BLOGWORDS – Wednesday 20 September 2017 – REM GUEST POST at READING IS MY SUPERPOWER – THE FICTIONAL TOWN of SAISONS
REM GUEST POST at READING IS MY SUPERPOWER (http://readingismysuperpower.org/) THE FICTIONAL TOWN of SAISONS
Stories come to me in different ways. Sometimes I “get” the gist of the story, sometimes I get character names. Sometimes I get the title first.
When Seasons came to me, the first thing I got was the names, and then the story titles. I therefore knew the series would then be Seasons. And I eventually got to the setting. I first thought it was current day, set somewhere north of here, somewhere that seasons are markedly different. Somewhere they get snow.
But as the story started speaking to me, I knew that a) it was not current day, but set in 1912 and 1913—very concise timeframe compared to my first series—and b) it was set in South Carolina.
“The southern town of Saisons lies at the crossroads between North and South, progressive and genteel antebellum life. Between East and West, between history and heritage, and new frontiers. Downton Abbey meets Gone With the Wind.
It’s 1912, in a world where slavery is dying and women’s rights are rising, and four young women who once shared a bond—and experienced a tragedy—question their own truths.”
When I get into the flow of a new story, I first see a vision of what the town is like. Then I go to Google maps to find a town to, er, borrow. And Lake City seemed just perfect. So I printed me a nice little map of Lake City…
… zoomed in…
… and promptly drew all over it.
Looks kinda like a spider web, doesn’t it?
Saisons is a crossroads town, with a statue of René Armand Dubois (1572) and a fountain in a quintessential town square in the center. A quarter of the town—and at least that much of its wealth—is owned by the Dubois family. Two other families, the Fontaines and the Marchands, also were part of the founding fathers of my little town. Ashley Santee, the Marchand estate is to the north, and Bastille House and Vineyards belongs to the Fontaine family.
I drew up a list of common places and businesses in a town and named them. The little red numbers on the map is the key to where each business is. They may never show up in the story, but in my mind, I know what’s there when Mercedes or Scarlett walk down Weatherbie Road or Tarleton Street.
The logistics, though, of Lake City didn’t fit some of the directional details and I moved the town a bit further south. It now sits on the Edisto River a little south of where Branchville is.
But what I had the most fun with—my interior interior designer voice—was designing the houses! I drew a floor plan for Saisons House (and later for Alés House, Mercedes’ townhome) so as I described clandestine meetings in the study—or in the secret room—tea in the parlor or dances in the ball room, I could see it all.
This is a fairly close representation of how I see Saisons House. (In the real world it is Magnolia Plantation in Charleston, SC.) Can you imagine how oppressive the heat would be in that tower in the summer?
Saisons house is designed as above, and functions as Downton Abbey. The Dubois family were not so strict with the rigors of protocol, but servants were expected to use the belowstairs entrances.
Inside the formal entry was a sweeping curved stair.
And that door there? The one that’s just cut off? That leads to Monsieur Dubois’ study—where the entrance to the secret room is oh-so-cleverly disguised!
There are, of course, also the parlor and music room
The dining room.
And the ballroom.
There was also a small chapel and loggia.
The grounds were a botanical feast, with angel oaks and magnolia trees.
There are cottages that were former slave shacks, and the barn and stables. The paddock, and of course, the fields of sugar cane and tea, the signature Saisons Plantation crops.
I hope you visit Saisons soon, and get to know Mercedes and her friends. The Long Shadows of Summer released just last month. Of all my main characters, Scarlett’s story most closely correlates to my own though not a true parallel. The Tilting Leaves of Autumn is her story and releases in November. Pearl has just gone MIA and The Silent Song of Winter will tell you why when it releases in February of next year. And finally, Simone, in a way the main character of the series, answers the last of the clues and questions in The Whispering Winds of Spring, in May of 2018.
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#BLOGWORDS, Guest Post, Reading is My Superpower, Carrie Schmidt, The Fictional Town of Saisons, Plantation, French Heritage, Downton Abbey, Gone With the Wind
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