Photos That Helped Me Write My Novel

If you’re writing a novel, you know that setting is generally as important an element of the story as character and plot. In its narrowest sense, setting is the location of your story. Nowadays, of course, you don’t have to stir out of your comfortable writer’s chair to conduct location research, and discover if there really is a Gristedes supermarket on the corner of Third and 36th in Manhattan. All the research you need to do is right at your fingertips. You can google places where you want the main action of your novel to take place, or watch Youtube travel videos.

But it’s much more fun to go and visit the location, see it for yourself, and get the “feel” and “smell” of the place. It may also be tax deductible depending on your personal financial situation. But remember to take photos. Not only as proof for the taxman, but also so you can remind yourself of all the little details you thought would be interesting to include in your story.

Location Research

Over the last year, my location research for Book 3 has taken me from Manhattan to the North Fork of Long Island and down to Southern Florida. Here are some of the photos I took of locations I include in my new thriller.

Above is the main dining room of Neary’s Irish pub and restaurant on the corner of 57th and First in Manhattan . My female protagonist, Jenna, a former tabloid newspaper reporter, chooses it as the location for a cozy dinner with a former lover after she leaves her husband at the start of my thriller.

In Footsteps of Mary Higgins Clark

I’m not the only author who has had the bright idea to choose Jimmy Neary’s famous Irish pub and restaurant as a location in my novel. On the left wall, as you enter Neary’s is a glass display cabinet featuring the covers (seen here) of all the Mary Higgins Clark novels in which she uses Neary’s as a location.

I must add that, although I am a huge fan of MHC, it’s a while since I read one of her thrillers and did not remember her use of Neary’s as locations in any of her thrillers before I chose it for my novel.

Meanwhile on the North Fork

Last summer, I searched out possible locations for the inn and marina owned by Jenna’s husband, Zack. This setting (below) in Cutchogue looked good!

I also rented a boat and hired a captain to scout locations for the scenes in my thriller where Jenna is pursued by the antagonist onto the bluffs (pictured here) of Robins Island in Peconic Bay.

And, On To Peanut Island

Other locations I needed to research included the old Lake Worth Inlet Coastguard Station on Peanut Island in Palm Beach County, Florida where Jenna searches out a retired coastguard to help her track down the man she suspects of targeting her loved ones.

Fascinating Historical Tidbit

I was fascinated when I first read about this location because back in the day when President John F. Kennedy had a winter White House in Palm Beach, the Coastguard Station on the island also housed an underground nuclear shelter for his use in the event of a nuclear attack. Unfortunately, the shelter was not open to the public when I visited the island.

Coastguards to the Rescue

There are boats that ferry visitors to the island from the Riviera Beach Municipal Marina on the mainland, but in my thriller, Jenna is escorted to this beach (pictured) on a coastguard response boat (also pictured) which I was allowed to  photograph during a visit to the current coastguard station in Riviera Beach.

So Much Fun!

Over the two years since I’ve been working on Book 3, I have taken and used dozens of photos (so easy with a smart phone!!!)  to help me write my thriller by prompting an instant recollection of places and things which I need to describe. I have shared some of those other photos in previous blogs. You can probably tell, I think location research is very rewarding, and such a fun part of writing a book!