Last month
I went on a dual-purpose trip to the mountains, aiming to catch some fish and
do a bit of location scouting for my Quill Gordon mystery novels, which are set
in small mountain towns. The trip was a success on both counts.
I’ll spare
you the fish stories, but will pass along an example of the location scouting.
In my next mystery novel, the local high school plays a significant role, and I
was pleased to discover on my trip a high school that can be used as the basis
for describing my fictional one.
Thing is,
the high school I discovered was hundreds of miles away from the locale that
will be the basis for the setting of the book. In fact, the high school wasn’t
even in the mountains; we drove past it on the way up, and I immediately said,
“That’s it!” even though nothing like it exists in the alleged area where the
alleged story will be taking place.
Well, It Is Fiction
People
often ask if the settings of my books are real places with the names changed,
and the best answer I can give goes something like this:
I often
start out with a real place, using it as a skeleton to be fictionally fleshed
out. I’ll take away things from the real place, add stuff that isn’t there, and
make up some stuff that could be from anywhere or nowhere at all.
For
example, my most recent novel, Not Death,But Love, is set in a location that bears enough of a resemblance to a real
place that one or two people have guessed the connection. But unlike the real
place, mine boasts such fictional amenities as a courthouse, a posh lakefront
restaurant, the home of a prominent state senator, and an unusual house,
depicted on the cover, which plays a critical role in the playing out of the
story.
Actually,
all those things I added were done for the sake of the story, which was why I
borrowed and moved them or made them up out of whole cloth.
Composite Characters
Truth be
told, I take a similar approach to characters in my books. The inspiration for
a character often begins with someone I either know personally or whose public
persona I’ve observed.
In either
case, I take what I’ve seen and build on it. With characters, much more so than
with locations, I give free rein to my imagination. I try to imagine what a
certain type of person would be like if some of his or her qualities were
carried to a more elevated (or lowered) level. Then I try to imagine what that
person would say or do in certain situations that he or she will encounter
within the book.
It’s a lot
of fun. Really. You should try it some time.
