Meet Our Newest Staff Editor: Taylor Graham

Whether an author is writing a book that is purely fiction or writing a non-fiction book portraying their lives, the use of setting and imagery is an important part of painting the pictures that the author sees in their mind for their readers.

It’s a difficult part of writing any genre: getting readers to see exactly what you, as the author, see in your mind while describing the scene. Sensory imaging is often an effective tool when describing the setting; using descriptions that will appeal to a reader’s senses, whether it’s describing a smell, sight, sound, taste, or feel.

An example of describing the feel for each one of the cities my honeymoon cruise through the French and Italian Rivera is below, with pictures.

Once we boarded the cruise in Barcelona, we were at sea the first day until the next morning when we arrived in a small port town: Toulon, France. Apparently in Toulon, there isn’t much to see walking around the town other than graffiti-filled brick walls, abandoned warehouses, and small cigar shops. Apparently an excursion was the only way to experience the city and its surroundings.

The next day, we arrived at Nice, France and had to take a small boat into the port that was sprinkled with yachts and sailboats. A torrential downpour had just taken place before we left the ship, but what came after the storm was absolutely beautiful. Nice was our favorite stop on the entire cruise. The city was a French metropolis with lots of shops, restaurants, and a modern cable car that ran through the middle of the streets. The food in Nice was the best meal we had on the entire cruise. A simple ham, mozzarella, tomato, and basil on focaccia bread turned out to be absolutely divine.

The next day, we woke up in an industrial port in Livorno, Italy. About twenty minutes from Pisa and an hour from Tuscany, we decided to splurge and do the one excursion we could not live without: a vineyard tour and sampling in Tuscany. We took a charter bus through the freeways and winding mountain roads, passing the Leaning Tower of Pisa. (Read: not impressed.) After a few times of nearly feeling as if our bus was going to topple down the Tuscan countryside, we arrived at the vineyard and the view of the hills was absolutely breathtaking.

The next day, we docked in Civitavecchia, Italy and took an hour train ride into Rome. I had grandiose expectations of Rome (like, it’s the greatest city in the world, for one) and when we arrived there, I was rather quickly unimpressed. It was Manhattan on steroids as far as the dirtiness, crowds, and insane cab drivers go (no rats, though). We heard every language being spoken except for English, and the lines were filled with tour groups from all over the world with their neon-colored shirts and matching flags.

Our last stop on the cruise was Naples, Italy. There was an option to take an expensive boat ride to the island of Capri, but since we had already splurged on our vineyard tour, we decided to explore the city of Naples on our own. There was a shopping district and plenty of restaurants to try because Naples is supposedly where pizza originated. Of course, we had to try some for ourselves. I got a calzone filled with ricotta, marinara, sausage, and basil. It was a huge though necessary calorie splurge, but absolutely worth every bite.

The post Meet Our Newest Staff Editor: Taylor Graham appeared first on Xulon Press, Christian Self Publishing.