You know what they say about real estate — location, location, location!
So, what about women’s fiction? How important is the setting? Some books are centered around the town or city or even the house where the character live, work and interact. Some are not. In some books, the setting is its own character and has its own voice, in a way. If the story could not take place anywhere else, I say that the setting is playing a vital role. Sometimes it’s general — a beach, a small town, a big old house, a busy city. It could be a very specific town with a history unlike any other. This could be fictional or not. Fiction takes place in real places (I know you understand!) and fiction takes place in fictional places as well.
My current novel, THE GLASS WIVES, takes place in the fictional Chicago suburb of Lakewood. This story had to take place in a suburb it could have been any suburb of any major city as long as I wrote it a particular way. I mushed together (a very technical thing to do, don’t you know ) all the places I’ve lived as an adult and came up with Lakewood. It is an amalgamation of my current small town mixed with some bigger suburbs I wish I lived in have visited and know about.
I know that women’s fiction is about the journey — but how important is it WHERE that journey takes place? Some books (Kat Magendie’s TENDER GRACES pops to mind; as does LITTLE BEE by Chris Cleave) could not take place anywhere else.
Right now my untitled WIP has no setting. I’ll admit it’s troubling, but I’m just not there yet. I’m hoping that it comes to me organically — where these three sisters MUST live. I know they live where they grew up. But I have no idea where that is. I grew up in Philadelphia — but I’m not sure they did. I’m not sure I can pull of anything Southern (I’m an East Coast expat in the Midwest). I like small town dynamics when I read them in novels, but I’m thinking this story is a little more urban. A little more crowded but not big city.
Do you think they have GPS for writers?
Where in the world is YOUR women’s fiction? What do you read and what do you write? And, have you researched settings or just made ’em up or just written from memory? Do tell!
We’re celebrating my daughter’s birthday, so I leave today’s discussion in your capable hands! I’ll read the comments and respond, but probably not until Wednesday or Wednesday night. If you dont’ want to miss any of the bloggy banter, just subscribe to this post’s comments.
Happy (late) birthday to your daughter! My WIP, which is women’s fiction with a romantic element, is set in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn, NY. Now, that begs a question. Can you use fake businesses in a real setting? I attended a workshop with author Matthew Dicks, and he said his editor at Doubleday said he could not do that. I’m doing that—I have a restaurant and synagogue in my book that don’t really exist in Queens. I’d love to hear comments on this.
Thanks for the wishes Karoline – her birthday is today!! (Everyone is still asleep, I’m safe being online)
I’m surprised someone said fictional places IN FICTION aren’t ok. It never occurred to me that wouldn’t be fine.
Curious to see what others think as well.
Amy (who hears the birthday girl coming downstairs!)
A rule breaker – Goddess Bless you, Darlin’. I’ve set my novel Broad Street Goddesses in Nevada City Ca, my home town. I did conjur up an imaginary mansion and businesses. I didn’t want problems arising from conflicting histories(of real buildings) coming back to haunt me.
I love small town settings. It’s what I know, so it’s what I write.
Warmest wishes for your success.
De
This is a topic near and dear to my heart — I write and think a lot about home for both me and my characters. I’m working on two WIPs, and both take place in very small (fictional) towns on the coast of Maine. I live in a small town on the coast of Maine as well, but I decided not to use it as a setting because (a) people might think I “don’t get it right,” (b) people might think I’m writing about *them* (I’m only kind of doing that 🙂 and (c) I like to make things up! I’ve also lived in many other places in the US and internationally — and at times I’ve written (shorter) fiction with settings in real places (like small towns in Kenya I lived in when I was a kid). Great post!!
oh, forgot to add a p.s. Happy Belated Birthday to your daughter! Love those days!
I’m with you in that setting can often be the book itself, attributed to the voice and style. I think (hope) that’s the way it is for my current WIP. I don’t at all give away a location; it’s meant to be an every-place kind of feel. Great post!
Happy Birthday, DD!
I set location based on places I’ve visited, but not exclusively. In one of my manuscripts I have a town I created set in Oklahoma based on a friend’s description who lives in the state. P.S. Go Sooners!
Creative writing knows no bounds, no matter the genre. I say do what works for your story and leave it up to an agent or editor to tell you whether it does or doesn’t work. 🙂
I always go for the small town…and I love quirky. I’ve lived in small towns and big cities, and it’s the southern quirky small towns that endear me. Think of Doc Hollywood and Steel Magnolias. Love ’em.
Mine aren’t that sweet, though. Mine have barbs. Mayberry with thorns. LOL.
My novel THE REASON IS YOU takes place in a fictional Texas town of Bethany, which is a mix of where I live now and a little bit of East Texas hill country. My wip (working title of Touchable) is in another fictional Texas town of Daisy. And it is nothing like anywhere I’ve ever lived. It’s weird and mystical and I want to visit! LOL.
And to answer a question above…I think it’s fine to put fictional businesses in real towns. It is ultimately fiction, after all, so we have that license. I think it’s when we actually use real factual businesses and buildings that things might get a little hairier. Then we have to stick to facts. Just my opinion.
Great post Amy!
Interesting topic, Amy…..For me, both as a reader and a writer, setting has always been extremely important. I love to read novels that take place in Paris or England or someplace in the US that I’ve visited. I just feel it adds more to the over all story, because I can “see” it as I read along and get the “feel” of the places that the characters reside and the plot takes place. Right now, I’m reading Rules of Civility, setting is Manhattan…..and although it’s the 1930’s, this author has captured it perfectly and his story just couldn’t take place anywhere else.
And of course….for me….since my novels are based on Cedar Key, where I live, setting is a major part of my books. (Happy Birthday to your daughter!)
PS: On the question above about fictional places in real settings…..my goodness, I think authors do this all the time! Bottom line……….it’s fiction, so I feel anything goes! Just my personal opinion.
My WIP is set in New York and Budapest. I’ve lived in New York and visited Budapest so the writing was easy. My first self-published ebook was set in a fictional European city during WWII.
I find that I like to set my stories in places that resonate with me emotionally, that the setting can add a very important component to the mood of the story.
I love settings that are small town, perhaps because I live in a small city surrounded by very BIG cities. I’d like to live in a truly small town some day, away from the hustle and bustle – hence my interest in small towns. I like to read books where the place is an important part of the book. My first novel is set in a small town, the second doesn’t emphasize the city much and the third book’s setting is also crucial.
Thanks for the post!
Patti
My manuscript is set in a small fictional town on the Oregon Coast because I love the west coast.
Thanks for the comments! You guys seem to know just where you want your manuscripts set. For me — still struggling — even after a six-day break from writing! The story is coming together but the setting is not. I feel like I’m blind-folded!
Hi Amy,
After your most recent comment, I’ve gone back and read your post again and it brings to mind a couple thoughts. First, I think setting is more important than we imagine. In my first novel, MRS. TUESDAY’S DEPARTURE, I originally set the story in WWII Budapest, and then because a friend said that WWII novels were passee (ha!) I changed the setting to a fictional European city. And now I regret it. It simply doesn’t ring as true.
As you describe your story, I’m thinking of how John Hughes choice of Chicago suburbs defined his movies. They were more authentic because we understood the story from the context of the setting and all the mores that setting entailed.
So, hang in there and keep writing….I’m guessing the setting will present itself to you as the story evolves. At some point you’re going to look up and say to yourself, ‘the setting couldn’t be anywhere else but here’.
And finally, be true to yourself. An ex-pat Eastercoaster in a Midwestern town sounds interesting.
Little late, but I’m glad I stumbled on this discussion, since I have similar questions in mind on my current project. I’m never very sure about how much of my real world settings I want to name in my stories. I almost always have a very specific place in mind (my current WIP is set in the northern suburbs of Detroit), but I rarely want to put a name on the exact towns, because like some of you said, I worry that some people might think I got it wrong. Even though I lived there myself for years, and from the best of my memory it’s not wrong, but people can be weird, lol!
I do mention that one of the locations is in Grosse Pointe though (and I even looked up a real house on a real estate site to use as a model). I also do mention some notable streets and places. And I think anyone who lived there would well know the places I was talking about – so maybe I should go ahead and name them then? I wonder though, if I describe the location well enough, does it matter if the town is specifically named, or fake named, or not named at all?
I also do have a character who owns a fictional business too, and I’m quite confident that is allowed and has been done before plenty of times.
Seems from the comments that fictional places in a real town are fine. That’s good to know. It’s not like I intend to move Yankee Stadium from the Bronx to Manhattan! Like Laura, I also looked up real homes, real estate, etc. in my novel’s setting, Park Slope in Brooklyn. I could probably convince my husband to take a drive there with me as we don’t live that far from NYC.