Research, Research, Research

I had thought that I had most of the required research done for my current short story 'An Eye for Detail'. I had a rough plot sketched out and had scenes on the pinboard but it took the best part of a week to really get into the correct headspace to write the opening scene. I wanted to give a sense of who the main character was and what she did so I could get straight into the mystery...

I struggled for the right words. If I cannot get an inspiration for the opening scene, it is so much harder for the rest of the words to flow. My brain needs to visualize the opening scene (I get complete with opening music in my head) or it refuses to go any further.

Finally they came to me. In the middle of the night I was scribbling in my notebook. Seven hundred words in less than an hour and the first draft of the opening scenes were done. Again,  the initial creative spurt is often written by (often illegible) handwriting!

Yesterday, I retyped the opening onto my computer (first edit was also done, reshuffling and rewriting some sentences). I was now ready for the next section of the story - the discovery of the actual mystery. But...

Almost straight away I realized I needed to do more research into some historical facts:

Did the police station in the area actually exist in the 1870s? What street in that area was low income, middle class professions and upper class nobility? More research!

I found copy of Charles Booth's Poverty Map of the nineteenth century and then spent over an hour 'walking' around the streets via Google maps street view. This has proved to be a very useful tool, giving me an idea of how far it was to the local 'nick' and how the character would have arrived there.

With most of the day now gone, it was getting very late... again. This time it was just a few paragraphs and notes (that will need heavy editing) were jotted down. There was to be no late night as Tuesday is my work day (for my alter ego). 

Back from work now, and back to my passion of writing... hence the late blog. Tuesday are like that.