The Importance of a Solid Setting
By Judith Keim
One of the first questions a reader has when she opens a book is Who? What? Where?
In women’s fiction, the author must introduce the hero or heroine to the reader, identify a location, and give the reader an idea of what it is the heroine or hero wants. That then sets up several possible reasons why they won’t get what they want until the ending, which resolves the issue in a positive way.
My tenth book in the Beach House Hotel series – Bubbles at the Beach House Hotel – was recently released on April 7th.
Blurb:
Bubbles … champagne, challenges, and spa treatments at The Beach House Hotel …
Rhonda and Ann are touched when they learn members of a small book club have saved for a long time to be able to spend a week at the Beach House Hotel. They arrange to put the five women in one of the two private homes on the property and promise to give them all the bubbles each one has requested as a surprise for the others. Things become complicated when Vice-President Amelia Swanson requests the use of the other house for two of her staffers who need time to rest and write up reports for her. Ann and Rhonda continue to survive surprises good and bad in both business and in their private lives by working together to keep their guests happy.
Another of Judith Keim’s series books celebrating love and families, strong women meeting challenges, and clean women’s fiction with a touch of romance—beach reads for all ages with a touch of humor, satisfying twists, and happy endings
When writing a series, the setting becomes the glue that often holds the books together. In my Beach House Hotel series, the stories are set at the hotel that the two owners, Ann and Rhonda, run. In each book, we know what the small, seaside hotel looks like inside and out. We know because of the clientele and the way they are greeted and treated that it is an upscale property.
Outside the hotel, readers discover and rediscover in each book what the beach is like with its bird life, bright skies, and waves rolling into shore and out again. The beach is a consistent part of the setting. It is where Ann and Rhonda go to talk business privately and where they often meet other interesting characters. It is also where, to their irritation, they meet up with their nemesis, Brock Goodwin.
Inside the hotel, the hotel staff become part of the setting because they are consistent in each book. General manager, chef, wedding planner, and the beloved couple who worked for Rhonda before she turned her seaside mansion into a hotel are all what make the hotel familiar to the reader. Readers expect to see them as part of the hotel’s interior setting.
The location can be entirely fictional, based on an area that is real, or it can be a real location that has fictionalized parts. An important reminder—many readers like to read about familiar things in a location. If the book is based on an actual location, you must make sure your facts are right. I started reading a book in which the author called the Gulf of Mexico the ocean, and I stopped reading, realizing she did not know the area she was writing about. Best to check maps and Google to get things right. Mention of areas of interest around a location can add authenticity to your specific spot.
If all the above have been addressed, you now have a solid setting where readers know very well where the story takes place. Easy, right? Not so fast.
In women’s fiction, setting involves a lot of the senses. For instance, the Beach House Hotel is known for delicious and creative food and superb service, so mentioning various dinners and describing them in detail is important. The salty smell of the ocean air and the cries of seagulls are part of the beach setting, recreated in each book in the series, bringing readers back to a place they know and are comfortable with.
Each genre will have its own type of setting. Thrillers might have a gritty, inner city setting or others might have a setting in a foreign country setting. Mysteries might have small-town settings that involve the need to provide detailed descriptions of various scenes. But no matter what you write, placing readers in a setting that is realistic for its genre is an important part of attracting and keeping readers.
Another thought. It’s important to think of your main characters as a kind of setting for the book. The reader needs to know them well to place them in an appropriate setting.
Even after writing some fifty-five books, there is so much I must learn about the different components of a book or books that make it or them successful. A solid setting is just one of them. The need to be creative and have the license to create our own stories is what keeps writers going. Enjoy the ride!
Bubbles … champagne, challenges, and spa treatments at The Beach House Hotel …
Rhonda and Ann are touched when they learn members of a small book club have saved for a long time to be able to spend a week at the Beach House Hotel. They arrange to put the five women in one of the two private homes on the property and promise to give them all the bubbles each one has requested as a surprise for the others. Things become complicated when Vice-President Amelia Swanson requests the use of the other house for two of her staffers who need time to rest and write up reports for her. Ann and Rhonda continue to survive surprises good and bad in both business and in their private lives by working together to keep their guests happy.
Another of Judith Keim’s series books celebrating love and families, strong women meeting challenges, and clean women’s fiction with a touch of romance—beach reads for all ages with a touch of humor, satisfying twists, and happy endings.
BUY HERE
Category: On Writing
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