As a gal right out of college I headed to Washington, D.C.,
to launch my career in public policy. You see, there weren’t a lot of jobs in
Nebraska for a girl with a degree in political science. That was all right with
me though because I love D.C.
D.C. has an energy, ambition, and pace that appealed to me,
the gal from smallish town Nebraska. And my parents acquiesced because the
internship I’d landed was at a conservative non-profit that provided housing.
The Leadership Institute and Washington were the perfect
places to start my career. But it was also a little lonely. I quickly made
friends where I worked, but finding a good home church and community of friends
outside work took more effort. Until I moved to Fairlington Village with my
husband.
In Fairlington Village, we found a community – some of it
ready made because many of our friends from work also owned condos or townhomes
there. Ours was an end townhouse steps from a swimming pool and tennis courts.
Even better we had friends within a couple blocks in just about any direction.
We also could walk to neat shopping areas., the grocery store, Great Harvest,
the post office, you name it. And when we got a puppy, it was a rare area where
I felt safe being out any time of the day or night.
Sure, it’s listed on the National Register of Historic
Places, but what made it so special was the people. So when some friends and I
started brainstorming a novella collection set in Washington, D.C., I knew we
had to model the community our characters lived in on Fairlington Village. I
pulled on my man warm memories of our years there. Much like the community we
modeled after it in Cherry Blossom Capers, our neighbors became a second
family. Next door lived two middle-aged women who became grandmas to our oldest
when she arrived. Across the parking lot lived an Air Force chaplain and his
artist wife. I could go around the cul-de-sac and mention people who became
special to us. Spontaneous BBQs and movie or game nights occurred frequently.
That’s one reason I had such fun writing Dying for Love in
Cherry Blossom Capers. I was able to recapture some of that special feel in the
neighborhood we created. Why does this matter to you? When you’re stuck in your
writing, look for elements from your life that you can pull into your story. It
may not be a location, but maybe it’s an experience, a job, a person you know
well, a career. Incorporating elements that are important to you may provide
just the spark to launch a new plot line. Or the research will inspire you with
ideas and challenges to throw at your characters. Or maybe the details will be
the precise one that brings the story to life for you.
And that is half the fun of writing…at least to me.
How about you? What techniques to you use to make a story
come to life on the page?
Bio: Cara C. Putman lives in Indiana with her
husband and four children. She’s an attorney and a ministry leader and teacher
at her church. She has loved reading and writing from a young age and now
realizes it was all training for writing books. An honors graduate of the
University of Nebraska and George Mason University School of Law, Cara loves bringing
history and romance to life. You can read about her community based on
Fairlington Village in Cherry Blossom Capers, a January 2012 novella collection
released by Barbour Publishing. Learn more about this and all her books at http://www.caraputman.com or http://www.facebook.com/cara.putman
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