Today, the hubby and hun-buns and I all arrived home from a weeklong vacation in Florida. While I was there, I visited the Ponce de Leon lighthouse--the setting for my newest YA idea roiling around inside my head. Well, not new, since I started thinking about it two years ago during my first visit to the historic lighthouse and the museum grounds holding the original brick dwellings the lightkeepers and their families lived in. But just recently I developed a real plot for this story.
So, on this trip to Florida, I returned to the lighthouse and did some research. I felt out the grounds and buildings, and really tried to dip into my character's head while I was there. It was such a settling feeling to be there, to be in the spot where my character lives somewhere deep inside my head. I could have spent all day there, if not for the withering hun-buns growing pink under the Florida sun.
This is the best kind of research, I realized, because you can uncover the smallest details to inject life and authenticity to your story, even if these details are used sparingly in the actual story--or maybe not even used at all. I learned so much about my main character walking the same lawns as her, being inside her house, climbing to the top of the lighthouse and seeing what she sees on a daily basis, even feeling the same heat and humidity as her.
So of course now that I'm all amped up to write this story, I come home to find the thumbs-up from my editor to continue working on the sequel to EVERLASTING because she loved the first 60 pages of the manuscript! I'm excited to work on that project too, so for now, I'll just have to keep percolating my romantic paranormal lighthouse story :-)
7 comments:
So happy for you on the good news to continue working on the sequel! And what a nice visit to the lighthouse!
Welcome back!
Thanks PJ!! I hope to get back into the blog mode very soon!
Yes, yaye for your sequel! Very exciting... At my last SCBWI conference, Cynthia Lord talked about searching for the "surprising details," which can only happen in this way. From living it / being there yourself... hope you are well!
Hey welcome back! We've missed you. And I couldn't agree with you more. That is the best kind of research AND it's a tax break too... It's legit. I wouldn't submit admission into a theme park, unless that is in your story too, but... it is a business expense...
I think one of the issues with my book is I haven't decided on the place. I want it to be in my hometown, but whenever a fellow writer from around here reads that, they get all tripped up. I wonder if someone, not from around here, would get tripped up. Prob. not. But it is hard to give a vivid description since I haven't decided 100% about where to have my story take place. So, I can see how getting to visit this place in your book was so inspiring.
Welcome back! Wondered where you were. Lighthouses are great founts for the imagination. Sounds like it could be cool.
And 'grats on the sequel!
Congrats on the sequel!! :) And that's awesome about your lighthouse story. It's amazing how being in the setting can make a story come alive in your head, isn't it? :)
Thanks everyone! Sheri, have you thought of creating a town based on your hometown, though not your exact hometown? That might be a compromise that would work. Creative license is so great!
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