Last year, while working on a story set in San Francisco after global warming, the hubby and I drove down to San Francisco to scout out some of the scenes (OK, it’s also a great excuse to visit The City!).
I was projecting a sea-level rise of 20-30 feet, so I wanted to see if it would be possible to hop from building ledge to ledge above the new water line, among other things.
I was setting part of my story in the then abandoned Giants stadium too, so I needed to get a first-hand look.
Doing so improved the story, I think, giving it more of a sense of place.
For writers, have you ever “visited the scene” to collect authentic details for a story? And readers, can you tell when an author has never “been there”?