At the weekend I travelled to London to do some research for the current book I’m writing. This one is different because it’s not part of the Hannah Robbins series and it’s a standalone. From the first sentence of this blog post, you can also guess the setting is different, I’m moving to London. Specifically the suburb of Stoke Newington.
As I don’t know London well or Stoke Newington at all, I thought I had better get my arse into gear and go and investigate. It was a two-pronged attack. On the Sunday I met up with a great guy who held a lot of information that I need about one of my characters. We had lunch and chatted about the relevant subject as well as putting the world to rights, as you do.
Then Sunday evening I wandered over to Stoke Newington to make sure I can find my way, so as to not waste any hours on Monday and also to get a feel of it in the evening. It does have a different vibe in the evening, so I’m glad I went.
Then back in my hotel room I researched the specific places I needed to search out and I was ready to go.
Monday was great.
I had a wonderful saunter around Abney park cemetery. A neglected rambling looking cemetery that is a perfect location for one of my scenes. Though the fact that there is CCTV on the main road outside is something I’m going to have to think about…
It’s filled with headstones and caskets that are over 100 years old and lopsided as the ground beneath them has moved. The greenery around them has been allowed to run rampant over everything and it has a real derelict grounds feel and yet it is a gated cemetery with opening hours and people in there tending to it – I think.
On a side note fact, Amy Winehouse filmed the Back to Black music video in this cemetery.
It’s going to be interesting setting a novel in a place I don’t know well and I hope I can do it justice. Another visit will be on the cards. I found it to be an interesting place.
Stoke Newington Common had me a little perplexed. With the word common I was expecting a lush oasis in the midst of all the hustle and bustle of city life, but it was a mere scrap of grass in the middle of a main road, which had a fenced off train track running through the centre of it. A little disappointing. I’d hoped it would be a large place you could go for a romp with your dogs or a place with swings and slides for your kids. In the end, I was surprised it had a name at all.
I was sorry to miss the open market which runs on a Saturday, though. This is on the corner opposite the police station. I’ve seen a YouTube video of it as well as walking past the closed venue at the weekend and it looks to be the hustle and bustle beating heart of the community. I hope to make it down on a Saturday next time I go.
As I type this overlooking a field, the noise and clatter of Stoke Newington High Street, fruit and veg shops spilling out onto the street, quaint modern eateries and red London buses stamping their identity on the area, all seems so very distant now, but it has made its mark on me and I hope I can do it justice.
How important does the setting in a book feel to you when you read it?
Sounds like you immersed yourself in the area pretty well. I bet it will all make it to the page.
I probably don’t pay enough attention to setting.
I hope I managed to take a lot to the page. I really enjoyed the trip and hope to make another down there as I do the revisions after Christmas. I don’t suppose you can do trips to your settings Alex!
It sounds as though you had a fantastic research trip, Rebecca! And I couldn’t agree more about the value of knowing your setting. I’m looking forward to your standalone, too – it’s piqued my interest!! 🙂
Thanks, Margot. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I can’t wait to go down to visit again when I start the revision process.
I chuckled at ‘surprised it had a name at all’. I hope you weren’t banking on the area for your plot.
I’ve got to do some research locally for my novel – but I’ll be able to take Hubby and the dog. I’ve told Hubby I need to research the pub and the cafe, so he’s happy 🙂
It’s weird isn’t it how some places are given names and you expect more from them?!
Pubs are also great places to do research – I walked into a pub down there and it had a weird vibe to it. I instantly felt like an outsider. Another one for my notebook 🙂 Enjoy your research trip.
As I particularly like reading books in places I’ve visited, I think you were very wise to take a look around for yourself – it sounds as though you could have come a cropper with the common if you hadn’t!
Even if I don’t know the setting I do like it to come across in the book I’m reading – it sounds like you’ve got plenty of material to be able to do this!
I really enjoyed visiting the area and I’m glad I did because I am going to find it difficult to write having not lived there or worked the area anyway. I think having a good feel for an area serves you well. Visiting and trying to figure it out that way, makes you have to focus a lot more!
London is so full of diverse and unexpected settings that I don’t even know the part you mention (although I lived in London for quite a few years), and there really is no substitute for being there yourself. Glad to hear you had a productive, interesting trip and do let me know when you next plan a trip here. I am about 30 mins away by train.
I will definitely be going down again, so I’ll let you know! I hope to go down in the new year as I’m doing the revisions. Make sure, once I know what’s what, that I have it all right 🙂
Will be interesting to read, as I was born & bread in Islington, my grand parents lived in. Stoke Newington.
Really? That’s the scary part, people reading it who actually genuinely know the area when I’m only playing at knowing the area!