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In the story I've been writing, a girl takes a flight from Los Angeles to London, but has a layover in Ohio where all kinds of interesting things take place. My final scene takes place in Southern England, at a place I've never been to. Just this weekend I was thinking it would be great if I could actually go to that place because for all the research I've done, I'm not totally comfortable with my descriptions of it.
Anyways, this is where I stop rambling and actually get to my point...
At work yesterday, I get a call that says I will need to go to England, before Christmas (Awesome ) but then I get my itinerary in my email and it's the same itinerary the girl in my book takes- right down to flight times and the insanely long layover! This is fantastic, I will get to experience the same flights (may not seem too exciting, but it's all important to the story).
This got me thinking, I've always wanted to take a "Writing Vacation", have you ever taken one? Where did you go? And did you find it distracting or beneficial?
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I think you need to check what you have written and remove any sections that go bad for the protagonist--you can never be to careful...
Posts: 2995 | Registered: Oct 2007
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I came as a surprise to Kara when her boss told her she would have to fly to England. "When?" She had asked him. "Next week, we have to complete that important book keeping thingy I told you about. You know the what's-it-called, number thing." Just what I need, she thought, I can do a little research for my novel. What excellent timing! She stood still for a moment as it hit her. She would be flying on the very same flights as the main character in her novel. She shrugged. What could go wrong? With her lottery ticket in her pocket...
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KStar, where in Ohio do you have the layover, and how long is it? There are some cities that, if you have five or six hours or so, it might be worthwhile to get a cab and go see some stuff. Google the city where the airport is and see what might be fun to visit (warning - the Cincinnati airport is actually in Kentucky - of course, the Newport Aquarium, Newport KY, is a fun place to visit, but it's a bit of a drive from the airport - probably a pretty hefty cab fare).
I LOVED our trip to England last year! You can book bus tours to various parts of England that are great fun. We took a "Merlin" tour and a "King Arthur" tour, and one of them took us to Stonehenge at sunset, and we were allowed inside the circle (no tour groups but ours were there at the time). Glastonbury Tor, one of the traditional possible sites of Avalon, was an amazing place to visit, as was the Chalice Well. You could spend the entire time in London visiting historic sites and/or fun modern sites (don't miss Harrod's, the most amazing department store ever! When we were there, an operatic tenor was standing on the stairs in one section serenading shoppers; the gourmet grocery store has stuff we'd never heard of, and other stuff I'd seen mentioned in novels but never seen in real life; the Egyptian section is decorated like the inside of a pharoah's tomb - really!; the jewelry section in the back has little shops that belong to some of the finest jewelers in teh world - and to some that have been in business and in the same family since 1300!!! Amazing, and all in one department store!!) The Tower of London, of course, is a fabulous place to visit. For those of us who are Harry Potter fans, there are Harry Potter tours (although we didn't take one - my hubby's tolerant toward Harry, while I'm a fanatic). We did see some places that were filming sites, simply because there are so many of them!
Be sure to eat a Cornish Pasty, and to try real live pub food. There's a beautiful pub across the street from the British Museum where the food is wonderful. And the British Museum - it advertises that it stays open late one day a week (Friday, I think), but we went that day and learned to our dismay that only the first floor stays open that late. We'd done the first floor completely and were just getting started upstairs when they started closing upstairs.
I used a lot of what I learned there to enhance the settings in my novel, "Star Sons: Dawn of the Two" and its sequel (still untitled) - the Glastonbury Tor and the surrounding area is mentioned in detail, for instance, and standing stones like those you see in several towns (Avebury, for instance) are also included in my novels.
Start doing research now so you can get the most out of your time there! And have a GREAT time!!
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Heh, England, thats funny! Just so happens that I'm signed up to be part of a London/York literary school trip for my English major. Plan is to spend three days in London and 7 in York studying sites and museums that are literary related.
I will bring my camera and maybe my laptop or at least a notebook and take tons of pictures for later use in my writing. I hope the whole experience will be worth the money and I can get a lot out of it!
Jealous that you get to go so soon though, I don't get to go until the end of May, right after my birthday.
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Kakichi, when you got to York, don't miss the tour of the "basement" of the York Minster (their cathedral). They excavated under the church when it needed better supports (it was "settling" into the ground, which would've damaged it) and while excavating, they found all kinds of interesting archeological stuff, including Roman and Norman foundations for other buildings that were on that site. It's well worth the entry fee, even just to see the supports they built under the church!
One of my bronze collectors lives in West Yorkshire and has become a very dear friend online, so we went up there to visit and they took us all over the countryside, including the York Minster, Chatham (the state house of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire - also the "mansion" shown in the movie "Pride and Prejudice"), up to the moors, into the village where the Bronte sisters lived - wow, there's so much history in every square inch of England. I hope you have a great trip!
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Thanks for all the suggestion Lynda. I've been to England before, but only explored London once and sadly, I didn't do any of the tours or anything. I've seen the Tower of London and the aquarium or something. A tour sounds sound really exciting. I was too chicken to explore Harrods as a poor teenager, but I'll make certain to go now that I can take my trusty credit cards.
Skadder- I have some family in Brighton and a couple other places, I've never gone to stonehenge but I'll be about two hours away. The place I really want to go to is Beachy Head. It's the place in my story.
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Ha ha! I didn't think you were! You must've misunderstood me. I was just commenting on the fact that I've got family that lives around there.
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Kakichi, and Lynda, I've been to York and loved it.
York Minster was my first real, European cathedral, and I couldn't believe how huge it is. Made me cry to think of the sacrifices so many people must have made to help build it.
I'd recommend the Jorik museum and a walk around the old city along the top of the wall. York is way cool.
(I've also been to London a couple of times (less than a day each time), and would recommend the double-decker bus tour at the very least.)
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) but then I get my itinerary in my email and it's the same itinerary the girl in my book takes- right down to flight times and the insanely long layover! This is fantastic, I will get to experience the same flights (may not seem too exciting, but it's all important to the story).
