Research on the Road, or Using Travel as Research
by Diane Perkins

This past June, I took a tour offered by Novel Explorations (www.novelexplorations.com), a travel agency specializing in tours with a literary bent. This tour focused on the grand days of the coach, traveling from London to Edinburgh, following the old North Road. For a writer of historical romance set in the Regency period, this tour was a gold mine, as was a previous Novel Explorations tour that covered London, Bath, and Brighton. But travel for research isn't only for historical writers. Even contemporary writers can benefit from a trip to the setting of their choice.

What are the advantages of traveling to where you are setting your next novel? Why not just surf the Internet to find what you need to know? The answer is simple. There's nothing like being there!

When we write, we try to make use of all the senses - sight, sound, smell, taste, touch. Because we have rich imaginations, we can often convey the fullness of an experience without ever having actually experienced it (think of all the murder scenes you've read or written), but traveling to a place to describe it in a book helps in conveying that sense of "being there." Photos from the Internet can't really provide the panoramic splendor of a landscape. Nor can it do justice to such matters as the height of a ceiling, the smell of a cellar, or how it feels to be in such a place. Does the place teem with energy like Times Square on a Saturday night, or is it peaceful, like the back porch of a cabin in the Shenandoah Mountains?"

Traveling to the place where you wish to set your story gives you the opportunity to experience the setting through all your senses. For example, if you wish to set your story in Death Valley, there is nothing like being there to appreciate the quiet, the heat pulsating from the sun and emanating from the sand, or the vastness of the terrain, the highway disappears into a distant horizon. When I traveled to Italy several years ago, one thing that struck me was that the light from the sun seemed different than in Virginia, as if God had inserted a different kind of light bulb. The foliage was different as well as the stone of the buildings, the sounds of people talking in the street, the way they dressed, their shoes (only tourists wore athletic shoes - not so in New York City). Such differences are not confined to different time zones or different countries. Every place has a different feel to it. If you blindfolded me and drove me around the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, when the blinders were off I would be able to tell if I was in Maryland or Virginia. The two states, so close together, simply look and feel different.

Another advantage of "being there" versus looking it up is the appreciation of distance. A photo of a room cannot convey its dimensions just as a map cannot give you a crystal clear sense of how long it takes to get to a place. On this last England trip, we walked through Mayfair, the part of London that is often the setting for Regency historicals. For the first time, I appreciated how close everything was. Everything from the residential streets of the Regency lords and ladies, to the gentlemen's clubs, to the homes of the gentlemen's mistresses was an easy walk, something I had not anticipated. While visiting historic houses, I was surprised sometimes at how small the rooms were and, at other times, how large and grand. A photograph just could not tell me either of these things.

Every writer knows that visiting a place can inspire story ideas. I set my first book in Falls Church, Virginia, an area I thought I knew well, but I did con my husband and kids into taking a drive through the neighborhoods one afternoon, just to get a new feel for the area. I discovered a small park with the boundary marker for the original District of Columbia, and I built a whole scene around that park. My friend, Karen Anders (Almost Naked Inc., July 2005) has written a Blaze and a novella, both coming soon, that were inspired by a visit to New Orleans.

Another thing I love about visiting the settings of my novels is discovering small details. In this last trip, I saw a "cat's cradle" game that I am sure will wind up in one of my books.

On my Regency trips, I learned about boot scrapes and torch snuffers outside of London townhouses, things I had never thought of. In the period houses, I also paid attention to what knickknacks were displayed, what items were placed on a desk or a dressing table. I love when books provide these tiny authentic details, like a surprise candy treat, and I love it when I'm able to weave them into my own stories.

My friend, Amanda McCabe (Lady Midnight, May 2005), who went on the first Regency tour with me, recently presented a workshop to the Beau Monde chapter of RWA about using travel for research. Here are some of her tips.

Take lots of photographs. The visual images will help jog your memory of the total experience. I used a digital camera so that I could take nearly unlimited numbers of photos. I photographed everything, from the scenes of the countryside outside the bus window to tiny miniature portraits, to flowers in a garden. I also photographed the signs that accompanied the displays, saving me the time of writing everything down.

Carry a small notebook and make lots of notes. Not all places will allow cameras, and some information cannot be photographed. I credit note taking for teaching me about "colza lamps," oil lamps used in the Regency period. I had never heard of them before visiting Stratfield Saye, Wellington's country home. It is best to write down a diary of the day's sites at the end of the day before you forget, but, on this last trip, I always seemed to wind up in the pub instead - doing research, you understand. Some members of the trip used other means to keep notes, like a tape recorder or video camera.

Always buy the guidebook. The guidebook will have photos of the important things and all the most important information as well.

Visit the gift shops! Not just to help the economy of the area, but because the gift shops often sell things to help in your research. Buy postcards. Not only do they provide the visual image, but they also have a brief description on the back, or provide a place for you to jot down your own notes. Gift shops also sell books on related subjects that would be difficult to purchase anywhere else. They might also sell reproductions of items you've seen or something that would make a good prize in a contest promoting your book.

Amanda points out another important advantage of using travel for research. You can write off your expenses on your taxes!

Diane Perkins writes Regency historicals for Warner and, under the name Diane Gaston, for Mills & Boon. Her next release is The Marriage Bargain (Warner, October 2005), followed closely by her Golden Heart winner, The Mysterious Miss M by Diane Gaston (Harlequin Historicals, November 2005) and A Reputable Rake by Diane Gaston (Mills & Boon, November 2005).
 

To read last month's Writer's Life article, click here

back to the top