{"id":1573,"date":"2019-02-11T01:23:55","date_gmt":"2019-02-11T01:23:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/?p=1573"},"modified":"2019-02-09T19:46:54","modified_gmt":"2019-02-09T19:46:54","slug":"virtual-visits-to-some-of-the-settings-in-no-time-for-surprises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/virtual-visits-to-some-of-the-settings-in-no-time-for-surprises\/","title":{"rendered":"Virtual Visits to Some of the Settings in No Time for Surprises"},"content":{"rendered":"

No Time for Surprises<\/strong><\/em>, part of a series called the No Brides Club<\/strong> featuring heroines who\u2019ve sworn off romance (Of course we all know how that works out\u2026), is set in New York City, a place that is packed with fascinating nooks, crannies, parks, museums and other interesting places.<\/p>\n

I grew up in a suburb of New York City and fell in love with Manhattan on various trips into the city when I was growing up. However, I moved to North Carolina some 40 years ago and have only been back for brief visits since. I feel I have a good grasp of the general geography, atmosphere, and culture, but there are a lot of things that have changed, too.<\/p>\n

I considered making a quick scouting trip to the city, but time, budget, and circumstances precluded it. I\u2019ve done this in the past, visiting cities that would form the settings for my books. I want the big picture layout, but I also always try to find the telling details, the small bits of scenery, characters, objects, landmarks, etc. that convey the atmosphere or feel of a place.<\/p>\n

I turned to the Internet for help and it\u2019s amazing what you can get.<\/p>\n

I knew, more or less, where I want both my heroine and hero to live, and I didn\u2019t want to be very specific about it, but I needed to be sure the general locations were feasible, so I turned to Google. I started with the maps but then did the satellite thing and zoomed in to get a better look. Finally I got right down to the street level to check out buildings. I picked out addresses for my characters though I don\u2019t give actual numbers in the story. My heroine lives on the sixth floor of an apartment block on the west side, while my hero has a townhouse in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

Then there were the places they visited in the course of the story. They took a bike trip along the Shore Park Bike trail in Brooklyn. I\u2019ve never been on it but it was an important event in the story so I wanted to get the details right. This YouTube videos gave me a good idea of the pavement, the surroundings, the crowds, the sounds, the obstacles and who was using the path.<\/p>\n