Dec 12, 2022
Tell us about something local to where you live. Have you ever made it part of your stories?
I use local scenery in my stories all the time. While the world my characters live in may be a figment of my imagination, the geography that they interact with is often real-world. A great example of this is the library where my character Harmony Duprie spends much of her time.
I’ve mentioned it before. It’s one of the Carnegie libraries, and based on the library in the town where I grew up. They aren’t exact matches, but close enough to count. It’s featured in most of the Harmony Duprie Mysteries. Make sense, since Harmony was a librarian there.
That’s not the only building I’ve used. My aunt and uncle owned a large Victorian-era house, and they rented the third floor to a lady. And there’s my inspiration for Harmony’s apartment. The area has plenty of true Victorian homes, and it was logical to include them when ‘building’ Oak Grove, the fictional city in the books.
I’ve had to eliminate some local lingo from my writing. Words that are part of everyday speech but not well-known outside of the area. (Check out this link if you’re interested – Pittsburghese )
One or two words may sneak in, but I work hard to replace them with standard US words. (when I spot them!)
I guess I should mention the one book that doesn’t take place in Western Pennsylvania/Ohio. Wolves’ Gambit was meant to start in Wyoming and move back east, but the move never happened. So, I sprinkled the story with references to that state, where there are more cattle than people. (A great place for wolf shifters to hang out.) evil’s Tower, Yellowstone, Gillette, Casper. I tried to work in Meeteetse and Chugwater, but they didn’t work out. Neither did Buford, a dot on the map that had a population of 1 for awhile. But I did mention tumbleweed!
That’s how I get local references into my stories. It’ll be interesting to see how the other authors do it. I’ll be checking out their posts by following the links below.
As always, until next time, please stay safe.
Dec 12, 2022
Tell us about something local to where you live. Have you ever made it part of your stories?
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