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Bedminster, Bedminster NJ, eBooks, New Jersey, novels, setting of book, story inspirations, vampires
Early on in this blog, I talked about Staten Island, NY – my hometown and the setting for most of my novel. I decided it would be a good chance to bring attention to the forgotten borough for those two reasons.
Overall, there are four locations mentioned in The Dark Proposal: Staten Island, New York, Paris and Bedminster, a small town in central New Jersey. You might be curious as to why a little known place was chosen as a location in my book, so here I go:
The idea for The Dark Proposal began during the summer of 2011. As I’ve mentioned once, I was watching the fourth season of True Blood and imagining what would happen if a sexy vampire came to life. Realizing that vampires are actually evil changed that fantasy, and my book idea was born.
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During this, I was doing a five month temporary job at AT&T. The corporation has many locations in New Jersey, which is right over the bridge from Staten Island. The place I primarily worked at was in a small township called Bedminster, which is in Somerset County. AT&T’s Bedminster location is one of it’s major headquarters. It’s large, highly secured campus even has it’s own highway exit, which was great for drivers!
I temped at AT&T from May until September 2011. It was an OK job for me, I developed some skills here and there. But my best memories of my short tenure were my co-workers. Since the campus had it’s own cafeteria, the team I worked with had lunch together at the same time every day, and those were great lunch breaks. I enjoyed the team I worked with very much – which is always a prize at any job.
While working though, there were some moments where work will slow down and even dry up. This is when I would dabble in some writing. I actually wrote half of the first chapter of The Dark Proposal during this time. I will eventually pick it up again during NaNoWriMo later that November.
Once I truly dedicated myself to writing this book, I promised to mention Bedminster as a way of acknowledging where my book ideas was born, as well as the cool people I once worked with. I even named one of protagonist Claire McCormick’s family members after one of my former co-workers.
But by choosing Bedminster as Claire McCormick’s hometown, I was also giving a good location for the small town girl whose dreams of living in New York City blind her from the red flags of her boyfriend, who is secretly a vampire. Bedminster is a small town, with only a population of less than 10,000. I saw a little of it, mostly when I stopped to get gas for the long drive home. But from what I saw, it is nice quaint town with a colonial feel to it. It was established in 1710, so it does go back a ways. It did look like a good place for Claire’s simple upbringing.
I haven’t been back to Bedminster since my last day at AT&T and I really have no reason to return. But my time working there had it’s memorable moments and I wanted to acknowledge that in my book – and I did!
Somerset County Represent!
Woot! Woot!
Native?
Born in Morris County but have spent most of my life in Somerset. The property taxes will kill you in either one. Vampires are only half of your heroine’s problems.
😉