While editing in Atascadero, I realized that the location of my tale worked better in Mendocino County, especially in the Fort Bragg area. In part one of Ironic Dance, one of my key characters, Jake McAllister, is a logger. It turns out, that the working and life circumstances that I weave into the storyline, are very well represented by the old town that existed in Kibisilah Fort Bragg. That mill town is long gone but acquaintances have a vacation rental up there now. Fort Bragg is near and dear to me. I grabbed my little sister and off we went to Fort Bragg, where we visited all the amazing coastal spots and found so many wonderful stories of the history. My main focus is the 1870s which, as luck would have it, was a very interesting time full of drama and upheaval, so HERE WE ARE. Welcome to your new home, my beloved characters.
Speaking with the Fort Bragg museum curator was a life-saver. I was able to have a better understanding of what life would have been like for my characters, including where they would have lived in relation to work, how they would have traveled locally, and (especially important) how money was managed in the logging economy.
As a writer, I continue to learn so much. This trip has taught me how important location is to the make-up of the people your characters are. To know our characters as real people (and they must be in our own heads), we must know the geography of their lives, physically and culturally because these are part of the map of our character. They develop how that character views everything outside themselves.
Happy Writing!
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