Last weekend I took a trip to County Wicklow, partly to carry out some family history research, and partly to check locations for my current novel. I’ve already written around two-thirds of the first draft, imagining the street scenes and roadways, backed up by miles and miles travelled on Google StreetView.
On the ground, however, I discovered that so much needs rewriting because my understanding of the history of the places was distinctly under par. The period of the novel I was investigating covered 1847 to 1921, and, of course, much has changed in the intervening years. Houses that I thought of as old, were actually new or didn’t even exist in that time. The landscape must have been different because the trees lining the fields, or forming huge woodlands, though large, were nowhere near 150 years old. Even the rural roads would have been different, with little or no tarmac, and the town layouts have changed beyond recognition.
I’m not dismayed by this, it’s important to get it right, and the experience of getting the feel of the places; seeing the way the light fell, hearing the sound the river made over the gravel and feeling the wind blasting down the mountain, made it all worthwhile. Even if I hadn’t been researching, it would have been pleasurable.
The hard task now is to translate it all on to the page.
2 responses to “Another time, another place – The importance of research on the ground”
Got to love Streetview. I use it too, but as an addition rather than a replacement. I get exactly what you mean, and I’ve often said how it doesn’t even come close to measuring up to actually being on location; seeing the people, inhaling the scent, feeling the wind in your hair or listening to all the little sounds that make the place what it is—unique.
Great post 🙂
Hi Tess. Like most things computer-wise, it can be an assistance but no replacement for real life – whatever that is.