Research in the Time of Covid

When I send Meg Daniels to a Jersey Shore town, I always need to update my memories. I have a lot of memories from a lot of towns, all from different eras. The Jersey beaches have changed a lot since my parents first took me “Down the Shore” when I was five months old. Learning what’s new is always challenging--never moreso than during Covid which is when I wrote Strangers in the Avalon Dunes.

I couldn't rely on my tried and true techniques. To see what’s new in town, I generally start with day trips to the locale.  I find places that I recall from earlier visits or, too often, I can’t find places I recall from earlier visits, putting me in a very sentimental mood.  Then, when I start to write, I follow up with a stay that, in the best case scenario, lasts a month. Ideally, I write at least a portion of the book in its setting. After I complete the book, however, I return for verification. (Not that an error or two can't sneak in, but that's a story for another day.)

Then, we had a pandemic. I had to come up with a new plan for the Avalon book.   

In Strangers in the Avalon Dunes, Meg and Andy enjoy housesitting a fictional home hidden in the High Dunes of Avalon. It is understandable why, even in a pandemic-free time--the book does not mention the pandemic--Meg would be reluctant to venture out. She is happy where she is, but feels the need to learn a little about Avalon e.g. where the grocery store might be in case she should ever get the urge to cook. (Spoiler Alert: she doesn’t.)

Strangers in the Avalon Dunes takes place in the early Spring. Under normal conditions, not everything would be open. But in 2020 a question remained: were the closings seasonal or Covid-related. Sometimes the Internet provided the answer. Often, it didn't. There was also a bigger question on the table. Would a business reopen at all? 

In the manuscript that I submitted to my publisher, Meg and Andy ordered a pizza. I had to write to my publisher and let him know they were going to have a long wait. I thought they should order from somewhere else. The pizza shop they chose had closed. After 30 years. To add insult to injury, the building had been torn down. That could have happened at any time, but during the pandemic, closings were not rare and tended to keep me on my toes. Was the closing seasonal? Was the closing routine? Was the closing permanent? What would the business be like when it reopened? When I couldn't find an answer, I sent Meg back to her beachfront house. And, really, why wouldn't she go there? It was heavenly.

© 2022 Jane Kelly