The White Hare's Lament by Bryn Colvin

Why you chose that particular setting?

Some of it because it’s the landscape that goes with the history (no spoilers! The setting is in some ways a surprise). Then my research introduced me to a hospital in Devon (I’d been aiming for a south west location). Seale Hayne has the most amazing history and really leant itself to my story.

What does the setting add to the story?

There are a number of settings – lots of wild landscape where the rules of normal civilization don’t apply. Battlefields also feature, and then in contrast to this, the security of life in a small English village.

Could you write the same story in a different setting?

No. Absolutely not. The story grew out of the setting to quite a significant degree.

Why or why couldn't you use a different setting?

Partly because of the very real history underpinning the story, partly because of the connection with folklore from the south west of England.

Did you use a real place as a basis for your setting?

Yes – quite a few places in Europe, Seale Hayne, assorted towns and villages in the UK, Caedr Idris in Wales, and a few imagined places as well.

Tell us some specific details about your setting. What would we see?

Rolling countryside, some of it green and fertile, some of it blackened and cratered from the ravages of war. A Georgian building, imposing and dramatic. Moorland, the gently rolling English countryside and the wilder places of the imagination. There are a lot of physical journeys undertaken in this novel, so there’s a lot of scenery.

What sort of people are there?

Most of the people are ordinary folk, living through a specific period. Some are soldiers, some formers, others work in the medical profession. Many of them are isolated by the events unfolding around them, and loneliness is a recurring theme. Some of the characters are historical figures.

If we were travelling to your setting, what should we bring with us?

It depends on which bit of the story you fall into, but good boots are essential, and there are times when a helmet may save your life. Cigarettes and alcohol are always welcome gifts, as are decent pairs of socks, cake, soap and other little luxuries.

For visitors, what do they need to know to visit your setting?

Again, as settings vary there’s no one answer to this. However, what you see at anytime might not be real. Landscape and memory blur into each other, and you cannot afford to assume that anything is quite as it seems.

Thank you for sharing details about your book setting. Now, what's the title of your book and where can we buy it?

The White Hare’s Lament

http://www.loveyoudivine.com/index.php?main_page=document_product_info&cPath=26&products_id=349&zenid=853cfe4236a8e41e78d726ad01b7c5f7

Terry L White Shares the Setting for her Chesapeake Harvest Series

COME TO CHESAPEAKE COUNTRY

Why did you pick the setting you used in your story?

Chesapeake country was the inspiration for my Chesapeake Heritage series. When I moved to the Eastern Shore of Maryland it was like entering a different world. I was used to the mountains and forests of the Adirondack – a place where gardens were planted between the stones and winter lingered for seven months of the year. I fell in love with the tidewater marshes the first time I saw them when I noticed small ancient houses gradually melting into the soggy ground. The forests were different and the land was different – just as wild as the North Country, but presenting different problems. I felt the wildness of the vista, but it seemed bleak and empty compared to the mountains I was used to.

The thought of survival in such habitat seemed impossible, and it was not until I was assigned stories that took me deep into the marsh country that I came to know individuals who were descended from the local Native Americans and the colonists who wrested settlements out of the inhospitable landscapes. I could not imagine finding enough food for a family to survive even the bitter (but brief) winters, and so I found materials for my Chesapeake Heritage series built around the stories of the women in a family who loved, endured and embraced Chesapeake Country.

Why you chose that particular setting?

I had an ancestor who was an indentured servant like Mary Charles in Chesapeake Harvest. I could not think of a more inhospitable landscape for the background of a story about a woman who had to choose between coming to the New World and finding herself in a place where survival was in no way guaranteed.

What does the setting add to the story?

Any effort to colonize a new world has its own difficulties. The Tidewater area offers rich resources, if one can endure the loneliness and sicknesses attendant on life on the verge of the steaming marshes that border arable land. Chesapeake Harvest tells the story of Mary Charles, who endures despite the dangers of being a stranger in a strange land.

Could you write the same story in a different setting?

I could write a similar story, and have. My novel Mystick Moon is placed in Mistic Conn., a place that was built with the same sort of frontier living that captures my imagination.

Why or why couldn't you use a different setting?

I could use a different setting and the problems would be similar, as long as it was a story of survival in a frontier life. Breaking farms and holding one’s babies as they died of fever are not new themes. I didn’t want to re-hash the Capt. John Smith story which had a very sad ending, but the tidewater environment is a big part of the Chesapeake Heritage stories.

Did you use a real place as a basis for your setting?

I have placed my story generally on the place known as the Eastern Shore, a peninsula composed of parts of Maryland, Delaware and Virginia. I have not, however situated it in any particular place on a modern map, but rather ‘between’ those places that survived colonization and are present on today.

Or, did you create the setting from scratch?

The landscape of Chesapeake Harvest and the Chesapeake Heritage series was not created from scratch. I did however, go to a place called Elliott’s Island, which is featured in the second book in the series, Chesapeake Legacy. If you don’t have a boat, you must travel through 19 miles of farm fields, forests and marsh to the island. Elliott’s Island has the feel of eternity if you travel there and meet fishermen who have plied their boats on Fishing Bay for thousands of years. The island is so far from today’s techno-world it seems a place out of time. All you have to do is go there and walk down to the shore to feel what our ancestors felt when they first arrived with the intent of colonizing the area.

Is there anything else about your setting that we need to know? Feel free to share.

The Chesapeake Heritage series take place in a hard to imagine world. You have to come to Tidewater country, view its endless marshes and walk its shores to realize how very difficult life might have been when John Smith arrived to found the first colony for the Crown.

Please provide your website link. www.terrylwhite.com

What is the link to buy your book? www.amazon.com, or from me at terrylwhite@verizon.net.

Tell us some specific details about your setting. What would we see? What sort of people are there?

The people who live on the Eastern Shore of Maryland are the sort of people Hank Williams Jr. sang about when he said, "Country folks will survive." The people here are a gumbo of Native American, English, and French settlers with a sprinkling of the Irish and other ethnic varieties. Descendants of slaves still speak of picking cotton and working as migrants in the wide farmland acres. There are farmers with thousands of acres under the plow and watermen whose wives pick the meat from their crab harvest . The Eastern Shore has become a Mecca for retirees from across the Bay who find living costs down and volunteer opportunities rich and varies. Summer finds the residents enjoying sailing and enjoying the many weekend festivals the area affords.

If we were traveling to your setting, what should we bring with us? For visitors, what do they need to know to visit your setting?

The Eastern Shore of Maryland is tidewater country, composed largely of wetlands with areas of rich, arable land that is now the source of grain for the poultry and ethanol industries. Originally, this land was seeded with tobacco, which paid the colonists’ taxes to the English Crown.

When it rains, you get your feet wet. Summers are long and sultry, with lingering high humidity and long, sweltering nights. The farmlands are fertile and the fishery is rich, providing crabs, oysters, clams and fish for the Baltimore, Annapolis and Washington, DC markets. Situated on what is known as the Atlantic Flyway, late autumn finds the skies alive with migrating ducks and geese – some of which stay the winter to graze on standing grain crops planted by the rangers at Blackwater Wildlife Refuge. Winters are brief and damp. Houses are built on pilings and foundations are plagued by termites and water damage even in town.

If you come to the Eastern Shore, bring your patience. You pretty much have to drive to get here, although there are a few small airports that serve the area. Expect a quiet way of life where the people are friendly and kind to strangers. If I could advise you to do one thing when you come to the Eastern Shore it is to be open and curious. The people here love to share their world and are proud of their rich history that includes a kaleidoscope of characters such as the murderess Patty Cannon, Frederick Doughlass, Anna Ella Carroll and Harriet Tubman.

Thank you for sharing details about your book setting. Now, what's the title of your book and where can we buy it?

Chesapeake Harvest and Chesapeake Legacy are available both as ebooks and in print. They can be found at Amazon.com, Kindle, All Romance Ebooks, Fictionwise, Mobipocket and more. Chesapeake Destiny is set for spring release as an ebook and Chesapeake Heritage will be released sometime in the fall of 2009 and will be available at the ebook sites or from my publisher at www.writewordsinc.com

Bleach|Blackout – It’s All In The Setting

The setting for Bleach is a house party, the last 60 seconds of New Year’s Eve, in the Midwest. Jeremy (narrator) is in the bathroom where a girl lay dying. The area is decorated with drugs and sex. The countdown to the New Year forms a point of escalation for the scene as well as a stopping point, allowing the narrator (Jeremy) to go back eight days and explain how he has ended up in this place.

For Bleach, the initial setting is used to both set up the story and because it is a very “in the moment” scene to start a story. The smell of smoke and danger permeates a room full of disoriented guests and someone is knocking at the door.

Sandwiched in between the start and finish you will often find a corporate backdrop used as the setting to establish relationships and tell the story of Jeremy’s adventure back home for the holidays.

The end of Bleach circles back to where the book starts, the evening of debauchery where all the men are dressed as prostitutes, all the women look like pimps and decadence and debauchery dictate the rules. Everything seems to be spiraling out of control, and Jeremy realizes there are no guarantees for him or anyone else.

Blackout picks up two years after Bleach in Las Vegas where Stoner and friends are celebrating his bachelor party complete with strippers and crack cocaine. The ride home is blurry and the next morning in Los Angeles brings a surprise when Stoner’s friends, Chip and Jeremy, wake to find police officers and a dead body they are allegedly responsible for, but neither can recall. The move to the West Coast setting allowed me as the writer to show some type of evolution with my characters as well as play the Hollywood angle, a secondary theme running through Bleach.

The settings in both Bleach|Blackout put the characters in a place for them to interact and act on impulse, allowing the reader to not only paint their own picture of the characters, but also spare them a boring back story chapter. While writing both Bleach and Blackout I never thought about any different setting. Bleach had to begin and end with the party of the ages while Blackout had to move, allowing me as the writer more freedom (and liberties) to develop my cast of fictional friends.

Please provide your website link: http://www.davidsgrant.com

What is the link to buy your book? http://www.offensemechanisms.com/bookstore.html

Thank you for sharing details about your book setting. Now, what's the title of your book and where can we buy it? Bleach|Blackout is available online and select bookstores. To purchase go to: http://www.offensemechanisms.com/bookstore.html

Thank you for having me. -David

Kindred Spirits by Marilyn Meredith

Why did you pick the setting you used in your story? I'm not looking for -- "because I live there". I want you to dig deep and tell us...

There are three important settings in this mystery. First, Bear Creek, where Tempe Crabtree is the resident deputy. Yes, it is loosely based on where I live--but I've changed it some--including moving it 1,000 feet higher into the mountains. It's a small community town, almost a village, which is fairly close to the Bear Creek Indian reservation.

The second setting is Crescent City where Tempe goes to learn more about a murder victim and possibly the murderer.

The third setting is Santa Barbara where Tempe finally confronts the murderer--and nearly loses her life.

Why did you choose that particular setting?

This is book eight in the series and Tempe has always been the resident deputy of Bear Creek. I like the small town nuances and uniqueness of the mountain setting and the problems that arise, such as forest fires.

Four years ago I went to Crescent City to teach a workshop at a writers conference. While there I met a most interesting Tolowa woman and learned a lot about the Tolowa people, their history and some of their legends and knew that one day I wanted to put all of this in a book. Crescent City is a beautiful place on the Pacific Ocean and bordering on Oregon.

It was logical for Tempe to go onto Santa Barbara in pursuit of the murderer.

What does the setting add to the story?

I think all three settings add a lot to the story itself. I'm a firm believer that settings are as important as character in the telling of a story. I've often given workshops about setting.

Could you write the same story in a different setting?

I could, but it wouldn't be the same story since the settings definitely influence what happens in all three cases.

Why or why couldn't you use a different setting?

The story begins with a forest fire so the place has to be where there are forest fires.

The Tolowa Indians are important to the story in the Crescent City setting and that's where the majority of the Tolowa people live.

As Tempe follows the trail left by the killer, she ends up in Santa Barbara. I know Santa Barbara and the place fit what I wanted to happen.

Did you use a real place as a basis for your setting?

I usually use a real setting or base it on a real setting. For me, this helps me see the places in my mind as the story unfolds.

Or, did you create the setting from scratch?

In all the 20 plus books I've written, I've never totally created a setting from scratch. I've never felt the need to do so, though I've certainly moved things around in Bear Creek to suit what I was writing.

Is there anything else about your setting that we need to know? Feel free to share.

I love Crescent City. It's right on a rather rugged and rocky coast that has been the scene of many a shipwreck. In places, giant redwoods grow right down to the sea. It is one of the places where Big Foot has been sighted. The first people who lived and thrived in this wonderful place were the Tolowa people--until they were nearly wiped out by the newcomers who settled in the area. Not many people realize that the California Indians were nearly eliminated either by illness or at the hands of their neighbors. Though this is not what Kindred Spirits is about, it is a part of the characters in the book.

Please provide your website link.

http://fictionforyou.com

What is the link to buy your book?
http://mundaniapress.com/books-kindredspirits.html

Tell us some specific details about your setting. What would we see? What sort of people are there? If we were traveling to your setting, what should we bring with us? For visitors, what do they need to know to visit your setting?

Before arriving in Bear Creek you could make a side-trip to the Indian casino, or head up higher to visit the old growth Sequoias.

In Crescent City, on your way up you could drive through the trail of giant redwoods and perhaps catch a glimpse of Big Foot. When you arrive, there are all sorts of wonderful sea food restaurants with ocean views. It can be chilly in Crescent City because of the fog so bring a sweater.

In both places, you'll likely see many retirees. In Bear Creek, you might run into a Native American as well and the same for Crescent City though there are other ethnic people represented.

In Santa Barbara you'll see lots of tourists along with the many who live there all the time. Besides the ocean vistas, be sure to visit the Santa Barbara Mission.

Thank you for sharing details about your book setting. Now, what's the title of your book and where can we buy it?

Kindred Spirits is the title. If you'd like to purchase it from the publisher, go here:
http://mundaniapress.com/books-kindredspirits.html but it is also available from all the online bookstores and can be ordered from any bookstore. It is also available as an e-book.

Thank you for hosting me and allowing me to tell you a bit about the settings for Kindred Spirits.

Marilyn Meredith

Estraguil - Setting for The Girl Who Fell

Why you chose that particular setting?

This is my fourth book in the Estraguil setting. Having put a lot of work into creating a fantasy place, I just love playing with it and keep going back there. It has so much history to explore, and lends itself to all kinds of different stories.

What does the setting add to the story?

It’s a mysterious place, full of magic and possibility. Myths are very important in Estraguil, story and landscape, heritage and culture are all interwoven. The setting has a distinct personality of its own, with intentions of its own and lends itself to drama and adventure.

Could you write the same story in a different setting?

No.

Why or why couldn't you use a different setting?

I don’t like rabbit out of hat solutions. ‘The Girl Who Fell’ is rooted in the nature and logic of estraguil, with some of the quirks of the setting being essential to the plot.

Did you use a real place as a basis for your setting?

There’s a considerable influence of the Forest of Dean in Estraguil – narrow river valleys, woods, caves, hills etc. The name itself – Estraguil – was an old name for Chepstow Castle, which is in the Forest of Dean. Said castle provided the inspiration for a tower in the story, and for the whole concept of Estraguil.

Tell us some specific details about your setting. What would we see?

It’s a wild and beautiful place, with massive ancient trees, boulders, caves, rivers and waterfalls. There is a lot of unique indigenous wildlife – much of it dangerous. You get small pockets of civilisation around the trefs, but once you get away from those, the forest is untamed, full of wonders, hazards and adventures.

What sort of people are there?

There are a number of kith groups who inhabit the forests – some nomadic, some stationary. Most of these groups have their own areas, some do not. While basically humanoid, the inhabitants of Estraguil tend to be strange – furred, feathered, shape shifting, with tails, or hooves, claws, forked tongues, or other striking quirks.

If we were travelling to your setting, what should we bring with us?

Stout boots, a sturdy pack, something for warmth, water skins, something to hunt with. Bring no more than you can carry on your shoulders because there are no beasts of burden here, and technology is minimal. Make sure you have stories or songs, because these can be traded almost anywhere.

For visitors, what do they need to know to visit your setting?

Estraguil is dangerous, with a lot of rules of its own. Travel cautiously, treat those you find with respect – if you offer no violence you might not receive any.

Thank you for sharing details about your book setting. Now, what's the title of your book and where can we buy it?

The Girl Who Fell

http://www.whiskeycreekpress.com/chapters/TheGirlWhoFell_BrynnethColvin.shtml

Medieval Italy in Bloodstone Castle by Mirella Patzer

Today we'll travel to medieval Italy through the pages of Bloodstone Castle by Mirella Patzer. We've talked about many elements of her book this month during her virtual tour, but setting is one of my absolute favorite parts of a book. I'm not talking about adding an inn because the character is hungry and needs a place to sleep. I'm talking about a setting that is accurate, real and actually feels like a part of the story. That's what you find in Bloodstone Castle.

The banner to the side is not the final banner that we're using to promote Mirella's tour, but I had to include it here because it shows a picture of the castle which is an important part of the setting.

Why did you pick the setting you used in your story? I'm not looking for -- "because I live there". I want you to dig deep and tell us...

I was born in Canada to Italian immigrants. All my life, I have felt the pull of Italy. I yearn to live there, but strong family ties bind me. Writing about Italy is the next best thing to living there because it allows me to research, to learn, and to experience Italy through the eyes of my characters.

Why you chose that particular setting?

I wanted to write an Italian historical romance and I wanted the heroine to live in a castle. So I Googled Italian Castles and discovered this picture of a castle in the Cinque Terre region of Italy, specifically in the town of Portovenere. This was my inspiration and I created the entire plot and story of Bloodstone Castle around it.

The sea has always fascinated me. The castle at Portovenere is surrounded on three sides by the Ligurian Sea. The entire Cinque Terre region is isolated yet one of the most beautiful regions in Italy. Because the castle is easily accessible by sea, I decided to make it an ancient Roman stronghold. This then led to the idea of secreting an ancient Roman treasure beneath it.

What does the setting add to the story?

The setting allowed me to visualize the castle and territory. The characters all live within a one or two day journey from each other. This made it easy for them to interact and they could travel from one place to another without slowing the pace.

Could you write the same story in a different setting?

This is a difficult question because I built a story around the picture of this castle. But I suppose I could use a different setting, although the names and titles of some of the characters would have to change.

Why or why couldn't you use a different setting?

In this particular case, I don’t think the story would have the same affect in a different location. I wanted the castle to be accessible by land and sea and I wanted it to be a stronghold of the ancient Romans. I also wanted it to be somewhat isolated. I think it would be difficult to find another castle with these exact specifications that are intricate to the plot.

Did you use a real place as a basis for your setting?

Yes and no. The towns of Savona and Genoa are real, but the castles there are pure fiction.

Is there anything else about your setting that we need to know? Feel free to share.

Although the castle is real, the caverns beneath it are purely fabricated from my imagination.

Please provide your website link.

http://www.mirellapatzer.com

What is the link to buy your book?

You can purchase my book at any of my blogs or sites at:

http://www.mirellapatzer.com

http://bloodstonecastle.blogspot.com

http://bestofitaly.blogspot.com

http://mirellapatzer.blogspot.com

Or at Amazon at:

http://www.amazon.com/Bloodstone-Castle-Mirella-Patzer/dp/0978486528/

You are encouraged to stop at each blog visit and post a comment for Mirella. Each comment enters you in a drawing for a free print copy of the book at the end of the tour. So, visit Mirella, learn more about Bloodstone Castle and post comments. Mirella looks forward to getting to know her readers.