Entering Into the Novel: Visiting the Places the Story Takes Place!
I’m here once again, at a campground in beautiful British Columbia, on vacation. But this year the place has come alive for me, now that it is one of the locations my novel took place.
I’m at the very campground where Jade stopped for the night on his drive to Penticton and Abby came to join him!
Abby and Jade are fictional characters from my novel The Virgin Diaries, but the places they visited aren’t fictional!
The campground Abby saw as she walked through looking for Jade’s tent.
The campground stage, in front of which Abby and Jade danced while listening to music shared on Abby’s cell phone.
The washroom building where Abby had her first shower at a campground ^_^
Being here is so much fun! I camped here in the past and this little campground became the inspiration for one of the scenes in the Virgin Diaries (the campground where Jade stops for the night on his way to Penticton). There are a few details I remembered incorrectly, like the stage having a semi-circle roof instead of square, but it’s still very familiar, especially now that I’ve experienced it through my characters and their journey. On my visit here this year it’s as though I’m seeing this place anew, through Abby and Jade’s eyes.
I’m one of those readers who would visit a town, like Forks, just because a novel took place there (Twilight). It would make the story come alive for me!
If you’re one of those readers too then you'll have just as much fun as I will seeing the locations Abby visited, namely Penticton, B.C. when I post the photos these next couple of weeks! In a few days I’ll be off to Penticton :D
It would be exciting to do a book release in the very city that the novel takes place, but unfortunately my release date isn’t until September 7th and I won't be here at that time. But I can share the pictures with my readers, perhaps bringing the novel to life for them as well :)
Happy Reading Everyone
-Bianca Rowena
