Setting of my next Book-Bankhead Forest

One of many water photos I've taken in Bankhead

If you read my blog post where I told you a bit about writing my hometown into the Blood Burden Series you already know I live by the "Write what you know," advice. And holding true to that line of thinking, when I was hit by inspiration to write my upcoming series I just so happen to have been standing beneath a huge rock formation known as the Needle's Eye in Bankhead Forest. So naturally, my outdoor loving character nicknamed Bird starts her dive into a dark world of demons and vampires on a beautiful sunny day's geocaching trip into the Bankhead Forest.

Growing up in Alabama I've always considered myself lucky to have the Bankhead Forest and Sipsey Wilderness in my area.  If you've never hiked it you are missing out especially if you're looking for total separation from the world...as in, you can actually walk deep enough into the woods to not hear traffic AND LOSE CELL PHONE SIGNAL...I can feel your gasp of shock from way over here lol! Yes, there are still places that you can truly escape to and not be disturbed until you decide to return to civilization and sometimes that's exactly what a writer's mind needs.

Well, I was about 3 miles into a hike with my dog when a small thunderstorm rolled in so we took shelter under this big rock with a hole all the way through it known as Needle's Eye.  This wasn't my goal spot for the day, I was seeking a bluff top near a waterfall I visited often, but either way I would be sitting until the shower passed so I pulled out my notebook, leaned back against the rock wall, and just let my mind wander as I rubbed my dog's ears.

There's something magical about a rain shower in the middle of the forest. Everything comes alive; the leaves dance, the ground seems to sing with delight as each drop reaches its pine needle covered surface. The tree tops sway along to the song of the wind and rock walls sparkle with newfound life all along their moss covered edges. But the longer I sat there the more my mind twisted the creaking of a tree or a splash in the stream into something dark. The image of someone being chased through the damp shadows jumped to the front of my mind.



I couldn't pass up capturing this owl-like face.

I grabbed up my notebook and started to scribble down the feelings.  The way the sounds carried so every echo seemed to come from each side of me, the way limbs would suddenly drop to the ground as if the weight of a stalking creature had became too much, and the unnerving silence when the wind stopped like the creeping darkness had paused long enough for the cover sound to rise again.

Before I knew it I had the sounds of Bankhead, both the beautiful and the dark, down on paper and the idea for the Bird's first chase scean fleshed out. The "Write what you know" advice carried me through again. Not only am I a avid hiker who knows the Bankhead Forest but I have also been out in the woods alone and felt very unnerved (not just from rain but that's a story for another time). I can truly put myself into my character's shoes as I write her adventure.

That's a nice feeling as a writer!

How do you connect with your writing world? Do you have a special place you like to go to while writing? Do you visit places that are similar to a location in your book? Share your story in the comments below.

Happy reading,
Wenona

Writing about my home town-Just Add MAGIC

Let me start out by saying my Alabama home town has always been magical to me. Though I've not had a Double Springs address for over 20 years now I've never strayed too far from its boundaries. The people that live along those quite streets are nothing short of superheros, always going out of their way to help a neighbor even when they are tired bone deep from their own day's work. A stranger who finds his self stranded on the side of the road will quickly see two or three cars pulling over to offer help and yes, one of those people will likely be called "Bubba" but he'll be better help than any person road-side assistance will send to your rescue. The joy of giving your time to someone who's in need is a magic that a lot of towns have lost yet the little town I call home still manages to keep that spirit alive.

This small town also allowed me few distractions as a child and plenty of land to explore. A person who has grown up in a large city may label this kind of living as boring but it gave me the freedom to spend days visiting a dragon that I imagined lived under the bluff behind my home or the fairies I was convinced lived in the enormous oak tree in my front yard. I remember clamoring to my smiling mom to tell her that I caught a glimpse of a tiny, winged lady peaking down at me while I was stretched across a tree limb reading a book.  So when it came time for me to place Nicole into her fictional town it was very easy for me to see magical places fitting into my little two red-light town.

Why did I write about my home town instead of creating a new one? "Write what you know" is the first bit of advice that stuck with me as I started the Blood Burden Series and, though this may not be how all writers interpreted those words of wisdom, that's what I did. I used a version of my home town where I mixed its modern day layout with the layout of how it was when I was a child, added a few locations that were needed for my story's flow, left out any business names (for legal issues) or called them by nick names so that some of the locals might be able to say "Hey, I know exactly where that's at!", and before I knew it I had created a town in which to grow my story around.  This way of world building has stayed with me with all the stories I've created since my first.

Now Nichole didn't stick around in that little town the whole story but by writing what I knew I had a great jumping point for when I needed to write about a location in Ireland or a airport hundreds of miles away. Being this was my first stab a writing a novel I was able to learn what details needed to be included for people to really feel, smell, and taste what it was like in Nichole's town and this allowed me to do better research when it came to locations I'd never been to.  I learned from building the first location what small and big details were important to make the world believable and magical at the same time so the new locations flowed out a lot easier.

What am I hoping you get out of this post? Well, I guess that all depends on why you clicked onto my blog in the first place.  Are you a fellow Winston County resident who was curious if that place in the book was supposed to look like that old store in Double Springs? Then I hope I've satisfied your curiosity and that you are proud of how the town looked with a little magic thrown in. Are you a writer who was looking for a bit of help with world building? If so please do let the "Write what you know" advice guide you.  You will not struggle near as much with the flow if the place, subject, or focal matter of your story is something you know the ins-and-outs about. Or are you a reader of my works hoping for a little behind-the-scenes info about the series? Well, I think I helped you the loyal reader out too. But if you have more questions be sure to leave them in the comments section and I'll do my best to fill you in.

Happy reading!