could have done that on a street map or even with Google earth but it wouldn’t have been the same.  I was able to absorb not only the sights, but also the sounds and smells, as well as the whole atmosphere of the place.

In short, I find it much easier to describe a place if I've experienced it for myself.  Not simply to avoid basic inaccuracies, but also to help my readers to experience it too.  I admire those writers who can use settings with which they’re not personally familiar, but I need to comfortable with my setting.  In my N post, I gave some of the reasons for my reluctance to write a historical novel.  Maybe this is another one – I can’t experience for myself life in the 19th century New York - or any other era for that matter, therefore I would find it difficult to descibe it for other people.