In the grand plan of writing I like to physically scout the places I write about. I try to draw from life experience and use the actually sight/smells/feel to make it crystal clear for the reader. Life, budget, and work make it impossible to always visit the places I write about though. So sometimes I have to draw purely from research and then try to create a realistic experience from pictures, accounts, maps, and other peoples’ words.
In my latest round of editing I am getting the chance to rewrite portions of a book that were drawn purely from research. Now I have the life experience to actually put myself there as I go through the scenes and get the details right. ultimately I know only a few readers will ever appreciate the little things, but for those few that have been there they will know what it’s really like and connect. To me that makes the experience well worth the extra effort to get it right.
-kurt
