Kathleen Heady's Blog - Posts Tagged "plot"
How Do I Choose a Setting for My Story?
"There is no happiness in love, except at the endof an English novel." (Anthony Trollope in Barchester Towers)
Why did I set The Gate House in England?
The simple answer to that question is -- because that's where the story is. But obviously there is more to it than that.
Setting is one of the crucial elements of fiction, but it is not arbitrary. A writer cannot pick up the plot and characters of a story from one location and drop them down unchanged in another. Even though the characters are what make readers care and keep turning the page, setting shapes the characters as much as the other influences in their lives.
I think my fascination with setting comes from my love of travel. I often "see stories" when I visit a location away from home. Different locations evoke ideas of different kinds of emotions and plot ideas. Washington, DC, where I spent a recent week-end, is a setting full of enormous political power and history. A story set there must somehow touch on those elements. A trip to Lincolnshire, England, where my husband's family originated, inspired The Gate House, when we spent an unplanned couple of nights in a bed and breakfast of that name. This setting called me to create a story of mystery and the layers of history that are so present in England.
Setting can almost be considered another character, as the time and place of the story interact with the other elements. Literary themes and human emotions may not change over time, but how the pieces fall together can create unique and compelling stories.
Do you every choose a novel based on the setting? Are there certain setting you prefer?
Why did I set The Gate House in England?
The simple answer to that question is -- because that's where the story is. But obviously there is more to it than that.
Setting is one of the crucial elements of fiction, but it is not arbitrary. A writer cannot pick up the plot and characters of a story from one location and drop them down unchanged in another. Even though the characters are what make readers care and keep turning the page, setting shapes the characters as much as the other influences in their lives.
I think my fascination with setting comes from my love of travel. I often "see stories" when I visit a location away from home. Different locations evoke ideas of different kinds of emotions and plot ideas. Washington, DC, where I spent a recent week-end, is a setting full of enormous political power and history. A story set there must somehow touch on those elements. A trip to Lincolnshire, England, where my husband's family originated, inspired The Gate House, when we spent an unplanned couple of nights in a bed and breakfast of that name. This setting called me to create a story of mystery and the layers of history that are so present in England.
Setting can almost be considered another character, as the time and place of the story interact with the other elements. Literary themes and human emotions may not change over time, but how the pieces fall together can create unique and compelling stories.
Do you every choose a novel based on the setting? Are there certain setting you prefer?
Too Many Ideas
Writers are often asked, "Where do you get your ideas?"
I believe most writers would answer the same as I do -- it's not a matter of coming up with ideas, it's a matter of weeding out the ideas and deciding which ones I really want to develop in a short story, a novel, or maybe even a series.
My first two novels both center around the main character Nara Blake, who is loosely based on the daughter-in-law of a friend of mine. Once I had the character, I took her from a Caribbean island to England, and after solving the mystery of a ring of art thieves in The Gate House, she moved on to discovering her great-grandmother's secrets in Lydia's Story.
Along the way, I have considered writing a mystery series set in Monteverde, Costa Rica. I am still toying around with something historical, and maybe involving magic, centering around the treasure King John supposedly lost in the Wash on the coast of England. Since I am a teacher, I have come up with many unused plots involving teachers. And after talking with a friend who is starting a business staging houses for sale, I think that might make a good base for a story. And then there are my mother's letters from World War II. I would like to do something with those.
I am not the kind of writer who can sit down and write for eight hours every day. I am too restless. I need breaks. So most of my ideas will never be more than ideas. But it's great to have this mine of inspiration. When it's time to start something new, I just need to pull out one of the plots or characters and start developing a story.
What kinds of stories do you prefer to read? Something close to home? In a different geographical or historical setting? Do you choose a book for the plot or the characters?
Whatever the reader's choice, at some time a writer has dreamed up an idea, and carried it through.
I believe most writers would answer the same as I do -- it's not a matter of coming up with ideas, it's a matter of weeding out the ideas and deciding which ones I really want to develop in a short story, a novel, or maybe even a series.
My first two novels both center around the main character Nara Blake, who is loosely based on the daughter-in-law of a friend of mine. Once I had the character, I took her from a Caribbean island to England, and after solving the mystery of a ring of art thieves in The Gate House, she moved on to discovering her great-grandmother's secrets in Lydia's Story.
Along the way, I have considered writing a mystery series set in Monteverde, Costa Rica. I am still toying around with something historical, and maybe involving magic, centering around the treasure King John supposedly lost in the Wash on the coast of England. Since I am a teacher, I have come up with many unused plots involving teachers. And after talking with a friend who is starting a business staging houses for sale, I think that might make a good base for a story. And then there are my mother's letters from World War II. I would like to do something with those.
I am not the kind of writer who can sit down and write for eight hours every day. I am too restless. I need breaks. So most of my ideas will never be more than ideas. But it's great to have this mine of inspiration. When it's time to start something new, I just need to pull out one of the plots or characters and start developing a story.
What kinds of stories do you prefer to read? Something close to home? In a different geographical or historical setting? Do you choose a book for the plot or the characters?
Whatever the reader's choice, at some time a writer has dreamed up an idea, and carried it through.
