I believe some of the best locations for a novel are nearby. In the local area you have places where the smells are familiar, the sights understood and a wealth of knowledge of what lies behind. Place a fantasy castle in the middle of this scene and away you go!
In my novel, Crescendo!, the pairing of Austerley and Kirkgordon arrive on a remote Scottish island, in the fog. Living on the Isle of Lewis this scenario is very real to me and the landing site comes from a location very close to home. When I visit this little harbour, I can see some and their associates clambouring onto land and wondering where everything is. There is a remoteness not found in many places on our mainland and the lapping waves on the harbour causes the senses to be aroused. I’m pleased to say that the rudeness encountered by my characters is not typical of the island people (although some individuals do come to mind) and by placing evil folk in the villages causes the remoteness to be exacerbated.
It was the west coast of Ireland that gave me the location for the book’s grand finale. I remember visiting and seeing sheer circling cliffs and looking sown into the depths wondering at the splashing surf. Thoughts ran through my head of what could be causing such violence in the water. And ideas sprouted which have been fermenting until this novel.
Finding those locations close to home and then mixing them up with horrors of the novel seems to ground the fantastical ideas. Writing fantasy into the real world is hard and I think the writer has to give something the reader can hold onto while their imagination is asked to soar. Local places help round the writer, lest we disappear, heads lost in the clouds.
A Kickstarter for my new novel Crescendo! is underway here.
G R Jordan author, poet, and top Dad apparently!