NaNoWriMo is an international event, and we’re taking a Road Trip to NaNo to hear about the stories being written every year in our hundreds of participating regions. Today, Judy L Mohr, Municipal Liaison for the New Zealand :: Christchurch region, shares how her region has shaped her writing:

The writing community in Christchurch, New Zealand is strong, with a long history of writers giving us a legacy we cherish. With New Zealand’s top crime novel award dedicated to Ngaio Marsh, and children’s playgrounds filled with Margaret Mahy’s imagination, we Christchurch writers are surrounded by inspiration. The Pacific Ocean is on one side and the Southern Alps are on the other. The real Middle Earth is only a short drive away.

There is one common theme that runs strongly through the Christchurch writing community: writing is a way of life.

NaNoWriMo is an international event, and the stories being written every year reflect our hundreds of participating regions. We’re taking a Road Trip to NaNo to hear from our amazing volunteers and writers all around the world. Today, one of our Municipal Liaisons in the Otago-Southland region in New Zealand shares how his home inspires him to add texture to his settings:

I probably don’t have to explain to anyone who’s ever seen Lord of the Rings how beautiful New Zealand is, and how rich and varied the landscapes are. I live in Dunedin, and it’s impossible to go anywhere in the city without rolling green hills or the wide sprawling coastline in your view, and more often than not you get a good helping of both.

The more inland parts of the city often smell faintly of the rich damp wood of nearby subtropical rainforests, and closer to the coast, when the wind is right, the salty smell of the ocean fills your nostrils and you can feel the sea on your skin. The countryside is just over the hill, and every so often (especially when sheep trucks pass through town) you get a sudden strong waft of earthy country air.

It’s easy at times to take for granted when you experience it on a daily basis, but every location has texture. There are sensory factors that are completely unique to every place, and some that are universal. Really grabbing hold of that texture and putting it down in words is a great tool to draw audiences into the world your characters inhabit…