H. was away all this Sunday, so it seemed a good opportunity to take an “alone” day, and to have it in the area of the city where parts of my current novel project are set. It’s a kind of research, hanging about places where things might happen to your characters, at specific times under specific conditions, and maybe making some notes about how trees look there at this time of the year, or mulling over how traffic sounds, for example. (We talk about “the sound of traffic” and we know what that means, but how would you describe it? From close or far away, or heavy or light, when it’s trucks or cars or motorcycles. I mean, besides vroom, vroom! Sounds are harder for me to write than sights.)
Manitoba's "Golden Boy" as if caught in a tree
I couldn’t have asked for a better day for the necessities of aloneness and research. It was such a fine day — clear, sunny, calm. And I think it was “useful” too, in terms of my work, though one doesn’t always know what details will be useful as the novel proceeds. But it was also a lovely day quite apart from any usefulness. And if you’re interested, here’s a bit of it. Continue reading
Borrowing Bones 