By C. Hope Clark
We’ve all moved at some
point in our lives. When we went to college, when we married, when we changed
jobs, when we retired . . . when we ran out of money or hit success. In our
dreams we envision the perfect home. A kitchen we love to cook in, the most excellent
back porch, a view of water, or a bedroom that envelops us in quaint security
at night. Then there’s the town, state or country we prefer. Not all of us are
happy where we are. Others, like me, have found a locale that nourishes our
souls. Rip me out of here, or destroy what it represents to me, and I’m lost .
. . or coming after you.
In our day-to-day
existence, we yearn for that piece of geography that makes us whole, and when
we don’t have it, we’re unsettled. So, imagine you’re in your perfect place . .
. and it’s ruined. Or imagine you are in a strange location, and like Dorothy
and Toto, you cry “There’s no place like home” and vow to find it come hell or
damnation.
The power of setting
ought to be as intense in stories as in our lives.
I’ve just released my
fifth novel, Edisto Jinx, set on secluded Edisto Beach, South
Carolina. It’s the second in The Edisto Island Mysteries. Readers love the
coastal getaway that’s known for being laid back and poised on the end of the
world, far removed from civilization. And they love how I’ve given those naïve
residents some crazy murders to disturb that peace and quiet. Characters have
escaped to Nirvana, only to find the devil vacations there, too.
I write mysteries, but
when I begin a book, my first major decision is place, not crime. You overlook
a major tool when you choose place and don’t make it dance the dance with the
rest of the players. In the case of the Edisto series, the location nourishes
people who’ve escaped the rest of the world to soak up the sun and surf and
leave urbania to conjoin with nature. What better way to mess with characters
than to ruin that? Place is as important a character as your protagonist, and
we all know that if we don’t challenge our protagonist, there is no tale.
I recall my first
release in my Carolina Slade series, Lowcountry Bribe, and the
chase where a Slade seeks her missing children. She’s frantic, traveling
country roads, searching ponds, ditches, barns, imagining the worst. The rural,
rustic setting was horrendous enough – no city grids, but when my critique
partner asked me why there wasn’t a hurricane off the coast, after all, this
was the Carolinas, I smacked myself. Suddenly Slade fought wind, rain and dark,
black clouds, in addition to an antagonist. Made all the difference in those
chapters.
Where would Moby
Dick be without the constant threat of the ocean? Gone With
the Wind without Charleston or Atlanta?
The bestseller Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins, is based upon the character’s routine, in
the city, riding a train. Then she’s rocked to her core by something horrible
disturbing that oh-so-normal routine.
Debbie Macomber’s recent
release, Silver Linings, centers her characters around Rose Harbor
Inn in Cedar Grove. People who should never leave do, upsetting the balance,
and then new people appear who don’t fit in. All around that charming little
inn the reader becomes intimate with.
Setting dictates the
flavor and voice of your story. Don’t underestimate it. As a matter of fact,
give it free rein and let it have a serious hand in screwing up your
characters’ lives.
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C. Hope Clark is the
author of five mysteries and a short recently published in Killer Nashville’s
famous anthology Cold-Blooded, alongside Jeffrey Deaver, Steven
James, and Donald Bain. She’s also published numerous nonfiction pieces in such
publications as Writer’s Digest, The Writer, Writer’s Market, and Guide
to Literary Agents, and she speaks across the country at writing
conferences and workshops. She’s known most for her origination of FundsforWriters.com ,
a writing resource recognized by Writer’s Digest in its 101
Best Websites for Writers, for the last 15 years. You’ll find her at www.chopeclark.com and www.fundsforwriters.com
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