In 2018, I went to Scotland (for the first time…I can say that now 👀😁), and it was somehow more magical than I anticipated it would be. So much so that it inspired a magic realism story – my book Wherever Would I Be. In the book, Lucy visits several of the places I did (like Dunvegan Castle, my friend’s ancestral castle/clan, which became Lucy’s). However, once I got Lucy into the country in her story, I realized I needed some more places for her to go. Enter the street view function on a well-known map system and photographs on websites, and I strung together a trip that sounded utterly delightful for Lucy, her bestie, and her brother.
I wrote the first draft of the manuscript in 2020, worked on revisions and edits and thanked my beta readers, and in 2023, Lucy went out into the world. Cut to summer of 2025, and my writing bestie and I decided to take a trip to Scotland. I was finally going back. And on this trip, we included on our itinerary some of these locations that I only got to see digitally and decided it would be fun to take Lucy along for the ride.
On our first full day, we trekked over to the Fairy Pools. This was something I had hoped to see on the first trip, but we hadn’t made it work. So no surprise that Lucy went. (They arrive on page 215 of the paperback.) The sun shone brightly (I may have burnt a bit 👀) as we hiked to the pools, and there were indeed a lot of other folks meandering around. Definitely a must if you’re the type that doesn’t mind a bit of a walk, some steep grades, and beautiful views.
In the story, Lucy’s aunt, who she goes to Scotland to meet, works at a pottery shop in Edinbane – one I had found but not yet visited. We made a stop, and while I didn’t make a new family connection like Lucy did, I did find a mug that begged to come home with me. (Lucy steps foot in this shop on page 225.)
A few pages later (227), Lucy et al. check out a fun little yarn shop. In our reality, we had the navigation code…which sent us down the tiniest road I had seen yet – a single-lane residential road that was literally the width of our car. Thankfully, my travel buddy had an eSim and used his phone’s GPS, and we found it. The shop tender was friendly and chatty (not in a bad way), and I may have found some yarn to bring home, too. (The wool comes from the sheep in a field nearby.)
In real life, the first time I went to Dunvegan Castle, I got to witness my bestie seeing her ancestral home for the first time. This scene played out much the same way for Lucy (page 207) – right down to the spot where she first caught sight of the castle (though on this trek for me, they had done some tree trimming, and we were able to see the castle almost immediately passing through the gates).
Within this castle, is the Dunvegan Fairy Flag. Little did I know when I stood before it (that first time) that it would become a central piece to Lucy’s story. The flag, now housed in a different room of the castle, still looks rather worse for the wear – but the story persists. And, according to Lucy’s ancestry, so does the magic (page 210).
While on the grounds of Dunvegan, Lucy spots several imprints, including two in the walled garden – a young woman and her child, who is fascinated by this sun dial – which was incredibly hard to describe on the page (no idea why I did this to myself ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ page 213). I went so far as to send the description to my writing bestie, asked what he thought it looked like (he did a sketch), then I sent him the image. to varify
Scotland really is magical, and I left a piece of myself there when I left the first time. I found it again on this trip, but it, unsurprisingly, opted to stay put once more. I can hardly blame it. Scotland is not an easy place to leave.
Ami Maxine 