Researching a modern story by Jane Lark
Research? I hear you query… I am used to writing historical stories - think Pride and Prejudice/ Downton Abbey, only they are a lot more spicy ;) . Those obviously require a lot of research to create a genuine back drop for the stories. For those stories I read memoirs and letters of the period and visit lots of houses to get a feel for how people lived in the 1800s. But why would I need to research a modern story, I know what it’s like to live in 2013?
Because I don’t know what it’s like to live Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass (DUMBO) in New York in 2013, which is the setting for Jason’s and Rachel’s story.
So how did I find out? Well the modern day version of memoirs for a start, I searched for blog posts from people who lived there, or visited there. One talked about how Manhattan Bridge was rarely used by people because of the noise of the subway trains which crossed it, another spoke about the view of Brooklyn Bridge, and another spoke about the only people you really saw were young men jogging. Well then, Jason immediately became a runner. Other people talked about properties there, and I looked up the local mall, places to go out in Manhattan and what Times Square was like… lots :)
Then I discovered the Brooklyn bridge park, another place people said was not a really busy area, and a perfect, beautiful, setting for some of Rachel’s and Jason’s more moving moments.
But other than that, there’s another awesome tool open to an author in the 21st century. Google maps little man. I can put him in a street anywhere and get him to walk along it and see exactly what a street looks like. I had him walk on the Manhattan Bridge, and around the access to it, and then all around the streets in DUMBO, and the Brooklyn Bridge park. Such a clever tool. I used Google maps to research Jason’s home town in Oregon too.
I have a sister-in-law who lives in Klamath Falls in Oregon, but Klamath was far too big, I wanted a small town for the place Jason called home. So I researched the populations of towns in Oregon, and picked on a place to base Jason’s home town on, although I don’t give it a name in the book as I didn’t want to be bound by this exact town. But I did research blog posts about this one town and viewed it all on Google maps, so that the fictional home town I developed for Jason, could be a real place in Oregon.
So, you may think there’s no research to a modern book, but actually if you want to make it real, there is.
I also had to do a lot of research on Rachel, but if I told you all that it would be a huge spoiler for the story ;)…
I Found You by Jane Lark
Publisher Harper Impulse
Publisher Harper Impulse
Publishing date 5th December 2013
Tomorrow is for regrets. Tonight is for being together.
On a cold winter night, Rachel and Jason’s lives collide on Manhattan Bridge. She’s running from life, he’s running toward it. But compassion urges him to help her.
His offer of a place to stay leads to friendship and trouble. There’s his fiancée back home in Oregon and a family who just don’t trust this girl from the wrong side of the tracks.
But when the connection between them is so electric, so right… everyone else must be wrong. And as the snow begins to settle on the Hudson, there’s nothing but the possibility of what could be – of this, right here, right now. Them.
About the Author
Jane is a writer of authentic, passionate and emotional Historical and New Adult Romances.
She began her first novel at sixteen, but a life full of difficulty derailed her as she lives with the restrictions of Ankylosing Spondylitis.When she finally completed a novel it was because she was determined to be able to say I’m a writer.
Now Jane is thrilled to be giving her characters life in others’ imaginations at last.
Jane is also a Chartered Member of the Institute of Personnel and Development, and uses her knowledge of psychology to bring her characters to life.
‘Basically I’m a sucker for a love story. I love the feeling of falling in love and it’s wonderful to be able to do it time and time again in fiction, plus my understanding of people helps me write the really intense relationships I enjoy creating.’
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