Monday, October 8, 2012

Writing From Photographs


When writing a scene, I try to use real places. Here's a sample:

While walking along the Potomac River’s banks in a park,


my main character finds a body off a lovely trail 


near the Nature Center.  

                                 
 Back at the parking lot she discovers a car and wonders if it is the victim’s car.


 As she calls the police on her cell phone, she sees a sign on a tree. 


She goes close to read the sign. Its message is disturbing. 


She didn’t notice any arrows on the body. Would the killer remove the arrow because of fingerprints or anything else that might identify him?

She decides to wait outside the park in her car along the road. When she passes the gate, she stops the car and discovers that the chain locking the gate has been cut through, indicating that bolt cutters were probably used. 

She hears a siren in the distance, a most welcome sound.

Do you research your setting and write from photographs?

6 comments:

  1. I tend to either use real places or make them up from scratch.

    When I wrote my first novel (the one that's safely tucked into the bottom drawer for ever) I used a city I barely knew for a number of the scenes. I took a road trip and took notes and photos to jog my memory.

    ~ Jim

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think it is better to use a real place unless you actually plot the setting on paper. When writing about a forest or a country lane, isn't it better to work from a vivid memory or an actual photo? Of course, my imagination adds the murdered body!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've used everything from photos to imagination, heavy on the latter. I did have a friend take pictures of a park in New Orleans for me, because I needed to be specific about the area. However, I covered myself in the beginning of the book by saying I took liberties and created a new Louisiana parish. In another book, a friend and I drove up into the mountains to detail the exit off the highway. You do what you have to do to make a story work. After all, it's fiction.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I've used my imagination and photos, Polly. Images of real places I think adds a dimension. You can see how the light filters through the trees, the colors and textures. Mixing the techniques provides a realness to the imaginary. These are photos of a park in Northern VA. But no one need know that. It could very well be transplanted anywhere that deciduous trees of these types grow, probably throughout the entire same Grow Zone, which splits the country by growing climes.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I use photos and the satellite view on map programs. I like using maps because I get a bird's eye view of an area. I see roads and how they intersect, nearby buildings and important landmarks. My imagination (hopefully) brings the information together to form a believable story.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Maps are a great resource, Kara. I use them when I'm writing about the Outer Banks. The geography is fluid on the islands so bridges appear and disappear depending on how the wind and ocean effect the land. I especially like the virtual maps that show the buildings, traffic and elevations--just like being there.

    ReplyDelete