RHYS BOWEN: This has been one of few occasions when I'm NOT writing. Clare and I are close to the end of the next Molly book and I'm leaving it to her to finish it (we know whodunit and why).
I am due to start on the next Spyness book, which I'm calling FROM CRADLE TO GRAVE. AND, as many of you will know if you follow us or are a member of Reds and Readers, I have managed to sneak a quick trip to Europe spending a lovely week in the town of Cassis, in Southern France. The reason for going there ( apart from fabulous views, sunshine and good food) is that I have used it as the basis for my next stand alone novel MRS ENDICOT'TS EXCELLENT ADVENTURE. I've talked about it here--middle aged British woman escapes to the South of France and starts and new and exciting life.
The town I have set this in is fictitious but anybody who has been to Cassis will recognize it. I made it fictitious as bad things happen in my story an there is a villa on the cliffs that doesn't exist in real life. I had been through the area before so I had a general impression but I wanted the details that bring a story to life and make it real. So I made notes as we drove through the countryside--more pine trees than I had expected. I made notes as I walked thrugh the market and saw what was for sale. 
And when they landed the catch at the port and when the men assembled to play Petanque. Now I can go through my ms and fine tune all the descriptions, bringing my town of St Benet to life.
Cassis (and my St Benet) is a small harbor town set amid steep hillsides with a great cliff at one side.
The area is famous for the Calenques (inlets between steep sea cliffs). 
The hillsides are covered in vines.
At nighttime it's magical: 
And our apartment had this lookout from the grounds.
Not bad, huh? Needless to say I didn't get any real writing done while we were there. Back to the grind later this week.
Writers, do you have to go to the place you are writing about? Readers, how important is the feel of the place in a book?
Looks lovely. I'm sure this pre-writing will inspire you when you sit down to start working on the story.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful place . . . a perfect setting for your story.
ReplyDeleteThe location brings the story alive.
ReplyDeleteLucky you - and nice choice to set a book and to visit!
ReplyDeleteI was just on Cape Cod for a week finishing a book set only a month later in the same place, and picked up new small details to bring the place to life. It makes all the difference.
Cassis looks lovely. I am glad you were able to travel there to help bring St Benet to life in your book.
ReplyDeleteYes, authentic setting is important to me as a reader. I want to be transported there while reading.
The details in the setting invite me into a book and have frequently led to my making travel, well, not plans, but detours to see a particularly vivid I've discovered in a book.
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful that you were able to make a trip to Cassis. I think you told us that you traveled with one of your children and his/her spouse. That must have been lovely. The photographs are beautiful! It looks like you had gorgeous weather.
ReplyDeleteGrace said it perfectly, "...authentic setting is important to me... I want to be transported there..."
Yes, I traveled with daughter Jane and sil Tom. They were great companions
DeleteCassis looks lovely, for a personal vacation and as the location for a novel.
ReplyDeleteI like authenticity in a setting, too, as a reader and as a writer. That's how we discovered Braga: I decided to set my mystery there because I wanted a book set in Portugal, and Braga was the closest city I could visit for first hand research each time we spent time in Galicia. (And now, here we are. 😊)
I love the idea of Mrs. Endicott's Excellent Adventure and want to read it when it comes out.
I envy you living in Portugal. Away from the craziness !
DeleteA friend and his husband bought a home in Portugal.
DeleteCraziness indeed, at least in some places. Islands of sanity do abound, though. We just got tired of worrying about the violence. It's so refreshing, if strange, to realize that you can walk home at two a.m. safely.
DeleteSo happy you were able to get away Rhys! Now we'll be waiting eagerly to visit Cassis through your eyes.
ReplyDeleteYes, boots on the ground details make or break a book. It's all about the smells and how the sunlight hits. Cassis is charming.
ReplyDeleteAs a reader I like authenticity in a novel and being transported there while reading the story.
ReplyDeleteDianne Mahoney
Glad you were able to make the trip! It looks like a lovely place and I appreciate being able to see it in my mind’s eye when reading the book. The details (and your photos now too) will transport me there for an immersive reading experience that I love.
ReplyDeleteRhys, I’m so glad you were able to visit the place. You have great talent to take pictures as well as to transmit the feel. I like to get the feel of the places in your books.
ReplyDeleteI’m curious to know why you chose an English name for your fictional Cassis in the south of France ?
Danielle
Gorgeous photos, Rhys! I am so glad that you made it to Europe. Cassis looks quaint.
ReplyDeleteAs a reader, I like the authenticity of the place and I want to be transported while reading. There are some novels where I feel as I am there. Writing my debut novel, I am trying to remember the places that I visited in Europe, which was quite some years ago. Perhaps it is time for another visit....
The premise of Mrs. Endicott's Excellent Adventures sound intriguing and I look forward to reading the book next year.
Thanks for the photos of Cassis, Rhys. What a beautiful place, and what a grand excuse to visit it.
ReplyDeleteUntil I was 50, I was like The Accidental Tourist, and rarely left my hometown. Armchair travel, reading novels like yours set in faraway places, was my chief tourist activity, so I very much appreciate good descriptions and exotic locales in my reading.
Looking forward to Mrs.Endicott's Excellent Adventure! Will this be a travel/adventure or a cozy murder mystery? Your pictures are stunningly beautiful!
ReplyDeleteHistorical novel with travel, adventure and mystery
DeleteSounds (and looks!) lovely Rhys! I'm glad you were able to go and I hope you get to relax as well as research!
ReplyDeleteThe setting grounds me. An unopened book is like the stage before the curtain goes up. Then the words become images. 'Frank walks into a room." I see very blurry 'Frank" in a bare room. With your talent I see a person named Frank who walks into a room filled with objects that tell me what happens next.
ReplyDeleteThank you again for sharing photos of your trips. I will never see Europe in person, but again thanks to the talent of y'all I have 'lived' in Europe in various times and places. Looking forward to meeting Mrs. Endicott and her cohort.
How lovely! I spent a semester in school in Aix-en-Provence. One of my flat mates was from Cassis and we went ofter on the weekends. I can't wait to read your book!
ReplyDeletePlace is very important to me.
Atlanta
Who could write surrounded by such beautiful views?
ReplyDeleteI do find it helpful to visit the places I'm writing about. And as a reader I definitely enjoy a good sense of place in the story.
What amazing cliffs, Rhys. I've been along much of this coast with my husband, but I've never been to Cassis. I know the word means "black currants" -- do you know if they are grown there? As for settings in books, doing a good job of setting my books in the city and canton of Bern is very important to me, and in the books I read, I am often swept away by the setting. For example, I enjoy Martin Walker's Bruno, Chief of Police series, which is set in the made-up French village of St. Denis, in part because he does such a wonderful job of placing his mysteries in the Dordogne region of France.
ReplyDeleteNo connection to the black currents, Kim. I’m not sure how the two have the same name but the currants are cold weather fruit
DeleteI am swooning too much even to answer you....WHOA. Incredible. Transporting. xxx
ReplyDeleteNote to self: set the NEXT damn book in the south of France!!!
ReplyDeleteHahaha!
DeleteLove this.
DeleteLove this, Julia.
DeletePat D I appreciate all the little details that add to the atmosphere of a place.
ReplyDeleteRhys, how absolutely delightful. I can't wait to be transported!
ReplyDeleteBased on these photos, I would love to visit Cassis! Oh, that market!
ReplyDeleteRhys, you are so good at giving the readers a mental image of the setting. I have a photo gallery in my head of all the places your characters inhabit and visit.
DebRo
A sense of place truly matters to me. I am a very “mentally visual” reader, and often pause as I read to picture the setting where the characters are acting out their story. I find you to be excellent at providing that sense of place, so you can justify your trip as a tax write-off 😉
ReplyDeleteYES! I have to go to the place I'm writing about. It just adds so many more layers and details when you've stood int he place you're writing about.
ReplyDeleteBenefits of researching includes travel, right? I recall you travelled to Ireland for your novel LOVE AT FIRST BOOK and I followed your travels on social media.
DeleteI think I would love Cassis. It's harbor reminds me of Honfleur, with the boats and buildings reflecting onto the water. I actually got a great shot in Honfleur of that. I like it when the author has been to the location where the book is set. Being in a place, you soak up the ambiance which comes through in the written descriptions. What a lovely trip you were able to sneak in, Rhys, and Mrs. Endicott's Excellent Adventure will now be full of an irresistible authentic flavor.
ReplyDeleteI loved Honfleur too, Kathy!
DeleteI am already looking forward to this book and I know it's going to be great fun! I've never been to Cassis, but I'm so glad you got a chance to go after this summer. Working the details of place back into a story after it's been written is something that I know a lot of writers do. I tend to just go straight forward because I already have such a sense of the places and the senses that are triggered by the place that I can't leave them out as I go, but I think it's great that so many writers are able to do that and as Dru Ann says, bring the story to life.
ReplyDelete