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I make up my own towns. This way I can be as creative as I'd like without having to worry about whether I'm right or wrong. I do use the Internet to check the weather during a certain time period for that state, and make sure anything to do with the law is accurate.
For example, LASSOING LOVE will be my first published novel. I knew I wanted the setting to be in Tennessee. I looked at a map and found an empty section in the Knoxville area in the Smokey Mountains. And because a lot of the story deals with foster care, I contacted a woman in that area to help with the process of foster care. The laws are different than RI.
The only sign of the setting being near the Knoxville area is the airport, I think. It's been a while since I wrote the book. Even to that, I don't think I described the airport because I didn't want to get it wrong. I just had my heroine notice her friends in the crowd (every airport has crowds).
Give us your opinion: Would you rather have a writer describe a real place so the reader can "visit" through the novel, or do you like the idea of a make believe town?
I can go either way. If it's someplace "major" (Chicago, London, etc.) I like to take a tour of real places.
ReplyDeleteIt's always fun to think, "Hey, I've been there!"
If it's a quaint little town, I'm totally okay with make-believe.
In my upcoming release, I used a place we visit each year in the Ozarks as the setting, but I "moved" it to the West.
Toni,
ReplyDeleteI imagine you dropped in "local Smokey Mountains flavor" in your novel when you described people or food or clothes or events. I'd love to know how you approached that. That is where the setting comes alive.
Ana
Actually, Ana, my story is character driven.
ReplyDeleteI add enough description to give an image, but I don't dwell on such things.
Maybe because I don't like reading too much descrition I tend to not write so much of it as well.