Leslie Karst

Writing From Afar

James Joyce famously declared of Ulysses, his masterpiece love-letter to Dublin, that if that city “one day suddenly disappeared from the Earth it could be reconstructed out of my book.”

But what’s fascinating is that, although Ulysses was written between 1914 and 1921, the last time Joyce actually set foot in Dublin was two years before he started writing, in 1912, after which he never returned to the city—or to Ireland—again, spending the rest of his life living in Continental Europe.

on the ferry from Holyhead to Dublin

So how did Joyce write such detailed descriptions of his beloved Dublin from afar? With the help of maps, street directories, books about the city, and numerous pleas to friends and family back home to send him such information as the kind of pianola in Bella Cohen’s brothel, the names of the shops along certain streets, and the number of steps leading down from 7 Eccles Street (home of his Everyman protagonist, Leopold Bloom) down to the sidewalk.

Now, I’m certainly no James Joyce, but I can relate to this problem, for most of my mysteries up to now have been written while living far from the location of my books. My wife Robin and I split our time between Santa Cruz, California, and Hilo, Hawai‘i, but for most of the time that I was writing my six Sally Solari mysteries—set in Santa Cruz—I ended up being in Hilo.

As a result, I—like Joyce—found myself constantly consulting maps of and books about Santa Cruz, as well as making frequent visits to the internet (something Joyce no doubt would have loved to have been able to do), not to mention querying friends about the color of certain buildings and whether they were still letting dogs romp about at Mitchell’s Cove.

Stagnaro’s fish market, on the Santa Cruz Wharf

Now, however, as I embark on my brand new Orchid Isle mystery series, set on the Big Island of Hawai‘i, I find myself finally in the same locale as that which I’m writing about. Hurrah!

[Note that the first in the new series, Molten Death, releases April 2nd of next year. More about this to come in a subsequent post!]

Here’s the cover of the forthcoming book.

I can look out the window to see the rhapis palms and hibiscus I’m describing in my story, and I can head to downtown Hilo to sample the Spam musubi and chicken adobo for sale at the Farmers Market, which my new protagonist, Valerie Corbin, will eat for lunch that day. And best of all, I can feel the soothing trade-winds, smell the plumeria in the air, and listen to the sound of the coquí frogs as they sing at night outside my bedroom window, and truly be in my story. (Okay, so maybe I’m not actually so fond of this last item, which can get pretty darn annoying if you’re trying to fall asleep.)

plumeria tree in Hilo

How much easier it is to immerse yourself in the world of the story you’re writing when you’re actually in that world!

Readers: Do you think you can tell when an author has not lived in the environs of the story they’re telling?

Authors: Do you find it hard to write about one place when you’re somewhere else?

30 thoughts on “Writing From Afar”

  1. Leslie, how I envy you your two locations. You do an amazing job of portraying both. As to writing a place you don’t live, I write about places I have lived and constantly visit – NY and NOLA. My new series will take place in CA but an area where I don’t live and that I fictionalized geographically. However, my protagonist’s original home base IS where I live now – Studio City – so I had a very clear picture of where she spent time when she had to come back for a few days.

    But here’s something I’ve never shared before. When I wrote my first two Cajun Country Mysteries, I hadn’t been to New Orleans or Cajun Country in 17 years. I relied a lot on memories so vivid they carried me a long way to creating Pelican, Louisiana. But always – thank GOD for Google Maps!

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    1. I guess writing about a place you don’t currently live gives you a good reason to go and stay there for a while! And I would never have guessed that about your first two Cajun Country mysteries, El–your vivid memories sprang from the pages!

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  2. I think you can tell when an author has not lived where their story takes place AND they haven’t bothered to learn anything about it.

    Even when I’m writing about the Laurel Highlands, I’m actually in Pittsburgh, so no, I don’t have a problem writing about one place and physically being somewhere else. Good thing, since there was no way I could be in 1940s Buffalo and my new series takes place in Niagara Falls! LOL

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  3. That’s a fabulous cover, Leslie! My first two series are based on towns within a 90 minute drive of my Indianapolis home, which made research a piece of cake. My upcoming series is based in the Florida Panhandle, a drive closer to 12 hours, so not quite so easy on the research end. I’ve had the good fortune to visit the area many times over the years and always take a copious amount of pictures. And, when in doubt, boy that internet thing sure comes in handy. Cheers!

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    2. Thank you, J.C.–I love it, too!

      Yes, thank goodness for the internet–and digital photos! I now snap dozens of them at any given locale I’m going to write about, with no worry about the cost of film, developing, and prints! Hurrah!

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  4. Congrats on your new series, Leslie!

    I like writing about places I live or have lived in. My next series (Magical Fortune Cookie) is set in central California, near Fresno, a place I grew up. Thankfully, the specific town is fictionalized, but when I talk about Fresno, I definitely have to go online to make sure the shops are still around.

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  5. LESLIE: I love the cover of your new book and can’t wait to dive in!

    It can be fine for people to write about a place they’re not currently living in. Sure, it’s challenging for the writer, but that why there’s Google Maps, and friends you can contact to check things IRL.

    But it’s sometimes obvious (to me) that an author (none of the Chicks!) has written about a real place they have never lived in/or recently visited.

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    1. Thanks, Grace–I love that cover SO much, too!

      And so true about the need for writers to do their due diligence and research, which makes it that much more impressive how some of those pre-internet authors were able to write so very well from afar!

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  7. I used to share your schedule of living in two places, half a year each. But now I’m back in California full-time, living in Sonoma, so revising my mystery set on Cape Cod feels much less immediate than when I could write from Wellfleet. I look forward to reading the first Hawai’i set story, and love the plumeria photo and the book’s cover.

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  8. I can tell when an author at least tried. But when they don’t care? It’s pretty obvious and cringe worthy, if I know the area. Quite often, I’m reading about something I don’t know, so I can’t judge either way.

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    1. Yes, it’s truly annoying when you read something just dead wrong about a place you know well, that’s easily discovered online. You’re like–really? You couldn’t have at least tried to look that up?

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  9. Leslie, I am SO excited about your upcoming Orchid Isle mystery series!! (Love the title and cover of book #1!)

    I don’t know if I can tell when authors haven’t lived in the locations they’re writing about, but I can tell if they love them–or feel strongly about them! Often, the locales become characters in their own right.

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    2. Count me as another fan of that cover, Leslie. So striking! And I love your pic of the plumeria, one of my faves.

      I don’t try too hard to catch authors in a research problem. Unless they’re writing about my house, or put Pikes Peak in Wyoming, I probably wouldn’t even notice. As for my writing, I tend to set my stories in Colorado, where I was born and have lived much of my life. I don’t get too detailed, though. I believe in “truthiness” as a writer, and try to find those telling details for the reader. Too much detail can overwhelm a story, which to me is a worse sin.

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  10. Wonderful post and pics, Leslie! Congrats.
    I find it hard to write from afar, though distance and time can intensify memories and details! I think the issue is not just physical description but a sense of the local ambiance. If you’re setting a book on a coast or in the mountains, there should be an awareness of tides and local weather or the way mountains cut out daylight and direct winds.

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    1. Yes, Priscilla! Make the reader “feel” the ambiance, and you’ve succeeded! And I also agree that time and distance can absolutely intensify memories and details. The trick is to capture that feeling on the page.

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  11. Leslie, I love your MOLTEN DEATH cover–huge congrats! And thank you for teaching me about plumeria. So far I have only written places I know well (although I usually fictionalize names so I don’t stress over details that may have changed over time–or by the time the book pubs). My settings are always locales of the heart–and writing them is like making a (very long) return visit. I do take research trips back, though, to soak up the memories –and update them, if needed.

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  12. Vickie: Big congrats on your new series, Leslie — looking forward to the debut! I fictionalize my settings, but they are always inspired by real places, In My Fair Latte anyone who has visited Eureka Springs, Arkansas will feel very much at home in the fictionalized town of Utopia Springs.

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