Setting -- More than a Name

by Fran McNabb

Recently on our Classic and Cozy blog, several of our authors wrote about using accurate details when creating setting in a piece of fiction. Those posts got me thinking and I’d like to add to them.

Setting puts readers into time and into the place of a story. Historical writers usually have a good grasp of setting. It’s easy to feel where the writer of historical fiction wants the reader to be because she or he understands that point must be made early in the story. Unfortunately contemporary writers sometimes neglect to place their characters in a specific place other than simply naming a town. If a reader can plop the character down in any town in the United States or in any other county, the writer has missed her mark to make setting as strong of an element as character and plot.

Even if the writer has accurately placed the character in a specific setting and built that world correctly, has she captured the feel of the place? I’m speaking from experience here. I recently submitted a manuscript to an editor whom I personally know and who works with one of the top ten publishing groups. I had my story set in Key West, a place I love and have visited several times. She rejected the manuscript because she wanted a series and she said she didn’t think I had captured the feel of the Keys and what I had written would not sustain the area's thread throughout three novels. Needless to say, I was baffled because I thought I had done a good job with the setting. Obviously, I had not.

When the manager of a very nice welcome center on my Gulf Coast suggested I have a book launch at the center for my next book release, I thanked her and hoped I’d actually have another book release. With that piece of information in mind, I started thinking about my rejected story and realized I might not know all the nuances of Key West, but I certainly understood the region where I called home. I took the same story and rewrote it with a Gulf Coast setting, outlined three books that could come from the idea, and found a small press to publish the series.

My point here concerns setting. Just finding a place on the map to put characters in won’t work unless the writer understands the place. Sure it can be done without actually living there, but when an author feels the setting, he or she has a better chance of helping the reader feel the area as well.

What’s it like to walk down the sidewalk of a town? Are sidewalks actually there? Do neighbors know each other? Do they sit on their porches and talk to each other? Do neighborhood children play in the streets? Do taxi cabs and other ride sharing vehicles get people around or do citizens rely on their own transportation?

Even though I know the area where my new book is set, I still did not use the actual name of the town. Instead I named the community Marsh Isles. Readers along the Gulf Coast should recognize the town where I placed my characters though I gave it a different name. By not using real names of cities or streets I can change the physical setting to fit my story while still keeping the feel of the town—I hope. It doesn't always happen though. The name of this book is PARADISE LANE, 

and at one of my talks a lady raised her hand and said she wanted a copy of the book because she lived on Paradise Lane in the same area where I set the book. I was floored. I thought there wasn’t a street by that name there, but who knew there would be one in one of the newer subdivisions?

I’m pleased that I changed the setting to the Gulf Coast, and so far I’ve had good feedback from my readers. I can’t wait to see what other locals think about the book. Fingers crossed.

Where are your books set? Do your readers feel the area? It doesn't matter if it's real or  simply based on a place you know, think about the little things that make it special and make your readers know where they are.

FRAN MCNABB lives along the Gulf Coast and uses this setting in most of her novels. PARADISE LANE is her newest book in the three-book GULF COAST SERIES. Check her out at www.FranMcNabb.com.

Weather As Character

by Janis Susan May/Janis Patterson

Picture a bright blue sky glowing with golden sunshine and dotted with friendly, fluffy clouds. Now picture dark grey looming clouds hanging so low you can almost grab a handful of them, while an icy wind scours the land with frigid teeth.

Which would you think of as setting for a lighthearted romantic comedy and which for an angst-filled mystery where terrible things lurk just under the next breeze?

Admittedly, those are two extreme examples, but weather does affect our perception of genre and tone. Now before you jump all over me crying that so-and-so did a terribly horrifying story set on a sunny beach or a rom-com in a storm-lashed castle, I will agree with you. There are always those writers who can take a trope and turn it on its head with great effectiveness. A truly skilled writer can do almost anything – as all of you skilled writers know – but the stormy rom-con and the sun-drenched murder have been done so often that they are almost tropes in themselves.

It’s a lot harder to take a pleasant, sunny location and make it a place of crime, apprehension and horror. I say let your setting work for you – sometimes. Never do anything exactly the same way every time. Keep your reader on her mental toes. And let’s face it, it’s easier to ratchet up the tension in a dark and shadowy place where who knows what is lurking in that lightless corner we must traverse, just as it’s delightful to see the hero’s eyes crinkle in appreciation on a sunny beach. Proper use of the weather can almost turn it into a character in and of itself, and give both depth and foreshadowing to your story.

People have certain expectations and reactions to the weather. I say use them, or, if you use them in reverse, do it whole-heartedly. One of the most romantic scenes I’ve ever watched was the end of the old movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s, where George Peppard (a singularly interesting bit of casting) and Audrey Hepburn find the cat and declare their love in an ugly NYC alley in a pouring rain. Switch upon switch upon switch.

On the other hand, most readers have certain expectations; I’m a firm believer that as writers, especially genre writers, we don’t have to re-invent the wheel. At least, not every time.