When you’re setting a story, novel, or screenplay in a location you’ve never visited, what’s the best way to find information? Of course the ideal solution is to go visit it, but now the internet offers a great new second-best. I’m not talking about the official websites that cities and countries put up, although those can be useful, too. But they tend to stick to describing the most obvious tourist locations, not necessarily the offbeat or minor details that make a place come alive on the page.
The resource I’m referring to is personal blogs. Millions of people are chronicling their daily lives on the internet now. Most of the time, their only readers are their relatives and friends but there’s nothing to stop you from having a look, too. They’ll talk about the restaurants they went to, the weather, their parking problems and lots of other details that be extremely helpful to getting a sense of a place.
How to find them? Try searching for the name of the city or town or even the neighborhood with Google. Also use Google Alerts—you type in a term, and Google sends you a daily email roundup of websites and blogs in which that term was mentioned. When you find a relevant blog, follow it for a while. Leave some comments, and if you have a question about the location, just email the person—most likely they’ll be delighted to help you.
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