Time Magazine takes a look at Indie Publishing
A few years back I wrote historical romance, Dangerous Heart, that took place in and around Philadelphia. Now I had never been to the City of Brotherly Love so all I could do was rely on research. Thankfully, I had the help of a knowledgeable Philadelphian librarian to assist me in making sure I was able to recreate the city as it was in 1838. He went to the archives and pulled maps, articles and pictures for me to use to reimagine the life and times and goregeous homes of my characters.
Many things are the same, but many have changed as well. For
instance, although the rivers haven’t moved much over the last hundred and
fifty years, there certainly were not as many bridges in 1838 as there are in
the 21st century. Therefore it was important that I placed my characters in
areas that had easy access to where I needed them to travel. You wouldn’t want
to put them across the river from their destination only to have the closest
bridge or ferry several miles away.
Philadelphia was a fascinating city in the mid 1800’s
because it was really at the center of the social and political spectrum. Between
the old capital and Ben Franklin’s many public projects, it was on par with
London at the time.
Although I’m not an expert on the time and place I worked
very hard to make sure my facts were as precise as possible. I didn’t want
anyone to know I had never actually been to Philly when they read the book. And
I think I was moderately successful. Recently, someone who read my novel, Dangerous Heart, told me they found it interesting to read about the area they had
grown up in. I waited, breath held for him to tell me what I had gotten wrong,
but only got a surprised laugh when I said it was all created from “research”.
This young man who grew up close to the area of Philadelphia
that my story takes place in is a freelance reporter living in New York. We met
in Chicago at the Romantic Times Booklovers 2012 convention this last April and
he took an interest in me and my indie publishing journey.
I’m excited to say that in a few week’s time the article he
wrote about Dangerous Heart and my self-publishing journey will appear
in Time Magazine. It was an amazing adventure for any writer and I can’t wait
to see what develops from it both for myself and all the other hard working indies
out there.
Let’s all celebrate what we do and the joy we get from
writing what we love.
Take care and Happy Holidays, Sheryl Hoyt writing as SaraLynn Hoyt
No comments:
Post a Comment