By Robin Weaver
As an author whose first love is
mystery/suspense, I keep scenery description to a minimum. Thus, the imagery I do include on the page has to carry a
lot of impact. While the locale doesn’t have to be Rio de Janeiro exciting, any
setting information must be pertinent to the plot and more than “just a
little” interesting.
Unless I’m writing fantasy, I don’t typically
set contemporary stories in a place I’ve never been. Why? Because when it comes
to scenery, I need to “feel” the location before I can write about the place.
Sure, I could easily Google any place on Earth. There are millions of pictures,
videos, and detailed descriptions; all the information a writer needs. Only you
can’t smell a JPEG. Nor can you can’t sense the hustle and bustle of a city by
reading a street map. I can get into my character’s head without ever meeting
her, but I need to actually plant my feet in the place she lives to portray the
setting vividly.
Even when I set a scene in a place
I’ve visited before, I like to return to the scene of the crime if possible.
For example, when I decided to have my heroine experience a scary encounter on
Chimney Rock in North Carolina, I took a hike—literally. I absorb the details and incorporate the
majestic views into the scene, from my character’s perspective, of course.
She hobbled outside and across the wooden walkway,
heading toward the clear-span bridge leading to the chimney. The scent of pine
intertwined with pure, fresh air and rushed into her lungs, displacing her
wooziness. The spectacle of the mountain backlit with bright blue skies almost
made her forgot she had to get in the same elevator for her return trip.
But scenery is just prose without a plot.
During my visit to the mountain, I spotted a shadowy figure in the Opera Box (a
ledge in the side of the mountain) that inspired another scene. I also
discovered a really cool niche—perfect for hiding the body in my next book.
Do I ever use fictional places in my
contemporary stories? Absolutely. In my holiday novellas, The Christmas Tree Wars, Full-Contact Decorating, and The Gingerbread Skirmish, the town of
Merryvale does not exist—not to my knowledge anyway. Even so, it’s not entirely
fictional. I incorporated parts of Concord, Massachusetts, Burlington, Vermont,
and a little taste of three North Carolina towns--Concord, Asheville, and
Boone--to create my fictional backdrop.
For my
non-contemporary novels, I do make up places. My fantasy novels are set on a different
planet. I haven't been there. Honestly .J
2 comments:
I'm like you, Robin - I write about places I have been. Often research involves travel. And I believe the "scenery" needs to do double duty. helping to set the tone, foreshadow, further plot, show character as it is filtered through the character's perceptions. Awesome post!
Love this post, Robin. It's one of the reasons I loved to set one of my books in Ireland. I got out my pictures, travel journal and relived those couple of weeks and then wrote. Not all of it is based on exactly where I was, etc. but the "feel" of the country, my experience of being there is.
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