Favorite Settings In My Writing

This is the last article in a roll of the Rolling Mystery Blog Tours Ink writers. A list of the other participants in this roll can be found at the end of this article. 

And now, for my article on Favorites Settings:

This may sound a little childish, or maybe conceited, but I like to create my own settings and take the reader somewhere she or he has never been. I create towns, houses, countrysides, parks, you name it, and then try to make them familiar, but with a bit of something unusual.

The hard part in this is not being too descriptive. I learned from some great authors that readers like to participate in the experience of the characters. And they like to use their imaginations. In my first book, I described a hotel all the way down to the flowers in the wallpaper. Every single thing was mentioned. The author who took many hours out of her own time to critique it, taught me how to draw the outline and fill in a few colors, and then let the reader finish it off.

I enjoy outdoor settings, long two lane country roads, murky bayous, and jungles. But then, I also like to create my own towns, with their own quirks. I have a WIP that’s been sitting on the shelf for a while. I created a complete town, including characters to fill in all the stores and shops, complete with a dog that likes to lay in the road around the square. And the main characters are descendents of the town’s founder, as well as the person after whom it was named. I had a great time with it. If I ever get to finish the book, I’ll have to filter through all I have and use enough to satisfy the reader, without being overwhelming and boring.

What’s important is that the setting is appropriate for the theme, pace and genre. I always write too much and then have to trim, but then I really enjoy the trip I take in the creating, no matter where the setting is.

KT Wagner–http://www.northernlightsgothic.com/                                                                                                                Kathleen Kaska–                                                                                                                                                                                                                       http://kathleenkaskawrites.blogspot.com                                                                                                                                           Maggie Toussaint–                                                                                                                                                                                                                 http://mudpiesandmagnolias.blogspot.com

Please take the time to visit the other mystery writers listed above, and join us again next Monday when we will start a new roll entitled Favorite First Lines, led by Kathleen Kaska at http://kathleenkaskawrites.blogspot. com.