Last month I went on a little road trip with my mom to North Carolina to visit some family friends, we decided to take a little detour to West Virginia to visit the Green Bank Observatory. GBO plays a big role in my novel HOST, but while I was writing it back in 2020 there wasn’t much room for visiting locations due to the pandemic. So, I used Google Earth, maps, and photos from GBO’s website to get a sense of the location and surrounding area in the National Radio Quiet Zone. After visiting GBO I think I did alright with setting descriptions and capturing the awe factor of the Great Big Thing telescope, but it can’t replace actually visiting this amazing observatory and seeing it first hand. From an authors POV, the visit gave me a whole new perspective on location research. Although I did fine with visual cues and descriptions, there’s something about visiting a location that really gives you a sense of what it’s like. GBO and the town it lives in, Green Bank, WV, have their own feel that couldn’t be described without being there. A sense of isolation that could be felt is something, driving through the thick forests on winding roads, and through small towns that you wouldn’t know exist gives a weight to the location that is otherwise unknown.
I got a chance to sit down the Director of the observatory, Jim Jackson, and chat about the book, the observatory, and surrounding area. It was a fascinating conversation and I picked up details that I wouldn’t have gotten just through internet research. Jim was gracious with his time as we chatted for almost an hour about everything, including fishing in Gloucester, MA and Ipswich beer. It was a great trip and made me realize how important it is to get out and visit places, especially those you’re going to write about. It gives you an opportunity to capture the feeling of a place, which is equally as important as describing the color of the walls and buildings. If you’re ever passing through West Virginia I highly recommend visiting GBO, it’s a wild place and with no cell service anywhere, it’s as disconnected as you’ll get.
