How much does the setting matter when you're writing a book?
I was thinking this morning that the last three books I've written - and the one I'm currently in the midst of - all take place on Cape Cod. Now, this is partly (or mostly) because I live here on the Cape year round. Write what you know, right?
But it's also because I think Cape Cod makes for a great setting, with lots of faces, different personalities, and endless possibilities.
I enjoy reading books set at the beach, whether the Cape or the Jersey Shore (but not the t.v. show - never the show) or Savannah (I love Mary Kay Andrews and her books!) ...or books set on islands... I guess I like the ocean as part of the place setting. It's like another character, almost. In The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama, the ocean separating Japan and China plays its own role. (And if you haven't read any of Gail's books, you should! Beautiful writing!)
Where do you like to read about? What kind of settings add that certain something to the novels you choose? Urban cityscapes... Westerns set in Texas with rugged cowboys... dystopian wastelands.... historical novels set on sweeping English moors... and do you choose "summer" settings, like Cape Cod or Nantucket, just for "summer" reading?
I think it depends on the book for me. I don't really have a favorite place, but if it fits the story, I love it even more. I do love the ocean, though. :)
ReplyDeleteMe too, Christine!
DeleteI've read a few books lately that are set in Chicago, and I don't know Chicago very well so I was a little lost in the book. It assumed I knew things that I didn't, which took me out of the story.
This is such a good question. I'm more at home in an urban setting and that's what I feel most comfortable writing...at this point.
ReplyDeleteUrban settings can be cool - especially for today's dystopian YA. Since I don't live in a city, though, it's not my day-to-day experience, so the author has to make me see it clearly. I loved Scott Westerfeld's Peeps - I felt like I could see the gritty city along with the characters who were comfortable in teh setting, without me getting "lost"... I do think some writers tend to forget that we don't all live in cities ;-)
Deletemostly i enjoy a setting as long as it is homey and gives a certain feeling to me--yours sounds delightful!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lynn!
DeleteI did a lot of theatre and read my fair share of no setting plays. Setting has, most likely due to theatre, never been big for me either way unless it's a significant part of the story. Too often it's not but there are times when setting changes everything.
ReplyDeleteI've never thought of this in terms of plays, but in books I think the setting is very important. I think setting is important in a play as well, but maybe it's on a different scale - my daughter's school just performed FAME and while it's not necessary to be "set" in a city or on Cape Cod, the "setting" is a school for the performing arts. Would that be a micro-setting?
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