In a Mood . . .

A mystery writer friend of mine (Tessa Wegert, who writes a great series set in New York's Thousand Islands) recently shared something she calls a "mood board" for her new book. It was a collage of pictures that she looked at while writing, to remind herself of the mood she was trying to convey. I realized that I had one too, I just called it "photo reference," which is not as interesting as a "mood board."

So here is my mood board. These are photographs I took when I was in West Cork in 2019 and which I looked at the whole time I was writing The Drowning Sea.

Clockwise from top left: Bantry; Signal tower on Brow Head; Barleycove Beach, Mizen Peninsula; Sheep in the Cousane Gap; Beara Peninsula; Brow Head.

The Drowning Sea features a fictional peninsula, Ross Head, and a fictional village called Rosscliffe. In imagining it, I had all of these places in mind, along with my memories of how they sounded and smelled, though I wanted to be able to change and alter details, geography, and history to fit my needs. I also absolutely love all of these places and their people and can't wait to get back. I think I didn't want to make anything bad happen there.