Travel As Research by Connie Berry

 

Having just returned from two weeks in England, I thought I’d share three of my writerly experiences in researching my WIP, the as-yet-untitled Book 6 in the Kate Hamilton Mystery series. 

FINDING THE PERFECT LOCATIONS

Some writers have the ability to create whole worlds out of their own imaginations. I like to see things that exist and then alter them to suit the needs of my story. My problem is remembering the details, which is why I take loads of photographs on vacation. Now that I'm home, I’ll go through my photos, mining them for locations. For my current book, I need a fourteenth-century farm. I found it at Cogges Manor Farm, tucked away in a quiet corner of Oxfordshire. First mentioned in the Domesday Book (AD 1086), the farm itself has survived for an astonishing eleven centuries. The main house was built in the fourteenth century. I want to remember the gray stone walls, the red-painted doors, and the thatched roofs. Perfect! Here are some photos:

REMINDING MYSELF OF THE WAY PEOPLE ACTUALLY SPEAK

In spite of the fact that I watch British TV almost exclusively and read novels set in the UK, I don’t actually live there. That means my writing is subtly influenced by American syntax and word choices. My protagonist, Kate Hamilton, is an American antiques dealer, but she lives full-time now in the UK, so naturally, her speech is increasingly British rather than American. She’s beginning to call her cell phone her mobile, for example, and she might call a cookie a biscuit. All my other characters are native-born Brits, which is why I need to refresh my memory from time to time by actively listening to the way people in the part of England I write about (Suffolk) actually speak. One of my favorite examples is the past participle of the verb get, which in the US is have gotten, as in “Things have gotten out of hand.” People in the UK say have got as in “Things have got out of hand.”

I love listening to people talk. Yes, it’s eavesdropping, but for a writer, it’s pure gold. Like Americans, British people rarely speak in complete sentences, but they do use words, phrases, and syntax unique to that part of the world. If my dialogue is authentic, I need my top-up.

EXPECTING THE UNEXPECTED

The most memorable parts of any vacation are those serendipitous moments we haven’t anticipated. In my experience, memories are made of the things that don’t go according to plan. On our last evening in England, my husband and I stopped at a pub along the Thames. Sitting at the table next to us was a couple with a very friendly black lab. That got us talking. Before the night was over, we’d solved the world’s problems. Well, maybe not, but we did find areas of agreement and disagreement. Only later, realizing I’d seen the woman’s face on TV, did we discover we’d been talking to two of England’s best-known actors—whose names I won’t, for the sake of privacy, disclose This reminds me that my plot needs to have some unexpected twists and turns as well. That’s where the fun is.

Where do you get your best plot ideas?