Friday, December 09, 2005

Draw a Map for Me

Am I the only almost-novelist who is just now figuring this out? I drew a map of my fictional setting the other day. It was a revelation. An inspiration. A veritable well-spring of new ideas.

Until I set to diagramming the digs of my sleuth and her fellow citizens, I had ignored in my book concrete (pun intended) illustrations of what gives a small southern town its flavor--bits of local color that beg to be included. There are the monuments of racial strife: the "Academy," or the private school built to "protect" the town's white students from forced desegregation, and the Confederate soldier statue, who faces eternally South. There is the rich religious history: the AME Zion Church as well as the First Presbyterian. Change is inevitable, we know: What will become of the shuttered main street department store or the struggling independent hardware store? New apartments, a bowling alley, a Hardees or Popeye's, and a BP station squeeze into strange spots. A strip joint beckons from the outskirts, across from the Chinese buffet and the Guatemalan grocery.

Can you tell I enjoyed this exercise in world-building? I can't wait to get back to it. First though, two naps are now done, and with them two dirty diapers to be changed. Then snacks. Don't forget the two barking dogs due their dinners. A little playtime and laundry, followed by dinner preparation. But relief is in sight. My husband will be home early tonight (yes, 6:30 is early) for our once-a-week trade-off, when he lets me "do my own thing" for several hours. My atlas awaits...

7 comments:

Christa M. Miller said...

You didn't mention Shoney's!

I didn't make a map. I was too scared. ;) My town is an amalgam of three different ones I spent lots of time in, and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to put them all together and still stay sane. I'm not sure if it worked or not.

Have you read Margaret Maron? She writes mysteries based in the South, and her settings are as much characters as the people.

Mary Louisa said...

Christa, that's too funny. It's usually a toss up whether you're gonna find Shoney's, Denny's, Waffle House, or IHOP. The smaller the town, the less likely you'll find any of these. ;)

Ashamed to say I haven't yet read Maron, despite having lived in NC for 13 years. Neither have I read Sharyn McCrumb's mysteries. And then I need to get to J. D. Rhoades books and Bland Simpson's GHOST SHIP OF DIAMOND SHOALS. Many more NC mystery writers are included in this anthology: TAR HEEL DEAD, whose title will have my fellow UNC alums singing the fight song for at least the next hour.

anne frasier said...

mary l, that is a fantastic idea.
i usually draw out the interior of buildings, but i've never mapped out a town. i love it!

Christa M. Miller said...

How about Donna Tartt? I've never read her, but I've seen her books described as Southern Gothic and they are lit mysteries. (She's from MS.) Speaking of MS, Miss Snark likes her. ;)

Mary Louisa said...

Christa, I really enjoyed Tartt's SECRET HISTORY. I haven't read anything she's written since, though. So many (Southern) mysteries, so little time...

Mary Louisa said...

Anne, it's never occurred to me to map a building layout. I'm sure I'll need to now that you've brought it up. LOL

anne frasier said...

oops. :D