There’s nothing like spending time on site.
No matter your book’s setting, readers expect you’ll not only set the scene with vivid details, but also that you’ll get those details right. It’s hard to achieve that if you’ve done all your research online.
My wife and I just returned from a week in Tucson — a city we’d never before visited. In the months before this business trip, I’d done my best to prepare. I’d checked the hotel’s website and travelers’ reviews. I’d pored over online maps and found restaurants, stores, and attractions I wanted to visit.
I thought I had the details right.
I hadn’t. Inside an hour of our arrival, I knew details about Tucson I could never have learned online. Like how left-turning motorists creep into an intersection despite oncoming traffic because when a traffic light turns red, a green left-turn arrow appears. Or the way two-lane roads on the outskirts of town have dips with signs cautioning not to enter when those are flooded. Or the fact that thrift stores don’t charge sales tax.
Those, plus countless other details, make the difference in a novel between keeping readers at arm’s length or immersing them in your setting. Having tasted the chile rellenos in Tucson at Paco & Mom’s Cantina, I prefer fiction that offers true local flavor.
