by Linda O. Johnston
Location, location, location. I Googled that phrase when I thought about that as my blog theme today, thinking there was a movie with that name. No, there’s apparently no movie about it, but the phrase originated many years ago, referencing real estate sales. There’s also evidently a British reality show with that name. I’m always interested in real estate. Yes, I used to be a real estate attorney.
But I’m a writer now, and the locations in which I set my story are important. Sometimes, they’re real, as in my most recent mystery series, Alaska Untamed. And my first mystery series, the Kendra Ballantyne Pet-Sitter Mysteries, was set in Los Angeles. Kendra was a lawyer who lived in L.A. with her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Lexie. I was practicing law at the time, I live in L.A., and one of my Cavaliers at the time was Lexie.
Then there were my Alpha Force books for Harlequin Nocturne, where the setting was mainly a remote, fictional military base where the shapeshifters could change without being too much in the public’s eye. The stories are currently being republished as eBooks.
Currently, I’m mostly writing for Harlequin Romantic Suspense, and my settings are fictional. For example, my Shelter of Secrets series, which is ending, is set in a fictional remote area of Southern California where a special shelter that cares for animals—and people in trouble—is located.
So how do other writers decide where to set their stories? If you’re a writer, how do you decide? How do you determine whether to use a real or a fictional location? In any event, location is an important part of the story, since the characters have to live their lives in the area and deal with whatever is going on in their fictional lives there, or in other locations to which they travel.
What’s your favorite location to read about—and maybe to visit, for research purposes or just for fun?
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