Can you believe it? Bloodlink has been out for two weeks already! Crazy how that happens.
Now originally, this post was going to be very different. I thought about doing a post about lore or what define my vampires or even maybe the setting of the book. You know the where and when and how I chose it. But as I was double checking Google Maps I had everything right for this post, I found something that upset me.
The setting I have is geographically incorrect. At least, according to Google.
Why is this a problem, you may ask. It isn't like there is a map in your book. And you'd be right on that. But I know you. If you are reading this, you want to know more. You want a deeper dive into this world, and setting the first place to start. So I should show a map of the real world equivalent, and that's where we run into a hiccup.
In the story, Kate states that she has a fear of the Greatlee Wood, and when she becomes a vampire, she fears and must now cop with living inside it. This my original intention. But earlier this year, I "learned" that what I'd thought was the Greatlee Wood was actually called Effingham Forest, or the Effingham Common, and the actual Greatlee Wood was a small group of trees outside Effingham which until then I thought was part of one big forest. This annoyed me because it meant that I would have to change it in my story which was nearing completion. I did my do diligence and did more search, but it is hard to find much on these two forests. I did at point out find a website that talked about the Greatlee Wood, but their map but confirm this new information.
And because I can't afford the plane ticket from California to England to see for myself, these maps were all I had to go off of. So I made the change and even added another character telling Kate they weren't in the Greatlee Wood. I lost that plot point but as it was minor, I was alright with it.
That is until I went to make this post, and I saw this on Google Maps.
That little grey dot says this massive forest is the Greatlee Wood, which is NOT what it said a few months ago. Apparently, Google can't be decide where the Greatlee Wood is and where it isn't. Even through I double check the other website just now, and it hasn't changed, but without a lot to go on, it is hard to be sure.
It is hard to trust anything on the internet these days. But as poor upstart self-published author, it's all I've got.
But what do you think? Do you think I made the right call to change my story or do you think it would have been better if I left it alone? Has something like this ever happened to you? Or am I the only one?
Either way, I hope you have a wonderful day and I'll write again soon.