How Google Maps led an Irish novelist to smalltown Butler, Alabama

By: Amber Sutton

Butler, Alabama, has found itself as the unlikely setting of a psychological thriller novel after an author from Ireland fell in love with the small town despite never actually having been there.

Welz Bailey, of Coleraine, Ireland, said she wanted to take a different approach to selecting the setting for her novel “The Pawn,” so rather than choosing a location familiar to her or well-known, she let chance — with a little help from Google Maps — do the work.

“I have always been pulled toward writing a novel within an American state,” Bailey said. “Instead of deciding which state using a logical way, I chose a different route. I opened America on Google Maps, closed my eyes and kept zooming in until I thought I would be up close to a location. Opening my eyes, I saw Butler. Not knowing where this was, I zoomed back out to find it sitting in the state of Alabama. Checking the streets, avenues and landscape from above gave me a good feeling that this was the place.”

The Alabama Weather Blog is pleased to present an excerpt from a featured article in partnership with the Alabama News Center. For the full post including images, videos, and related links, please visit the article HERE.

Category: ALL POSTS, Partner News Stories, Social Media