How relaxing to sit on a beach and watch the waves roll onto shore. No, maybe to plop down in a rocking chair and overlook distant mountains.
How about a day shopping in Paris? Oh yeah, that’d be nice. It might be fun to browse at an open market on a Caribbean Island or go to a Luau in Hawaii. What about walking where our ancestors walked? Find out more about ourselves. Or better yet, walk where Jesus walked.
Even the most seasoned traveler can find new places to go. Thanks to all the writers who transport us to sites we’ve never seen or show us something different at the ones we have. We hear so much about a book’s plot and characters and rightly so, but the characters need to live in interesting surroundings.
If a writer’s plotting a scuba diving expedition, the diver needs to see clear water, coral reefs and exotic fish and know all about boats and dive equipment. If a character is in the kitchen cooking grits while looking out a window at blue tinted mountains, that person’s in the south in the Blue Ridge Mountains. A character walking on a crowded street surrounded by high rise buildings with Times Square in the distance is in New York City. The setting also can make characters seem real when they smell newly mowed grass, watch a sunset, listen to the wind howl or feel the onset of a sudden shower.
It’s fun to sit back in a favorite easy chair or curl up on the sofa with a cup of coffee or tea with visions of new places to go and read until the heart’s content. If the character in the novel sees something the reader’s never seen, that’s traveling by book.
Do you have a favorite setting for a novel? The Civil War? The beach? Paris? Do share!
Gail’s husband, Rick, says she’s the only person he knows who can go in the grocery for a loaf of bread and come out with someone’s life story. That’s probably because she inherited her mother’s love of people and enjoys talking to them. Working as an editor and freelance writer, Gail published a couple hundred articles. While some of them are in anthologies, two ended up in museums. In 2004, the American Christian Writers Association named Gail a regional writer of the year. She recently published her first romance, Love Turns the Tide. When she isn’t writing she likes reading, swimming, and getting together with friends and family. Gail wants to write books of faith that show God’s love. She and Rick live in Georgia.
Contact Gail at pallotta[at]gailpallotta[dot]com. Visit her Web site at http://www.gailpallotta.com or her blog at http://www.gailpallotta.blogspot.com
4 comments:
Great post, Gail!
If the description is good, I'll go anywhere! My favorite place to write was, Milan. I really think I should get to go there and research it myself instead of using friends who have been there and the internet! ;)
One of the many reasons I love to read! I've always wanted to travel many more places than I've already been blessed to see, and books have allowed me to do that. How fun to turn the pages and be transported to another time, country, kingdom, world...and I like Jessica's comment above. Maybe I should start a "research" project myself.
Hi Jessica and Susan,
Thanks for stopping by. There's nothing like visiting in person, smelling the air, walking with the people and eating the food. But when we can't be there, it's great to get into another place in a good book. If it's really good, I stop reading and look around.
Sorry for my late response!
Jess, Milan sounds amazing! Don't think Mike's been there, either. ;)
Susan, thank you for popping over. Haven't seen ya in awhile. =) I agree, I love being transported in time, place, reality, or all three. Let's go!
Gail, thank you for saying hello. I appreciate your stopping by and have really enjoyed getting to know you over at COTT! =)
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