I continue to discover that not having seen the landscapes or experienced the culture where important scenes took place is slowing my progress, as if setting were essential to the generation of words. In service of moving the book ahead, I’m researching various settings.
Lake Como in Northern Italy, 40 km north of Milan, is one such important setting–where Albert and Mileva celebrated his potentially landing a job (after nine futile months of searching) in May of 1900 with a tryst. I found Roland Merullo’s book The Italian Summer (result of a library catalog subject search for Lake Como) and also blog photos from people who have been there. Such a beautiful, romantic place! See for yourself by clicking on the pictures:
About Nancy Pinard
Professionally-speaking, Nancy Pinard is an author-educator who spends her days writing, teaching, reading, and researching for her writing and teaching. She is the author of two published novels, Shadow Dancing and Butterfly Soup, and numerous short stories. She has taught the craft of fiction writing in many venues including Sinclair Community College, University of Dayton Life-Long Learning Institute, Antioch Writers' Workshop, Mad Anthony Writers' Workshop, and Molasses Pond Writers' Workshop.
Personally, her faith is what sustains, inspires, and motivates her to continue to explore meaning through literature.
"You are right in demanding that an artist approach his work consciously, but you are confusing two concepts: the solution of a problem and the correct formulation of a problem. Only the second is required of the artist." Anton Chekov to Alexei Suvorin, October 27, 1888
This looks like a wonderful place to dream of the rules of the universe. This kind of research certainly can only help put you in the right frame of mind.
I’m beginning to see what you mean about the difficulty of foreign settings; will you visit all of the places Einstein goes during the span of the novel? I’ve used some distant settings, but never one for which I don’t already have a comfortable sense memory of place, visual right down to olafactory. This blog is making me more aware of what a challenge it is not to have that. So interesting.