Scenery Research

Since I'm writing my current MS about a Montana setting, doing scenery research is pretty easy for me. Most of the places I'm writing about are within driving distance of me.

There are a couple of places I need to get to this weekend that I haven't been to before, but I'm looking forward to it. The majority of the book is set in Big Sky, but some of it is set in West Yellowstone, so I'm heading down there to get some scenery research done. Here's what I mean by scenery research.

I've noticed that as I write my Scottish historical romances, I like to pick a specific place that really exists and write about that place. I like to see the vistas that my characters would have seen and let them sort of speak to me. Let them inspire me the way they would have inspired my characters.

I like to see them at different times of day, to see how they look/feel, because I notice those things in my current setting. When I'm looking out my window at 5:30pm, it looks different to me than it did at 5:30am, or at noon. The light illuminates different things, makes different shadows, hides different things and highlights different things.

When it snows, for instance, in Bozeman, I generally can't see the mountains. And it's common for a storm to move along the mountains, completely hiding the north side of the valley, along the Bridgers, but in my southern part of the valley, it's sunny and blue skies, along the Hyalites. I think that's important to know. Because I like my scenery to be part of the story, as well.

What about you? Do you do scenery research? Do you write about places you've been, or where you live? Can you tell if someone hasn't done their scenery research?

What Are You, Exactly?

I was having a conversation the other day with an out-of-stater who had never been to Montana. He asked me what the capital was. Of course, I said, Butte.

Just kidding. I said Helena. He asked me how big Helena was. I said, "I think it's under 50,000."

"Miles?"

"No," I said. "People. The population."

He asked if we had any major cities. I told him that our biggest city was Billings, and it had just over 100,000. People. Not miles. He was completely silent. It was awkward.

"How big is the whole state?" he asked.

I told him it was just over 1 million, but we were crossing our fingers that it had grown enough in the 2010 census that we might actually get another electoral college vote. "How many do you have now?" he wondered.

"Three. And only because they can't give us any less than that."

"Do you realize that your entire state contains less people than the city I live in?" We were currently in Portland, his hometown and current residence.

I did, in fact, realize that. I used to live there. One of the weirdest experiences as an 18-year-old was when I realized that there were more people attending my college than there were in my entire home county (Sheridan).

"How big is the city you live in?" he asked.

"50,000 people."

"So that's not even a real city, then? Is it? I mean, you're not really an urban area."

"Oh no! There is no really urban area in the whole state. In fact, if we're honest, there's not a real urban area between Spokane and Minneapolis, between Denver and Calgary."

"But you're not really rural, either? You said you have a mall. A Target. A Starbucks."

"We're not really rural either. And we can't be sub-urban, because there's no urban to sub."

"Then what are you, exactly?"

"Y'know, I don't think they have a word for us." And that sentence right there sums up why I love living in this state. There really isn't a word for us.

Except maybe awesome.

#1 Baby, Yeah!

Just had to put a little post tonight, after Duke just won the national championship. I know it's not really writing-centric, but it's such a huge part of my life.

My pen name is Rebecca Cameron. I chose that name because of Cameron Indoor Stadium, home of the Duke Blue Devils in Durham, NC. I have been a Duke fan for.ev.er. I've been a college basketball fan for most of my life, and played the game when until my second year of college, when I went to MSU and was no longer good enough to make the team. But I love basketball, and am so proud of Duke. Basketball, if not Duke specifically, will almost always have some kind of place in every story and novel that I have written so far, and hopefully every novel I will write in the future. I love writing athletics into my stories. I think it makes for some diversity.

Also, this year, I got a chance to see Duke play live in Madison Square Garden. This team, the championship team. I got to see them play live in maybe the most incredible basketball royalty venue in the country. And they won! Of course, they beat Gonzaga, so I was sad for the Zags (my sister's team). But today, I am just so happy for Duke's big win.

Granted, I loved Butler's team, and their coach, and their story. But I just can't be sad that Duke won. It was arguably the best championship game in almost fifteen years.

So I'm just happy today. Loving this moment. And for the next six months, I can rest on this laurel. Duke Blue Devils. National Champions. 2010. Rock On.

Thanks for sharing in my happiness. :-) Now, we can return to our previously scheduled programming... :-)