IAN'S MOTHER BOX: Environmental concept: my resources and ideas

Here are some things I've been looking at for location resources for my book. Because it's set in the 1930s I've tried to find photography specific to the time period. Unfortunately when it comes to color palette, the old black and whites don't help me a lot so I have had to pull modern images to give me a sense of what these places can really look like naturally. What I have so far for story outline is an old road trip story broken into segments dependent on location. The story begins in a woodland region(something northwestern) and moves to Midwest plains and continues on a track eastward across America. The time period is set during the greatest economic collapse in world history, the great depression, this time period is very interesting to me and I really enjoy learning all the incredible stories contained during these trying years. From a writing standpoint the period is just rich with with ways you can tackle complex issues or focus purely on the simple and personal experiences of human life. I just think there's really something here and without trying too hard you can dig up some pretty wild stuff. Alright let's see some photos:

These first few are for the for the opening chapter that's set in a heavy woodland area. Our main character will meeting up with Hercules here and begin the great odyssey.

The next piece of the story moves into the Midwest. Now I have to admit I've always heard people talk about the heartland and the Midwestern plains etc. but I really didn't know too much about them or the specific states and areas they were located. I did a little research and found the area I really wanted was the smaller region inside the Midwest called the great plains region, made up of Kansas, Nebraska, and North and South Dakota. These are places that I really appreciate for their natural beauty but I feel that if I was stuck living there I would probably drink myself into a early grave from the lack of life. Still though, beautiful locations and scenery (also some of the highest population to employment ratios in the country, hmph!)

The next chapter would be the first inclusion of urban areas and small town life. I purposefully move the story this way because I wanted to begin in an area largely detached from the economic turmoil and then slowly move into areas more and more effected by the crisis, until at the very end we find are selves in places where the consequences of the depression are evident all over.

For our final stop I felt it seemed natural to end with New York city. This is the kind of place we think of when we talk about devastated cities of the 1930s, I felt this was really the only place to end the story so it was an easy choice for me. Also something that became very obvious as I developed the concept was that I was turning this into a trek across America. By beginning the book in the woods of Washington or Oregon, it made a lot of sense starting the cast on the west coast and having them end on the east. This story mechanic gives me a lot of opportunity to tell stories and mythology from all across America and has the added advantage of giving the reader the feeling that they they're getting small snapshots from all over America (hopefully).