Real world or imaginary places?

One of my author loops started talking about setting the other day. Did people use real places in their stories, or made up ones? The answered varied from one extreme to another.

Some people were like me. They used real, made up places.

Confused? Let me give you an example.

In the Bull Rider series, the first book is set in fictional Shawnee. A town with as many churches as bars. Nestled in between two mountains, the town follows the river as it meanders through town. The rodeo grounds are set outside town, next to a grassy hill where observers can bring their own picnic dinner and blankets and watch the festivities in style. The descriptions mirror a real little town known for it’s easy access to salmon fishing and a rodeo weekend, Riggins, Idaho.

So the book is set with a mix of the real and the made up.

Later books in that series are set in my old stomping grounds, the Boise, Idaho area. Real town with a little fiction magic, and a book is born.

My novella, Temporary Roommates, is based on a neighborhood in St. Louis close to Forest Park. Real place, made up apartment building.

Finally, South Cove, my setting for The Tourist Trap Mysteries, is set on the central California coast. Readers may think they can guess the town South Cove is representing, but that series was all based on one old house. 

What about you? Do you like real settings? Or are you happy with a fictional world?

Guidebook to Murder releases April 17^th! 

In the gentle coastal town of South Cove, California, all Jill Gardner wants is to keep her store--Coffee, Books, and More--open and running. So why is she caught up in the business of murder?

When Jill's elderly friend, Miss Emily, calls in a fit of pique, she already knows the city council is trying to force Emily to sell her dilapidated old house. But Emily's gumption goes for naught when she dies unexpectedly and leaves the house to Jill--along with all of her problems. . .and her enemies. Convinced her friend was murdered, Jill is finding the list of suspects longer than the list of repairs needed on the house. But Jill is determined to uncover the culprit--especially if it gets her closer to South Cove's finest, Detective Greg King. Problem is, the killer knows she's on the case--and is determined to close the book on Jill permanently. . .

Lynn Cahoon’s a multi-published author. An Idaho native, her stories focus around the depth and experience of small town life and love. Lynn’s published in Chicken Soup anthologies, explored controversial stories for the confessional magazines, short stories in Women’s World, and contemporary romantic fiction. Currently, she’s living in a small historic town on the banks of the Mississippi river where her imagination tends to wander. She lives with her husband and four fur babies.

Some Thoughts on Setting

Whenever I go anywhere I always pay attention to everything that's around. Who knows, someday I might write about a place like that.

My Rocky Bluff P.D. crime novels are set in a fictional small beach town between Santa Barbara and Ventura. There is such a place and it's called Carpenteria. It is too large for the community I write about and I prefer not to use a real place so I don't use a business that goes belly-up or have a problem with new city ordinances or changes in streets.

However, Rocky Bluff has similarities to Carpenteria when it comes to weather and what it's like to live near the beach in that part of Southern California. Whenever I spend time in the area I like to soak up the flavor and spend time seeing what people are doing, what the houses look like, what kind of plants thrive. Recently when I attended a wedding in my grandson's uncle's huge and elegant backyard, which I soon learned I should have called it a private estate in Santa Barbara, I  realized that one day I could have my characters do something in a "private estate" which would give me a while new setting. It's a whole new lifestyle than what I'm used to and been writing about though I've known the uncle since he was barely out of high school, and he graduated with my middle daughter.

But, I digress. The whole point is that though I'm writing about a fictional town I want it to seem real and represent the area that I am writing about.

My Deputy Tempe Crabtree mysteries are set in a place much like where I live except that I moved it up in the mountains another 1000 feet. The other wedding I went to was at a hidden away resort with a gorgeous lodge and many cabins tucked away among the pines, cedars and Sequoias along with with waterfalls and ponds. It occurred to me that it was much like my imaginary Bear Creek. So again, I took in all the smells, the beauty of the place.


My made-up town of Bear Creek has a strong resemblance to Springville where I live. I chose not to call it by it's real name, not just because I moved it, but because the businesses don't last long and then new ones come in. I wanted a more permanent look to my main street. We are very near an Indian reservation so I also have one in some of my mysteries. In fact, Deputy Crabtree herself was inspired by a young Native woman I met quite a few years ago. We chatted and she told me a bit about growing up on the reservation. Tempe looks like this woman. I saw her once again when she had art on display at the Springville Inn (yes, it plays a prominent role in many books) and my first Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery had just been published and I gave her a copy.

Many of that series have been published since then. Recently, I had the opportunity to spend some time with my model for Tempe again--like Tempe she has aged a bit, but still looks like who I see in my mind's eye as I'm writing. She doesn't live on the reservation anymore, but close by and has been lately engaged in decorating the school bus stops with native designs--she draws them and supervises children and adults in filling in the colors. H'mmm, maybe I can write something about that in one of my mysteries.

With either series, fictional or not, I want the settings to see real when someone is reading one of the books.

Marilyn aka F. M. Meredith