Authors can save time and money with Google Maps Street View

While I wrote the trilogy, Angelic Army Conquests, I found Google Maps Street View to be a great tool for research. Using this, I was able to travel to Israel, and walk the narrow streets of Jerusalem where the climax of this post-apocalyptic adventure played out. It allowed me to accurately describe the architecture, directions, and street names, that my fictional characters encountered. While editing my first book, Lost Ark Found, I sought out the advice of experienced writers, and one of the common things I heard them say was, "Write what you know," so that's what I did. My third and fourth fictional books, Dance With Me, and, In Heaven, were set, for the most part, all on, or around, Vancouver Island. My wife and I would sometimes take day trips to do research at the locations on the island where my stories were set. We talked with the locals, hiked the trails, and stopped for a snack at the small town general stores. Being physically on location to do research helped to add to the authenticity of my writing. Seeing a sunset, or meeting a quirky person, can spark a bunch of creative writing ideas. But when I couldn't afford to travel to Washington D.C., the Middle East, or Koro Island in Fiji, to do research for the Angelic Army Conquests trilogy, Google Maps Street View helped me to get there.