So three posts have been made so far about The Deal but I think this one is pretty important in setting the scene of Swansea in The Deal.
If you have read the introduction to Nic and Craig, I tell you why I chose Swansea over basing The Deal in Newport or Cardiff. One of the main reasons was due to the beach and how, to Nic, it’s her sanctuary, so I needed to place her near the beach, but also I wanted to base my book in Wales, as to me, Wales is utterly beautiful and has some of the best beaches in the UK.
Nic, Craig and Kelsie live within a 20 minute walk to the beach. You can see how close the houses are to the beach.
This is Swansea uni. Although none of my characters went there, you can see how close the beach is.
Swansea’s beach is beautiful and as you can see from the picture, it stretches so far too. I actually spent Bonfire Night on this beach about 2/3 years ago, and it was just picturesque, if not a little scary with all the students with their own fireworks. I haven’t actually been there in the summer, but as any beach, you know it’s going to be packed, that everyone will be finding somewhere to sun bathe, to have fun and chill out for the day. Nic loves the beach, and the sunset/rise. You’l understand a bit more when you get to read The Deal. But just relish in the photos. I definitely need to visit Swansea beach soon!
The Flat
I had a vision in my head of what the flat looked like, what the building looked like and the street and this photo (of the building) is the closest I could get to it (minus the colours & the B&B that seems to be in the picture). I wanted houses/flats along the road and at the other end of the street would be Kelsie’s flat. I kind of based it on the flat and street I lived in last year, just not the inside of the flat. I definitely made that up.
There aren’t any photos of what I envisioned for the floor plan, so with my amazing paint skills – they suck so hard! – this is how i think of the flat. You may have a completely different vision, mind you.
Definitely should have been an architect HA! I’m not going to post photos of what I think the inside looks like because i want YOU to envision that anyway you want to. It’s more fun to think of the flat how you want to, so I will leave that part to your imagination 😉
I won’t spoil the book any more, but the flat and the beach are a big part in the book and now you know how I envisioned and what I took from each part.
Z. Elizabeth 