As I was writing at the end of 2016 I found I wanted pictures to refer to while I’m writing certain scenes. (My memory isn’t quite what it was pre-kids;-). So on a lovely summer’s day we headed out to the Adelaide Botanical Gardens. I’ve got a bit of an obsession with “gothic” style gates. I just love them, and I can’t help but think about vampires and the magical witchy world when I see them. One of my favourite sets of gates in Adelaide is this one at the Gardens.
The Friend’s gate at the Adelaide Botanical Gardens (isn’t it beautiful?)
I also wanted to take a few pictures of some “forests” and as we walked past these two areas in the gardens I couldn’t help but take a picture and think of Familiar.
There’s a mansion which features in the second half of Familiar. The mansion is situated in one of my favourite suburbs in Adelaide (Hyde Park) where the streets are lined with beautiful trees (and so are most of the properties – I’ll do a separate post on Hyde Park because I love it so much). But anyway, one of the reasons I wanted to go to the Botanical Gardens is because of the Plain Trees and the Morten Bay Figs (probably two of my favourite trees and yes, they feature in Familiar). I just love the intertwined roots of the Morten Bay Figs (I can’t help but think of lover’s entwined legs when I look at the above ground roots – and also Lord of the Rings;-). The Plain Trees are also beautiful and I always find my self awed by them when we drive down Plain Tree Drive (the access road to the Botanical Gardens).
I think Adelaide is a really pretty city with it’s own magic (which is why I’ve decided to set Familiar here. There are definitely not-so-pretty parts too (I’ll take you to Port Adelaide soon because I mention it in Conflicted a novella I have coming out in an anthology soon).
I think Adelaide has it’s own cool background when it comes to the magical and urban fantasy. While our oldest buildings might not be more than 180 years young, our land certainly is old and with so many migrants and cultures forming “our culture” I can’t help but think of my familiar world as I drive (and walk) through the streets here.
I drive through Hyde Park and think, this is where Tabby lives (featured in Conflicted and Familiar), or North Adelaide, and think, this is where Nyssa and Mason live (Featured in Familiar) or Port Adelaide and think, this is where Finn lives (in Conflicted).
Anyway, off to do some more reading and writing and I’ll be back soon to share some more of my Familiar world🙂
Lisa
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