How do you decide on the setting of your story?
I think about what would make the most sense for my chosen characters and storyline. A lot of times, my stories end up being set where the Boys live or tour just because that's most realistic. It's fun when I can write a story set somewhere other than Florida or California because the majority of my stories have taken place there. I loved writing a story set in New Hampshire because it was somewhere different. I was researching mountain towns with Christmassy names and came across Bethlehem, NH in the White Mountains, which turned out to be perfect for what I had in mind. I have never been to New Hampshire, but now I want to go.
Do you set your stories in real places or create your own settings?
I usually use real places. I make up small settings like restaurants, but I tend to use real cities and research locations to write them as realistically as I can.
Do you tend to set your stories in places you've been (or base fictional settings on real places you're familiar with)? If not, do you do any research to help yourself write an unfamiliar setting more realistically?
If it makes sense to set a story in a place I'm familiar with, I'll do it because it does make it easier to write. It was fun setting Heroic Measures in Chicago, for example, even though most of the story took place inside a fictional hospital. I have been to most of the states where I tend to set stories - Florida, California, Nevada, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky - but my first time visiting some of those places was only in the last decade.
I do research settings. God bless Google Maps! Street view is super cool for seeing what a place actually looks like. I've talked about how pretty much every novel I've ever written has a hospital scene, so I also find myself browsing hospital websites as part of my research. I appreciate the ones that have a map or directory so I can figure out what floor a certain department would be on.
Have you ever traveled to research for a story?
Not specifically. I usually find myself traveling to places I've already written about after the fact, but it's fun to see places I referenced in a fanfic. I was looking up roadside attractions in southern Illinois (not the part of the state I live in) for a story and came across the World's Largest Catsup Bottle in a town called Collinsville, which I'd never been to. I mentioned it in the story, and one of my readers, who's now a friend of mine, was like, "OMG, I drive by that all the time!" She lives about three hours south of me, near St. Louis, and after we met face to face on the first BSB cruise I went on, we started going to concerts together. So the first time I drove down to St. Louis to meet up with her for a show, I saw an exit for Collinsville on the way home and thought, "I'm gonna go find the World's Largest Catsup Bottle!" So I took the exit and drove around until I found the thing. It wasn't that impressive, but it was a fun little detour.
Someday I would love to go on a writer's retreat and do research on location! I had the urge to drive to New Hampshire last summer, but that didn't seem very practical or smart in the middle of a pandemic LOL.
What has been your favorite setting to write about?
I really enjoyed the setting of The Road to Bethlehem. It was rustic and quaint, yet sufficiently dangerous LOL. But my favorite was probably MacDill Air Force Base in Song for the Undead. That's the most elaborately I've ever researched a setting. I printed out a map of the base that I still have with my notes on it and referred to it often. Rose and I got so many ideas for scenes just based on what amenities the base offered. There was also an English castle later in the story, and that was a fun setting to write too.
Where would you like to set a future story?
I'm in love with Scotland and would love to set a story there someday. I actually started one years ago that was going to take place there, but I didn't get past the second chapter.
