In Me and Rupert Goody, I drew a sketch of the inside of Uncle Beau's store. I needed to see where the old couch was, where the cash register was, where the door to his room was, etc.
In Taking Care of Moses, I drew a sketch of Randall's neighborhood - where his house was, where the church was, etc.
In How to Steal a Dog, I sketched the town - where the school was, where Carmella's house was, where the abandoned house was, etc.
In my upcoming novel, Greetings from Nowhere, I sketched the motel, numbering the rooms and marking which characters were in which rooms, where the swimming pool was, where the flagpole was, etc.
Those little sketches were a valuable tool to keeping the setting consistent and for helping me to remember to drop in some references to setting from time to time.
They helped me see if the movements of the characters were logical and if all the action "works."
They are also much appreciated by copyeditors (even if they snicker).
(Recycled from 2/5/08)
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