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I have the dubious honor of starting off this week’s blog tour, so welcome, welcome, welcome, however you found your way here.
This week Brenda Margriet asks: How do you choose the setting for your book? Does where you live inspire you? This can apply even to books set in paranormal worlds – what do you use from “real life”?
So, here we go:
How do you choose the setting for your book?
The short answer is: I don’t. My settings kind of choose me. I always start my stories with three elements. My hero, my heroine, and a situation. It’s really the situation that sets the scene. In Son of Thunder my starting scene was Jord Thorson driving his motorcycle up the rainbow bridge to Asgaard with Meghan on the back. Setting? The rainbow bridge. Earth on one side, Asgaard on the other. From there I build my world as the characters discover it. Settings just kind of happen.
Does where you live inspire you?
Only to a certain extent. In northern Wisconsin we have the advantage of 4 full seasons. I have no problem envisioning a hot summer day, brisk fall morning, or cold winter night. I’ve lived them. After my latest move, I also have the shore of Lake Michigan to inspire my settings.
In my newest series, Hearts in Orbit, I have a whole galaxy of planets to use as settings, and they can be just about anything from deep primal forest to ultra modern metropolis. So I can pull from the area around me, but I need to pump things up to the fantastic whenever possible. After all, no two planets are exactly alike.
This can apply even to books set in paranormal worlds – what do you use from “real life”?
Even in the most fantastic of settings, I think there needs to be an element of reality in the setting. My mind manages to conjure up some pretty crazy stuff, but I like to think that at the heart, it’s still based on a bit of reality. In my Demons Rising trilogy, I set many scenes in the local library. I used to work in a small town library, and used that building layout as my bases for setting the characters. Of course I added a secret basement level holding the Arcanist’s book collection, so don’t go looking for that when you stop into the Tomahawk Public Library. It isn’t there . . . or is it?
How does Collette Cameron set the scene in her wonderful Historical romances? Stop on over to Blue Rose Romance and find out.
And did you know Collette has a wonderful story in the new Gifts from the Heart anthology? Perfect for Valentine’s Day reading:
A Writer's Haven 
I start the same way, with those three elements and build from there
Your mind works like mine, and I don’t know if you’ll take that as a compliment or an insult – LOL 😀 Thanks for sharing!
I envy your ability to create other worlds. I know I create a fictional world but it’s more reality-based. Maybe I’ll try your route sometime. 🙂 I, too, live in a state with all four seasons (Missouri) and I love experiencing each and every one of them, allergies and all. Well, maybe not the allergies. Great post.
We all know librarians hide the best stuff, sometimes in the basement! Great post!
Heavens, I whole galaxy for settings. I get confused just on earth.