Bilbo has his Bag’s End. Harry has his Hogwarts. Dorothy has her Oz. It’s hard to resist an amazing fictional setting isn’t it? Or is it? Personally, I’m a sucker for an unusual setting. Remote base in the Antarctic? I’m there. Canadian wilderness? You bet. Hollywood? The weirdest setting of them all, no doubt. Some readers could care less about an exotic setting. A juicy plot, some multi dimensional characters and compelling dialogue will do nicely thank you.
The books I’m currently writing take place in the Peten jungle of Guatemala, a remote island in the Samoan archipelago and an Amish turkey farm. (Not all in the same book, mind you.) So you can see that I’m pretty setting driven. How about you? When you read or write, is setting very important to you? What book settings have stuck in your mind?
All comments get you entered in the December drawing for an iTunes card and signed book.
Fiction 4 Writers and Readers 
Posted by authzh on January 16, 2013 at 9:20 pm
Reblogged this on The Avid Reader.
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Posted by dana mentink on January 24, 2013 at 12:48 am
Great! Thanks very much. 😉
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Posted by Olga. on December 23, 2012 at 10:32 pm
I’m very setting-driven, probably because I like traveling and learning about new cultures. I liked setting in the novel Zoya, as I felt different destinations defined different stages in heroine’s life.
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Posted by dana mentink on December 23, 2012 at 11:40 pm
Where is your favorite travel destination, Olga?
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Posted by Ben S. on December 20, 2012 at 2:33 pm
Perhaps because it alternated chapters with the plot of the book, perhaps it is because I really enjoy Steinback, but the Grapes of Wrath really painted a very vivid (and harsh) picture of the plight of the Oakies within the dustbowl and migrating west.
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