I live in a small town.
A really small town.
Like, an everyone-knows-everyone-else small town.
And I have to admit, it has its upsides and downsides. The upside is everyone knows one another and looks out for one another. The downside is...everyone knows one another and the nosiness factor is HUGE! I used to tell my daughter she couldn't sneeze in school without four people calling me and telling me she was sick. And those 4 people didn't work at the school.
I grew up in New York City. Can't get any more big-city than that, can ya? LOL.
The move from big city to small town was jarring to me at first. I'd never had people actually stop me on the street before and ask after my husband, my daughter, my dog. And I'll admit, I guarded my privacy like it was the crown jewels at first, not giving an inch of information. Over time I grew less stringent and more relaxed. The nosiness was, for the most part, just the townfolk's way of showing they cared.
It's no wonder when I started writing romance I set all my original books in a small town.
Using a smalltown for a setting in a romance novel allows you to write across all spectrums - from ultra serious to a romcom. My romances tend toward the romcom-y because my characters are quirky. Remember that old Bob Newhart show set in the small Vermont town Inn - and the cast of unusual characters that revolved in and out of the inn on a daily basis? There were the three "Darryl" brothers; George the inept handyman; the clueless sheriff and the snarky welcome wagon lady. All provided comic relief for Newhart and his wife - two big-city people who'd relocated to the tiny Stratford Inn.
In my own town I've met people who mimic those tv characters to a T. What's that saying about art imitating life? Quirky characters can get lost in a big city. In a small town, they're heralded.
In a big city you may not have the individual and close camaraderie you have in a smaller town, but you do have neighborhoods, ghettos where people of the same mindset live, and you have friends to connect with.
In romance you can write a fabulous meet-cute in a big city you wouldn't be able to someplace smaller. Say two people meet by happenstance during a tour of the Empire State building, or maybe a military widow is visiting Ground Zero and meets her next great love. There's the ballet, the opera, the theater district - all places you don't find in small-town settings. Those places set the tone for your romance book, too. Fast-paced, loud, lively. All things a city is.
Small towns have a slower, more relaxed vibe to them. I was the proverbial fish out of water when I first arrived from NYC to smalltown USA. That scenario alone sets up a great romance story - the fish out of water meets the dyed-in-the-wool small towner. Conflict is inherent in just the meet-cute, never mind the setting!
When I start a new book it's usually the characters I see first in my head. Once I have them figured out I think about the setting. Putting a metropolitan doctor who is used to the treat 'em and street 'em world of an urban emergency room into a rural, backwoods town where many residents don't have running water is a great way to juxtapose that fish-out-of-water scenario. Maybe his nurse is a lifetime local and she has to educate him in the ways of suburban life and medical care.
Or take a world-famous writer who's used to jet plane travel and first-class accommodations and have part of her book tour be in a town famous for nothing other than a huge snow storm a half-century ago and nothing close to a five-star hotel. The owner of the town bookstore is her love interest and right there you've got a champagne vs. beer romance setup. The tiny town is everything she's not used to but everything she comes to love.
Setting is so important to how a writer tells her story. I've written my share of both smalltown loves and big city HEA's. And I don't have a favorite. I simply write where the characters tell me they live...or want to.
Visit Peggy at peggyjaeger.com where she blogs daily about the things in her life that make her say, "What??!!"
3 comments:
Setting is so important to a story, as you've illustrated in your insightful post, Peggy. I love that you write both small town and big city romances. You are one talented and prolific writer.
Having never lived in a big city but in several different little towns, I know all about the nosiness! LOL And I agree that small towns make the best settings for a romance or a mystery. Because everyone knows so much about the other people in town and even the visitors. And all towns have their interesting characters. As in the Miss Marple books. You can study several people and find their similarities and make your mind up about someone knew through those insights. Fun post!
Peggy,
I've never lived in a really small town...although the smallest town I did live in, people most likely knew who I was while I didn't necessarily know who they were because my parents were well-known and well-liked and I was in college - living in the dorm two years and in town two years and commuting. I did teach in a small town for a year and it was a huge challenge for me ... guess I like my privacy. However, I've never lived in a city as large as NYC and the largest city I've visited is London but there I was a tourist for a few days. I don't think that's the same as actually residing there. So great you have those personal experiences to give nuances to your settings so readers like me are able to "feel" the setting at a deeper level.
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