At the encouragement of my bestie, London Kess, I have begun to write my first novel. The story started out as a simple character with a simple job, a young female librarian. She was a set of simple likes and dislikes. However, I soon found myself delving deeper into her world. Her words began to form a picture of a life that needed to be written down.
Then it got serious. Hours of research has gone into religions, languages, historical locations, names and events, animals pervasive to an area, city maps, subway maps, time-zones, colleges and career paths, and esoterica. The story has demanded accuracy and believability. So when I wrote that my main character, Beatrice Parnass, was a librarian living in Rio de Janeiro, I pulled up various maps and information of the city to make sure I gave an accurate account of the streets where she walked, the animals she might encounter, and the weather. As I begin to write about the inspector my heroine becomes entangled with, I have at the ready information on the police force in Italy – how they work, how information is disseminated, and how they investigate crimes, etc.
I think you get the point. So although I am only 16k words into writing this thriller adventure, it has delightfully consumed my time in other ways. With any luck, readers will feel as if they are really in the places Beatrice traverses.