Where I Live in What I Write

 
Write what you know, they say.
 
When it comes to where I set my stories, I do that a lot. Here are a few quick examples:

The Summoning Fire – I had Hell make their Rift here in Tulsa, where I live. So, yes, Tulsa is the geographic center of Hell on Earth. Too bad it got rather … blasted.
"Nostalgia" – I set the story at the Tulsa State Fair. I think I even mentioned that in the story.
Demon Candy – All of the stories in the soon-to-be-released collection are set here in Tulsa.
"The Perfect Hiding Place" – I set the story in my rather suburban neighborhood. The chimps live in my house. For that matter, so do the two kids.
Nasty, Brutish & Short Short – Multiple stories in the collection are set in the house we used to live in. "Emmy", "When Writers Attack", and "Straightening Up" all happen in a house with the exact same floorplan.
The Girl Who Ran With Horses – Set in Oklahoma, mentions Tulsa a few times.

 
A few more:

"Wind Up MILF Action Figure On Her Day Off" – Starts out at a Tulsa apartment complex where we used to live.
"Effie Two-Five" – Set in a fictionalized, urbanized version of Tulsa that I call Rio Cruces (which is a Spanish phrase that means "river crossing", which, if you dig deep enough, is what Tulsa meant in some Native American language).
"Evanescent" – A story I haven't released yet also takes place in my neighborhood. I even used the odd-looking house across the street from us. And a Starbucks a couple miles away.

 
Most of the time, though, you probably wouldn't know. I don't use names city names or street names a lot. I don't usually go into a lot of nitty gritty setting detail. I paint with a broad brush. Like the old house where we used to live. I don't describe the house so much as that's the house I have in my mind while I'm telling the story. Where the details are important, I include them. To you, when you read the story, it probably looks completely different. I'm OK with that.
 
So, yeah, write what you know.
 
-David