Which is a way of saying your lovely hostess (me!) will most likely be gone today. I will be in Hawaii, along with fellow RR writer Kilt Kilpatrick. I am going to try and stop in, but have no idea what computer and 'net access will be. So I leave the snack/drink bar open to all of you to come in and graze as you please! Isabel, I know you know where the G&T fixings are and likewise Margery for your beloved vodka martinis!
The topic of today's post (since I haven't received another post from any of my lovely RR authors ... ahem! Posts! I needs posts!) is, in honor of my trip, exotic settings for books and stories. As in: do you prefer your fiction set in a familiar place where you can describe finding places/streets/restaurants with the certainty any local reader will know you know your stuff? Do you like to pick a place you've traveled and count on your first hand knowledge, plus some handy research to keep you 'honest' when it comes to descriptions?
Or do you like to go for broke and either pick a country/city/??? you've only read about or even make up a world out of whole cloth?
Readers, how about you? Do you prefer the comfort of reading about your neck of the woods or would you rather be transported to far off climes?
Chime in, everyone!
16 comments:
I hope you're enjoying the lovely Hawaii beaches! I will get another blog to you soon, Dana--I promise!
One reason I prefer to write science fiction is because it leave me open to creating my own settings. World-building is a passion of mine--and it takes away the need to research a particular area.
Even my stories that take place in this "world" often take place in or near my own fictional town of "Southern County, California." Southern County is somewhere in the Sonoma/Napa area (Northern California), which I am very familiar with, but as for the specific details of the town, those exist solely in my head. ;-)
Heya, Dana -- enjoy the sun and sand and the kilty boy ;-) I will mix myself a martini and muse about your topic.
I love London -- which is why it figured so prominently in CHASTITY FLAME, as well as several other stories; but I also have set many stories in the ancient or medieval past. In my short story collection, Unikirja, some of the stories were set in the modern world, while others were in the mythic past -- which I had a lot more freedom to create.
I think there are interesting reasons to use both real and completely invented worlds, but the skills of world building matter to each. I was just talking to another writer about Iceland, because she's got a novel unfolding there and wants to get a sense of authenticity. She's visited there, but there are all kinds of things you can't get from a short visit.
Distance in time is a challenge, too. It's one thing to set a story in the mythic past, and another to set it in Jazz age London, as I did recently. You don't want to jerk people out of the story by having your readers question the veracity of the setting.
I'm going to drink up and go to bed, just in case it doesn't snow enough for me to start spring break early. As long as it stops by Thursday, because I will be on a plane back to London that night [she says giving a severe look at the snow clouds].
Okay, so I started out replying as CMK and then wandered to my real identity and then back again. No wonder I'm confused. Must have been all the blogging at Lana's today (cough -- self promotion -- cough).
Oh and hey -- what better excuse to travel than for "research"?! I'm surely going to set a story in Rome after visiting this summer, right?
I hope your having a wonderful time in Hawaii!
As far as from this readers point of view on setting, I like a bit of everything. With as much as I read it would get very boring reading about the same things over and over so I like a bit of everything.
I read a lot of fantasy and SF and a lot of US authors so am perfectly happy with any setting. That said, I do love those rare occasions when somewhere I know appears. Silver visited Newcastle and there were bits of the city i know well that appeared in that book.
I've got not so much a "snow day" as a "snow morning" -- so, whoo if not whoo hoo. Must give my snowbound students an assignment, though I feel as if I should be using all this snow as some kind of useful fodder for description.
How to describe snow in all its whiteness?
Hawaii! How lovely. Enjoy yourself & Kilt, Dana. *G*
I like writing (and reading) stories set in unusual times/places/worlds. They're new, fun, and I always learn something interesting. But then I also like the 'traditional' settings such as a contemporary or Regency England if it's something different.
Iceland, CMK? How cool! I went on a 3 day vacation there once, fastest, best vacation I've ever took.
I spent a summer there -- got to visit saga locations, go to Blue Lagoon and the south where all the films are made, and walk on a glacier. Unique land of artists: everybody is a writer, painter, or musician (or all of the above). And their history is living: they quote from the sagas and tell you who's part of their ancestry. Fascinating!
Hi, ladies! And Jack, when he stops by. :-)
I love writing about places I know (like La Jolla and San Francisco) and using existing locations or changing the name and making it my slightly altered version of an existing place. but i also love creating out of whole cloth...
Hawaii sure inspires one for a location!!I am having a marvelous time... and such a relief to let the stress melt away...
It's lovely to see you all here!
we are off for a driving tour of the island today...
Ooooh -- sounds like a fun-filled day! Enjoy.
I really enjoy alternate realities: history especially. Situations such as LEST DARKNESS FALL, by L. Sprague DeCamp and Fletcher Pratt: a college professor, thrown back into the late Roman Empire, tries to prevent the fall of civilization.
Or Harry Harrison's TUNNEL THROUGH THE DEEPS, set in a world where the American Revolution failed. In this case, a descendent of the despised George Washington heads a project to build a transatlantic tunnel (similar to the "Chunnel" under the English Channel).
Dana, I trust you are enjoying yourself to the fullest. Looking forward to your report when you return. ;-)
Hey, Jack! Good to see you here. It's always fun to have you along.
I'm curious -- do you like exploring those alternative places or is it because you like the "what if" factor of coping with alt realities? I ask because I'm finishing up final edits on a alt reality novel that's set now but several things didn't happen (and of course, other things did).
Just idly curious. I'm about ready for a G-n-T because I'm on spring break. I know that's Isabel's drink but she won't mind!
I'll admit that exploring an era which "never was" has it's own attractions. I was fascinated by the situation in LDF, for example. Professor attempts to launch a "newspaper" for dispensing information. But his printers decide to "spice things up" by reporting the sexual derelictions of the local bishop. This brings about the wrath of said prelate plus the interference of the local inquisition, and the would be C. L. Sulzberger has to scramble to palcate the offended authorities (to say nothing of educating his staff on their "true "business).
Then he has to turn diplomat to smoothe the feathers of King Thiudahad and (later) Queen Malaswentha. And he has to keep dodging the sword and temper of an angry General Belisarius. (It's enough to make a year in academia seem like a walk in the park.)
The "what if--" factor is also a big draw for me. You must let us know how your alterverse is coming along. I guarantee we'll be there to devour it. LOL.
Wow, that sounds like a really intriguing plot line! I can see what you mean. I like how it's a balance of modern and old problems!
Most of the problems we have to deal with are the same our ancestors had to fiddle with as well. It could be very depressing if we didn't have authors whose sense of humor can make us laugh at our own silliness.
Maybe you could assign your students to use snow as a metaphor on the utter indifference of the universe to human schemes in general: something along the lines of Melville's chapter, "The Whiteness Of The Whale" in which Moby Dick subs for the alien malignness of an indifferent God. (I wonder how many would catch on to what you wanted?)
Or you could just assign a paper on the Fimbulwinter. Sadistic aren't I?...;-)
At the moment I'm concentrating on the weather being my friend and the snow calming down (well, it is at the moment, but tomorrow night is more important).
Yes, the problems we face, for all the new technologies and twists, do tend to stay the same: how do we get what we want, how do we avoid harm, how do we relate to other people, how do we choose among unappealing choices.
Post a Comment