The Arts as Inspiration for Story Settings

The Arts can often provide inspiration for story settings. I’ve developed descriptive ideas for  many of my story settings  from several different types of art. I’ve gotten inspiration from  photographs, music, poetry, dance and paintings. Scenes in my novel, “Murder Down Under,” are set on a sheep station in Northern Territory of Australia.

Here is an example of a painting that helped me describe the vastness of the Australian Outback. My brother, Billy West, created this water color that portrays the  emptiness and loneliness of some parts of this beautiful area of Australia. The painting is not just a landscape, it is also an “emotional feeling.”