Great post, and an inspiring writing tip. My character is set in and around Dayton, OH (where I live and grew up). It’s a challenge making this local exciting.
Dayton, and Ohio more generally, makes for some fantastic settings. If you haven't read Donald Ray Pollock's short story collection, Knockemstiff, you definitely should!
True. I joke a lot about where I’m from, but I can’t help myself. I read Donald Ray Pollock’s The Devil All the Time, so I’m a fan. Years ago, I used to drive through the town where he’s from to get to work, and I used to think how cool it would be to maybe run into him at a gas station. I’ll be sure to check out Knockemstiff. I’m also a fan of Frank Bill (next state over), who wrote Crimes in Southern Indiana and Donnybrook.
Your grandfather being a police sketch artist is one of the coolest things I've read on here. I think that must have been fun, although definitely challenging. I would think communication would be the tough part. Sometimes a face is not easy to put into words for the artist. I'm sure he had tons of good stories. Yes, you can write about any place. The big cities are okay but man, I get tired of reading about them. Put me in the desert or in the country or in a small town or a spot in the road any day. Or at night, which is even better. Good post, man.
Great post, and an inspiring writing tip. My character is set in and around Dayton, OH (where I live and grew up). It’s a challenge making this local exciting.
Dayton, and Ohio more generally, makes for some fantastic settings. If you haven't read Donald Ray Pollock's short story collection, Knockemstiff, you definitely should!
True. I joke a lot about where I’m from, but I can’t help myself. I read Donald Ray Pollock’s The Devil All the Time, so I’m a fan. Years ago, I used to drive through the town where he’s from to get to work, and I used to think how cool it would be to maybe run into him at a gas station. I’ll be sure to check out Knockemstiff. I’m also a fan of Frank Bill (next state over), who wrote Crimes in Southern Indiana and Donnybrook.
Your grandfather being a police sketch artist is one of the coolest things I've read on here. I think that must have been fun, although definitely challenging. I would think communication would be the tough part. Sometimes a face is not easy to put into words for the artist. I'm sure he had tons of good stories. Yes, you can write about any place. The big cities are okay but man, I get tired of reading about them. Put me in the desert or in the country or in a small town or a spot in the road any day. Or at night, which is even better. Good post, man.
Thanks so much for reading! It was pretty interesting seeing sketches he did around his house when I was a kid.
I'm actually working on a novel loosely inspired by this story: http://anomalyinfo.com/Stories/1968-may-17-tent-girl
My grandfather sketched this poor girl and an early internet sleuth eventually figured out who she was starting from the sketch.