Using references

This morning I’m working on my novel by looking up visual references and researching the setting. This is one way to manage a lack of mental imagery, but it’s useful even if you do have vivid imagery. Even though the setting is an area I grew up in, I’ve realized that my brain has adjusted a bit to the area where I’m now living.

Even just strolling down the street with Google Street View reveals a lot.

• People, places, and things: Most of the houses are made of brick and people drive pickup trucks. They must use the trucks to haul the bricks.
• Suggested actions, events, and experiences: I saw Spanish moss and realized a scene I had written with a character gathering kindling was wrong. They would use moss as kindling.
• Description, speech, and attitudes: The roads are worn out and full of potholes. Probably from so many trucks full of bricks. The restaurants sell shrimp po-boys. I saw an old shack built on the back of a rusted truck that had a proud spot in a parking lot with a sign reading “Nanny’s Cabin.” People aren’t so eager to tear old things down and replace them.
• Style, mood and themes: The setting is bright, green, and rich in nature but the town is dilapidated. The rich, poor, and dirt poor don’t live far from each other.