tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post6925614390706111681..comments2024-03-25T09:56:16.164+00:00Comments on An Awfully Big Blog Adventure: A Street with a View - Clémentine BeauvaisUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-80138050031495459752014-09-02T08:23:12.918+01:002014-09-02T08:23:12.918+01:00Fascinating post and I loved those wide-angled roa...Fascinating post and I loved those wide-angled road views that add a lonely kind of distance to the space. I've two experiences of setting stories in places I've never visited. One particularly place was so remote Google seemed not to have reached it as the map became more and more vague. I felt a bit like a cheat but if you're writing about the deadliest frog in the heart of the Colombian forest and cocaine plantations run by guerillas... what can a writer do? <br /><br />At least I didn't make the mistake of a reviewer who referred to the 'gorilla's' cocaine plantations. I don't think i'd like anyone to research my Google history as they'd firmly believe I was a drug dealer. Dianne Hofmeyrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18222157214605257030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-71016291973397362262014-08-28T14:27:32.903+01:002014-08-28T14:27:32.903+01:00Hahaha Stroppy I'd give anything to be able to...Hahaha Stroppy I'd give anything to be able to look at your Google history. Archive it carefully, as historians of literature of the future are likely to be very interested. <br /><br />Yes Emma I completely agree -and though such self-censorship comes from an ideologically very commendable worry, it's a shame that intelligent and sensitive people are not tackling themes (and talking about places) that they would do a very good job of rendering.Clémentine Beauvaishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03115567199751033932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-8264367869287432992014-08-28T11:51:35.245+01:002014-08-28T11:51:35.245+01:00"But of course 'write what you know' ..."But of course 'write what you know' is underscored by the problematic assumptions that 1) we 'know' things, 2) we 'can' write those things that 'we know' and 3) even if both of the above are true, it makes for good artistic 'representation'."<br /><br />I think those are very good points! In a different context, Mallorie Blackman the Children's Laureate has been talking about the need for more diversity in children's books, including in the ethnicity of the characters, and I think part of the reason there isn't much diversity is that writers are often nervous about "trespassing" into any kind of territory - including cultural - that they haven't experienced directly.Emma Barneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02718171070716804800noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-33743372531018525922014-08-28T10:00:23.442+01:002014-08-28T10:00:23.442+01:00I have used Google maps/street view for years. It ...I have used Google maps/street view for years. It can backfire, in unexpected ways, if anyone else uses your computer. Small Bint was horrified to find that I had flags for 'dump body here' and 'hostages in this barn?' on Google map overlay of the Fens. Luckily, she decided to confront me rather than go straight to the police. That overlay became 'Off the Rails' but it could have landed me in the police station answering a lot of questions...Stroppy Authorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16560035800075465845noreply@blogger.com