Inspiring Places: Can a Place have a Pulse?

I was thinking about what I wanted to touch on for our Inspiring Places series and I stumbled across this gem... one of my early posts as an Alley Cat! Touched it up a bit and thought it was PERFECT!

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Think about your favorite books. Are you thinking of them? Am I going to have to ask you to close your eyes? Kidding. Sort of. J But what makes a setting work for you?

Is it just a vivid description of a place? I would say no. It’s not so much a picture you paint for your reader but a character that moves and breathes through the pages.

As I am a bit of a hometown girl (Go Cardinals!) my first several novels have been set in St. Louis. We are talking all season Midwest. No sandy beaches (Well, aside from the ones snuggled up to a muddy riverbank.) No backdrop of majestic snow-tipped mountains. Just the muggy, hilly, temperamental Midwest.

I mean, I love living here, but what about this seemly bland backdrop will make a good destination for a story?

Here’s my theory…

Any place that you can give a pulse will make for an engaging setting.

Now you may think I’m talking loco here. And most days I’m only one firm foot outside the loony bin, but just for a moment leave logic behind and embrace the idea of your setting coming to life like Frankenstein. It’s ALIVE!!!

Sorry, couldn't resist!

-Give your setting a personality or a temperament.

I always refer to my city as a girl because, well, she’s feisty, and completely unpredictable. We can have clear blue skies and daffodils peeking through the mulch one day and get pelted with ten inches of snow the next.

How does the weather affect your characters? How they dress, how they feel, how they react to stress? Where they spend their time? All these factors intertwine with the development of your hero and heroine’s journey through the pages. The temperament of the setting will play on the character’s emotions. And perhaps even their motivations.

Example: In my first book When Fall Fades both the hero and heroine are struggling with the weight of the past, with unfinished business of sorts that keeps them from embracing what God has for their future. So I had the story take place in the fall, except one where good old St. Louis is resisting the change. Clinging to those long, oppressively hot, unrelenting days of an Indian summer in wait of relief of autumn.

When the heroine finally surrenders this is how the setting responds:

And just then, the ever feisty wind kicked up. Leaves lifted from the ground in a funnel of confetti and her long, wild hair caught that first true gust of a cool autumn breeze, marking and celebrating the beginning of a new season.

*Boiled down here-when your setting is not just a background but a living entity in your story it enhances the journey of your characters.

-Give your setting a voice.

Okay, so lets be honest, the trees can’t talk. The wind doesn’t really whisper. A house might not really moan, per say. But when your setting becomes a character in your story, it does do these things. When you give your inanimate things a pulse, they become alive to the reader. That old house now carries a feeling beyond what you tell the reader it looks like. Maybe it’s tired. Neglected. Aching and battered from the harsh winter.

Maybe your characters feel the same way. 

Example: This is from book two coming out in 2016 called In His Grip. This clip is longer, and I trimmed some extra details since I'm quite lengthy today, but it doesn’t really need an intro…

With each step the weathered boards groaned the swan song of the weary, aging house. The aching sound beneath Finn’s feet resounded yet another failure as it shuddered through him.

There was so much to do. So much need. And Finn was certainly no hero.

The house served as a reminder of that.

The gutters were constantly spilling over from the clogging remnants of autumn leaves. A dusty black shutter had slipped loose during a storm and hung diagonally across an opaque window. Everything about the house seemed to sag—as if it were a vestibule for the forgotten.

            The screen door whined, the sound trailing away on the bitter wind as Finn rapped on the peeling red door. And when that door echoed a wail on its equally rusty, old hinges it revealed a compassionate Trisha Bolliver—looking as stressed and pained as the old, moaning house.

*Nutshell-Take liberties with your senses to give that place, not just a sound, but a voice. Make your place a person that interacts with your characters. Because while everything you say about your setting paints a picture, it can also tell its own version of the story.

This is your art, your story. The more life you give to that setting, the more alive the story will become. Make your reader fall down the rabbit hole and walk in your wonderland.

**We all have something to learn at each point in this journey. Simply having a teachable spirit can help you transform your stories from good to great. I am by no means an expert so it'd be so helpful to make this a collaborate effort. Any of you have tips you’d like to add on setting? Love to hear them!

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Amy Leigh Simpson writes romantic mysteries with honesty and humor, sweetness and spice, and gritty reality covered by grace. When she’s not stealing moments at naptime to squeeze out a few more adventures in storyland, she’s chasing around two tow-headed miscreants (Ahem)—boys, playing dress up with one sweet princess baby, and being the very blessed wife to the coolest, most swoon-worthy man alive. Amy is a Midwestern-girl, a singer, blogger, runner, coffee-addict, and foodie. Her Sports Medicine degree is wasted patching up daily boo boo’s, but whatever is left usually finds its way onto the page with fluttering hearts, blood and guts, and scars that lead to happily ever after.

Check out her debut romantic mystery novel WHEN FALL FADES available now for $3.99!

How Can We Swap Research to Help Each Other?

I visited a superb restaurant in May. It wasn't a four or five star in appearance, but the food certainly was worthy of the rating. 

The lightly enhanced fresh basil salad dressing still touches my memory. The delicately spiced-to-perfection tomato sauce on the fettuccinie, and the tiaramisu--airy, melt-in-your-mouth silkiness, had balanced flavors which were faultless on the palate and guaranteed to be savored long after the experience. This was fine dining.

Inside Ciao!, a beautiful free-standing stone fireplace was set in the center of the room. Long, dark beams stretched across a white ceiling. The lobby had elegant sofas and wing backed chairs with material matching the decor throughout the restaurant.

The manager, elegantly dressed, visited every table and spent a few minutes chatting with the guests. She pointed out to us that the chef grew today's herbs in the garden located in the side yard and made all the dishes from scratch. The bouquet of flavors delicately balanced in our meal proved her words. 

I'd like to introduce you to Ciao! An Italian restaurant located in Sylvania, Ohio.  

If I had a character who wanted to be a chef in an excellent restaurant, or if my characters happened to have an evening with fine dining, I would take them to Ciao!  


Today we will explore swapping research to help each other.

As writers, we spend a large amount of time researching. Sometimes, we don't have a clear picture of a business because we are depending on a picture from the Internet and the words of a great marketer.

Today we will help each other by swapping information about the perfect restaurant to take our characters for any occasion. 

The next excellent restaurant I'd like to introduce you to is Waffle House. Yep. You heard me right. Waffle House. In this case I am going to specifically refer to the Waffle Houses located south of the Ohio border. 

During vacations, my family huddles into one of the small booths, orders food then wait for the show. The waitress turns her head and shouts the most amazing words. Something about smothered and covered. Her accent is a thick southern style with words stretching her mouth as wide as possible. 

I had no idea what the waitress was referring to when I first visited a Waffle House. She called out the order loud enough to be heard over chattering guests and the cook's clanking pans. Somehow the cooks managed to whip up breakfast foods at superman speed, delivering the meal to the waitress seconds after she shouted the order. This truly was a cultural experienced. I loved it! We put the Waffle House on our must do list every time we drive south of Ohio. If you need a place to tickle your funny bone, Waffle House is the place.

The caption with this photo read: Take note criminals. Waffle Houses aren't "soft targets" as it is common knowledge that legal gun carriers enjoy coffee and breakfast food. Dan Cannon link to article 

If I had a character who lived in a small town, she might be a cook at a Waffle House. The sheriff would be a regular customer along with the mortician, school teacher, and the preacher. When a stranger drove into town everyone would stop and stare, leery of what the wind just blew in with the dust. Decidedly a trouble maker until proven otherwise.

I really love both of these restaurants and would gladly eat at either one again.

Ready to work together? After all, our characters need to eat! 

Rules:
1. You must have eaten at the restaurant you select.
2. The restaurant does not have to be one that serves the needs of your current characters. We are here to help each other. So talk about a restaurant you liked. It might fit the need of someone else's character.
3. You are only allowed to choose restaurants you liked.
4. Not allowed to criticize a restaurant someone else chooses.

Instructions:

1. Choose a geographical area: 
Northwest, United States     Southwest, United States    Midwest, United States     Northeast, Unites States      Southeast, United States     International
or other

2. Choose a level of dining:
formal                       expensive but a little less formal           middle class
fast food                   cafe                                                       lodge 
or other

3. Describe briefly the setting/atmosphere inside the restaurant.
4. Comment on the food/menu/prices
5. What type of character would eat there and how do they need to be dressed?
6. Name the restaurant. YES, we need to know the name of the restaurant and the location.

I can't wait to see what you share! This will be a great help to all of us. Take notes!!

BTW you can choose the same restaurant as another commenter. Each of us have different experiences. Please be sure to add more information if you do. The more we know, the better we can help our characters find the perfect place to eat.

So....where should our characters eat?

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This blog post is by Mary Vee

Mary has moved to Michigan with her husband, closer to her three college kids. She misses the mountains of Montana, but loves seeing family more often. She writes contemporary and romance Christian fiction, is honing marketing and writing skills, and loves to pen missionary and Bible adventure stories on her ministry blog, God Loves Kids.

Visit Mary at her website and her ministry blog to families: God Loves Kids. Or chat on Facebook or Twitter

The Telling Detail

Some authors have the uncanny ability to bring their novels to life using rich, telling details.

I'm not talking about using heaps of description. Let's face it, your reader is most likely to skim right over endless paragraphs of flowery, adjective-laden prose.

I'm talking about those small, concrete details that make a scene ring true to life. A character feel real. A setting come alive so you can practically touch, smell and taste it.

These details are often simple, but the most powerful examples never feel clichéd. The author finds a way to describe something ordinary in a way that feels fresh, yet also deeply familiar.

Image by papaija2008

Today I wanted to share with you some examples from authors I love. Notice the way a talented writer will focus in on one or two small, seemingly trivial details within the larger frame.

"She was a big rawboned plain person, tall and unlikely, with a ragged haircut and a white tee-shirt coming unstitched along the shoulder." - The Idea of Perfection, Kate Grenville

"The coffee was so strong it didn't change color when she poured the milk in. 'You look different,' she said. We sat down at her dining room table, gilded chairs with harp backs. She pulled out small mats with Dutch tulips for our cups." - White Oleander, Janet Fitch

"The guy's wearing a khaki uniform, maybe he's come up from the engine room. He kneels, sets up some kind of monitor, and positions two things with black cords coming out of them on Mr. Stone's battered chest. He has short, blunt fingers with black hairs on them." - The Last Girls, Lee Smith.

"It was 1948 and the countryside, now that I think back on it, was as peaceful and well-ordered as an illustration from a Dick-and-Jane book. Lone gasoline pumps, fields flowered over like bedspreads. Trees turning perfectly red and perfectly yellow. At the entrance to the fairgrounds, a billboard showed a lipsticked, finger-waved housewife holding up a jar of homemade preserves."

In each of these examples, notice that the choice of detail is quite precise and deliberate. What do you think the author is trying to say about the character or setting she is describing?

In these next examples, the authors engage our senses in unexpected ways.

"The horses were behind them, still harnessed but unhitched from the plough, cropping grass with a sound like tearing bed sheets. The tea came out of a thermos but was still hot enough to take the roof off your mouth." - The Other Side of the Bridge, Mary Lawson

"Her hair, the color of caramel straw, was very straight and tattered at the ends; she was chewing gum and a strong smell of Juicy Fruit was coming off her."- The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt

"There was the barbecue with the men around it poking at the cooking meat, and a big table in the shade under a tree, the food all covered with little domes of fly-wire, and a square of bright blue swimming-pool where children were jumping in, splashing up water that was like chips of glass in the sun." - The Idea of Perfection, Kate Grenville

Which of these examples says something to you as a reader? What feelings or associations or ideas do they conjure? 

Your turn. Would you share with us a sentence or two from your WIP where you've used a concrete detail to illuminate a character or setting?

Karen Schravemade lives in Australia, where she mothers by day and transforms into a fearless blogger by night. She's a Genesis finalist for women's fiction and is represented by Rachel Kent of Books & Such. Find her on Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and getting creative on her home-making blog, A house full of sunshine.

Writing Imagery

Now-a-days, readers want excellent writing, but it needs to be straightforward. This makes it all the more important to place your metaphors and similes in appropriate places throughout your novel. If you have one metaphor after a simile after another metaphor...then you will slow down the reader and your story will sag with the weight of a word picture frenzy in the reader's overloaded mind.

Using well-placed metaphors and similes can 1) Anchor the reader to the setting and have them  connect to your character's situation, and 2) Emphasize high emotional intensity, as implied by James Scott Bell in his book, Revision & Self Editing.

Just as a poem begs to be memorized, a metaphor or simile create a memorable experience for the reader, and etches your story into their mind. I can think back on certain books and remember their well-placed metaphors and similes out of the entire 90,000 words. These tools grip a reader's thoughts and leave a “book”print in their mind long after the book is closed and put away.

Here are some examples from books that have printed on my mind:

Anchoring to the setting:

"If Broadway was Manhattan's artery, Five Points was its abscess: swollen with people, infected with pestilence, inflamed with vice and crime. Groggeries, brothels, and dance halls put private sin on public display. Although the neighborhood seemed fairly self-contained, more fortunate New Yorkers were terrified of Five Points erupting, spreading its contagion to the rest of them.” Wedded to War, Jocelyn Green.

Jocelyn uses the metaphor of the condition of the human body to not only emphasize the point of view of her heroine, an aspiring nurse, but she also gives such a vivid understanding of the setting that a reader could hardly dismiss this and move on without allowing the imagery to paint itself in their mind.

“Through the makeshift curtain that gave her some semblance of privacy, she could make out Captain Click's sturdy shadow like a locked gate barring harm's way.” Courting Morrow Little, Laura Frantz

This book is set in a time of unease and discord between the settlers and the Native Americans. This metaphor of Captain Click being a locked gate is appropriate to the point-of-view of the heroine who is a young woman traveling into hostile territory. This anchors the reader to the setting not only through the heroine's perspective, but gives the overall emotional climate of the setting—one of possible danger at every turn.

Emotional Intensity:

“The man who stared back was not a man he knew. The careful control bred into him since birth was gone. In its place he saw a fire-breathing dragon capable of murder.” The Duchess and The Dragon, Jamie Carie

The image of a fire-breathing dragon is placed at a time when the hero's emotions are high and his actions have culminated to a dreaded circumstance. Jamie Carie imbeds this metaphor in such a way that it maintains the momentum of the story but shows intensity of the hero's emotion.

“In the domestic cloud of dust and family, I too can forget the One who sees me, but in eucharisteo, I remember, I cup hands and all the world is water.

The well, it is still there.

There is always a well—All is well.

I choke out my son's name. His skin is transparent...glass. And he stares long, brims...quavers...falls. And I cradle him, the Boy-Man, flood over shoulders.” One Thousand Gifts, Ann Voskamp.

Ann's moment with her son is filled with word pictures that emphasize the build to an emotional outpour. This book takes the use of metaphor to such a deep level, my heart stirs at every turn of the page.

Metaphors and similes can also unveil a writer's voice. Ann Voskamp does this amazingly well, not only in the example above, but consistently throughout the book. Depending on a writer's voice, these descriptive tools can be well-placed mirrors to the under-lying tone of the story.

Do you have examples of well-placed metaphors and similes in some of your favorite books? How about in your own? Please share!


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Angie Dicken first began writing fiction as a creative outlet during the monotonous days of diapers and temper tantrums. She is passionate to impress God's love on women regardless of their background or belief. This desire serves as a catalyst for Angie's fiction, which weaves salvation and grace themes across cultures. She is an ACFW member and is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency.

 

Writing A Setting Of Where You've Never Been

Writers are a tricky brood of people. You see, writers often must weave a tale set in a place (or a time period) that they have never been. How do you do that? Sure you can make it up and hope that it comes close to the real thing, but more often than not, you will get someone shooting you an email telling you that you are way off the mark in your setting. They used to LIVE in the place you are writing about and it never had the types of trees or flowers you wrote about.

What if I were to write a story set in Scotland, yet I've never been there? Let's say I've heard the song that goes..."You take the high road and I'll take the low road..." so I think there must be some mountains in Scotland. I've heard about the craggy cliffs there. Sure! So I begin to write the setting picturing this:

photo by CNaene
freedigitalphotos.net

Yes! It must look like Colorado. Mountains, right? Well, not really. Scotland looks more like this:

photo by James Barker
freedigitalphotos.net

Yep...a bit different, wouldn't you say?

So how does one go about writing a setting in a place you have never been before? Here's some ideas:

• If you have the money, take a vacation there! If you were published, you could write it off as a tax deduction. Maybe you can write it off even if you aren't published yet. Hmmm, possibly Krista Phillips would know the answer to this, being our only published author right now! 
• Check out or rent movies set in the area you are writing about. I wrote a medieval set close to the Scotland border so I watched movies like Made to Honor, Braveheart, Brigadoon, etc. Even though I wasn't physically there, I took note of things particular to that country. (Foliage, roads, rain, sun, etc..)
• Check out documentary type or travel type DVDs at the library. You can get a lot of great information from those.
• Check out books from the library about the country/area you are writing about. Yes, it takes longer to research, but who knows...you might stumble upon an old legend or great landmark that you didn't know about before!
• Talk to someone who has been there or lived there. Maybe they have photographs of their trip that they would share with you.
• The internet is a great place to find pictures of places. All you have to do is google the country/area and then search within google images to find pictures of what you need. (FYI...just don't copy them to use in any of your blogging...I learned the hard way!!!)

Those are just a few ways to learn more about the place you are writing about. You want it to be realistic. You want to transport your reader into the scene with the perfect setting. So do your research and make it REAL!

What other suggestions do you have for creating a real and tangible setting when you've never been there before?

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This post is brought to you by

 Sherrinda Ketchersid

Sherrinda is a minister's wife and mother to three giant sons and one gorgeous daughter. A born and bred Texan, she writes historical romance filled with fun, faith, and forever love.

Setting Up Your Story – Your 3 Point Terrain

The Writer Alley is gearing up to chat about ‘Setting’ for the next two weeks and you guys are in store for a lot of great information. So since you’re going to hear about various different settings within the next several posts, I’m going to chat about ‘setting’ as an overview in your story.

My 15 year old defined setting like this: You have to know the terrain to plan the battle

I LOVE that – because it’s true! The palate of setting influences the rules, decisions, expectations, beliefs, and plot to paint the picture of your story. If you don’t know your setting, it’s difficult to plan your writing strategy.

So…er….what is ‘setting’? Well, briefly, here are three points.

1.       Provides a sense of space and time (the bottom-line basics)

2.       Provides cultural rules and expectations (the flexible frame)

3.       Provides character (the influential core)

A sense of space and time

This first point is about the ‘bottom-line basics’ of setting. It’s the answer to the question Where and When does your story take place?  Simply put, this usually sums up our ‘genre’ titles like: Historical, Contemporary, Speculative, Fantasy, Western…etc

In my YA fantasy novel, The Book of Beginnings, I’ve developed an imaginary world. This is the most extreme way to manipulate setting. Much like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, the author creates a ‘story world’ which is different than our own. Nonhuman beings, a brand new space-time continuum, machines or animals unfamiliar to us.

But that’s not all. Even if the setting is in our own world, it guides our choices of vocabulary, dress, references, occupations, and even transportation.  Sleepless in Seattle is a contemporary setting. Gone with the Wind is a historical setting. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is mostly a fantasy setting. Our brains develop a certain ‘picture’ of setting when we use these words and it’s from this starting point where we move off to the other setting-points.

Cultural rules and expectations

The place, time, era, and culture in which your character lives (and was raised) is a highly influential part of the setting. To know how this influences your story, you might answer the question So what makes this setting different to your characters' lives? How does it 'frame' their worldviews?

My historical novel, The Thornbearer, is set during The Great War. AlleyCat Amy Simpson’s novels are contemporary romantic suspense. The cultural expectations of my heroine are extremely different than the cultural expectations of hers. Does this influence the story? You bet!! My heroine’s ‘secret’ is a BIG deal in 1916 – a social and moral debauchery. In the contemporary world, it’s still a big deal, but it doesn’t darken other people’s opinion of the main character like it does in Edwardian England.

Character

My favorite point of setting and the most influential!

This is where the setting takes on a life of its own. In my Contemporary Romantic Comedy, the Blue Ridge Mountains becomes a pulse in the workings, emotions, and relationship opportunities for my characters. The weather and terrain influence the character’s lives, choices, and even the way the talk :-)

Some authors use one piece of setting to hold special meaning. I think Nicolas Spark does this a lot. For example, the church in which a heroine’s mom and dad were married holds special significance for her and provides ‘answers’ in her hard times. Therefore, there might be several scenes when she is particularly ‘broken’ in which she MUST visit that particular church to feel her parents near her, even though they are dead.

In my historical, the Lusitania provides a setting which is as alive as the sea on which it floats – thrusting my characters into fighting against it to survive.  World War 1 also provides this opportunity, shaping the attitude of individuals, decision which wouldn’t otherwise have to be made, and moving the story forward with the sheer force of its presence.

So – have you ever thought about setting in this way? How does setting work in your stories?

Making Your Settings Come to Life

I love reading about interesting settings and writing about interesting settings. Give me a fresh and unique setting, and I'm already halfway in love with the book. Give me a historical setting that draws me in, and I'm in love again. Give me something dark and creepy that makes me want to curl up next to the fire, and I'm ready for the suspense. I love settings!

Whether you love writing settings or not, they're often an integral part of your story. Even if they're in the background, employing certain steps and a little extra attention can give your settings a realistic quality and make them come to life for a reader.

Photo by Donald Lee Pardue

Historical sites and landmarks

You can use this tip whether your setting is fictional or real. Try adding certain landmarks or historical sites readers could relate to throughout the story. If it's a big city, try mentioning a specific bridge or building people would know about. For small towns, you can mention a larger city nearby to give a reader context, or mention a lake or river or something historical that happened nearby.

Weather

Again, fictional or real, this brings a story to life. Mentioning the weather in some scenes, and being accurate about the kinds of weather (snow, dry, humidity, etc.) will help readers feel more like your setting is real.

Street/Store names

Using real or made up names of streets or stores or lakes or rivers drops your reader right there in the setting. What's more real than a very specific place?


Give the place a tone

Help your readers understand the feel of the setting. Does it have a small-town atmosphere, or a laid-back atmosphere? Adding in certain elements, like the architecture of the buildings or the types of people walking around and what they're wearing or doing (like waving hello or just walking on by with the rest of a large crowd) will show the reader the kind of place you're writing about.

Photo by rkramer62

Don't forget the details!

Sometimes it only takes small things to help your reader feel like they're there in the story. Mention window boxes with a specific flower in house windows, or that flag in front of the library. Talk about that gazebo in the middle of the lake or the cobblestone streets your character is walking on. Something tangible and relatable for the reader.

Are you a fan of writing settings? What do you do to make your setting come alive?

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Cindy is a Colorado native, living near the mountains with her husband and three beautiful daughters. She writes contemporary Christian romance, seeking to enrich lives with her stories of faith, love, and a touch of humor.

To learn more about Cindy, visit her at her personal blog, www.cindyrwilson.blogspot.com