Debut Author Interviews

Where is your novel set, and why there?

• Kelly Bingham on...Setting
• Melissa Marr on...Setting
• Carrie Jones on...Setting
• Heather Tomlinson on...Setting
• S.A. Harazin on...Setting
• A.C.E. Bauer on...Setting
• Stephanie Hale on...Setting
• Tiffany Trent on...Setting
• Paula Chase on...Setting
• Joni Sensel on...Setting
• G. Neri on...Setting
• Sara Zarr on...Setting
• Autumn Cornwell on...Setting
• Jeannine Garsee on...Setting
• Laura Bowers on...Setting
• Thatcher Heldring on...Setting
• Ruth McNally Barshaw on...Setting
• Sarah Beth Durst on...Setting
• Greg R. Fishbone on...Setting
• Suzanne Selfors on...Setting
• Jay Asher on...Setting

Where is your novel set, and why there?

Another great question. But my answer is so simple it’s dull. My novel is set in Southern California because, at the time, that’s where I lived, so I felt I could set my characters inside that environment and let them walk around and I could see where they were. Also, I needed my story to take place near an ocean and a public beach. And the ocean needed to have a few sharks in it. So, there you are.

Where is your novel set, and why there?

Both of my novels are set in a fictional small city with an abandoned railroad lot, a warehouse district that’s looking a bit worn, and a high unemployment rate. There are a number of smaller dying cities that influenced the aspects of my town, but I chose not to name the city after any one of those out of respect for those places. Why there? It’s set in such a place because there are so many smaller cities clinging to life but not thriving. They have a character that intrigues me. I can find traces of it in neighborhoods of larger cities, but it’s not the overall pall that I find in small struggling cities. That pall feels like home to me, so I wanted to set my texts in such a city.

There were other reasons, of course. As the novels deal with faeries, I wanted to utilize the fey aversion to iron (& therefore steel) so I added the railroad. As the novels deal with the mortal desire to escape and find a better life, I wanted a city where the very air felt oppressive, so I added the warehouse district. It works. And, well, it’s where I and the people I’ve known once lived and left. I love that odd beauty of steel and broken windows, and I wanted to write those images into my characters’ lives.

Where is your novel set, and why there?

I set my story in a small, small city in rural Maine, because I wanted to have that small-town claustrophobic feel to Belle’s struggles.

I set my story in a public high school because:

97% of students in public high schools report regularly hearing homophobic remarks from their peers

53% of students report hearing homophobic comments made by school staff

80% of prospective teachers report negative attitudes toward gay and lesbian people

45% of gay males and 20% of lesbians report having experienced verbal harassment and/or physical violence as a result of their sexual orientation during high school

Those statistics are taken verbatim from: http://www.dreamworld.org/oystergsa/gsa_statistics.html

When I was talking to a NY-based agent about another one of my books, he said, “Carrie, nobody has issues with gay people any more, not even in rural Maine.”
I would like to live in his world.

I set my story in a small city in rural Maine because that’s what I know best. I could have set it anywhere. It would have changed some of the dynamics, but it wouldn’t have changed the statistics.

Where is your novel set, and why there?

The Swan Maiden takes place in a fantasy setting based on 13th century Provence. I had been reading about the era’s troubadours, and one castle’s family and history caught my imagination: Les Baux de Provence.

Then I remembered actually visiting the site, the year I was studying at the university in Aix-en-Provence. The town built around the hill-top castle has really narrow streets, so the bus parks down the hill and you have to climb up a steep path to get there. It was an incredibly windy day the day I saw it—I was constantly spitting hair out of my mouth while we hiked around the ruins, and our picnic lunch got covered with blowing grit. Somehow, that added to the attraction: it seemed like the kind of place where wild and mysterious things would happen!

Where is your novel set, and why there?

Blood Brothers is set in Georgia in a fictional town. The protagonist bikes everywhere and the miles begin to wear him down. He also works in a hospital which gives focus to his dream of becoming a doctor. Because of this, I felt like it was important to establish setting as character.

Where is your novel set, and why there?

My novel, is set in Camden, New Jersey, one of the most dangerous cities in the United States. There are some bright spots, like a beautiful aquarium and the campus of Rutgers University at Camden, but most people, when asked about places to visit in the area point to Camden’s neighbor to the west: Philadelphia, which is a few minutes car or train ride across the Delaware River.

My reasons for chosing Camden, date back about twenty years ago, when I was fresh out of law school. I spent four months working in a law office for poor people and I met some extraordinary people. I learned that though Camden had problems, it also had people I liked and who were worth knowing. And my main chararacter, Augie, poor, outcast, would fit in, eventually, and find the safe places in his neighborhood.

I confess, I couldn’t resist spending time in Philadelphia. I set the bookstore where Augie’s adventures begin, in Philly. The city also has a rich history which I was able to exploit for some of the fairy tales that we read with him. I treated Philadelphia as a city across the water—a place where magic might exist—while Camden was where the everyday occured and where Augie lived.

Where is your novel set, and why there?

My novel is set in a fictional town based on my hometown. I based it here because this is my comfort zone. I named it Comfort. I know, very imaginative…

Where is your novel set, and why there?

In the Serpent’s Coils is set in a real Northern Virginia town—Culpeper. Although the school itself is false, the places mentioned are real. I chose Culpeper because I had visited a friend there several times and the feel of her old, worn farmhouse, the stories she told, the land itself stayed in my mind. Culpeper saw many interesting engagements during the Civil War, so it seemed a good place to have lots of ghosts cruising around!

Where is your novel set, and why there?

So Not The Drama is set in a fictional town based on my own hometown of Annapolis, MD. It’s Annapolis but the Annapolis I would have liked to grow up in, thus the close proximity to the beach and hangouts in my book.

I set it there for two reasons:

1) I know Annapolis best. So naturally, it was easier to create around geography I was familiar.

2) One of the things that’s always struck me about Annapolis is how despite how small it is (population 35,000) there’s a definite difference in vibe and attitude between those who live in the suburban outskirts and those who live in the “city” of Annapolis. And I use the word city lightly. It’s a very small area!

I inserted a lot of that vibe into Del Rio Bay, my book’s version of Annapolis. And it’s fun to poke fun at some of the quirks of the area. Probably no one will get that I’m poking fun of it unless they’re from the area. But it was fun for me.

Where is your novel set, and why there?

Reality Leak is set in South Wiggot, a dusty farm town so small you can throw a cow-pie from Zilcher’s gas station at one end to Elmer’s Eats at the other. (I had several tiny Eastern Washington farm towns in mind.) The main character and his dad live in the gas station, where Bryan’s bunk-bed used to be a hydraulic lift. The setting needed to be isolated, quirky, and have an agricultural connection for the mysterious I.I.I.I.I. to set up their factory there without undue public interest.

Where is your novel set, and why there?

Yummy is set in Chicago’s largely black Southside, because it’s inspired by a true story and that’s where it happened. But this isn’t the projects, it’s a place called Roseland, which on the surface might look like a normal urban neighborhood, except folks are afraid to go out after dark due to the rampant gang activity that rule the streets. And because it’s not the projects, readers might be able to see that this story could happen in their neighborhood as well.

Where is your novel set, and why there?

Story of a Girl is set in Pacifica, CA, which is a bedroom community of San Francisco. I spent my teenage years there. It had one high school (not counting the “alternative” school), a few strip malls, a sad single-screen theater, and a poor bus system. As an adult, I can see the charm and beauty in this small coastal town, but as a teen there was no escape unless you had a car. We all called it “Pathetica” and had virtually no connection to the diversity and culture of San Francisco, though it was less than 20 miles away. It’s the kind of place where it’s easy for a young person to feel trapped, and the frequent dense fog sort of adds to the despair. The main character of the novel feels trapped and despairs of ever really getting out, and I know the town well, so it seemed like a perfect fit. With each draft, the location played a more and more important part and now I see Pacifica as completely inextricable from this story. It’s a Pacifica kind of story.

Where is your novel set, and why there?

CARPE DIEM is set in Malaysia, Cambodia, and Laos. Why? Well, I lived in Southeast Asia as a kid and traveled through it extensively as an adult – and experienced so many whacky adventures and met so many fascinating people I simply HAD to use it as a backdrop for a novel. One of my goals with CARPE DIEM is to expose readers to other cultures and to show how much we really do have in common with each other. (Not to mention how often humor transcends culture!) My main character is a sheltered American teen who has never left the state she was born in. How would she react to being plucked from Washington State and plopped into a land of temples and squat toilets?

Where is your novel set, and why there?

Cleveland, Ohio, because I live here, I love the city, and I can’t imagine my characters living anywhere else!

Where is your novel set, and why there?

The setting for BEAUTY SHOP FOR RENT is a small fictional town based on what my prior hometown of Westminster, Maryland was like when I was a teen. I did, however, have to add a Wal-Mart and Target! How on earth could Abbey and Granny Po survive without their Wal-Mart?

Where is your novel set, and why there?

Toby Wheeler: Eighth-Grade Benchwarmer is set in the fictional town of Pilchuck, Washington. The story takes place in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, where there actually is a Mt. Pilchuck, a Pilchuck River, and a Pilchuck Pizza. The only thing missing is the town! And like a lot of real communities in the Pacific Northwest, Pilchuck is coping with significant changes. Nearby metropolitan areas like Seattle are expanding, sending more people into areas that were once rural. People who may have lived there and made a living in the logging industry are leaving for other jobs. Debates about land use rage. And meanwhile, it rains and rains. And when it rains, there are only two things to do (in a middle-grade novel anyway): join a band or find an indoor sport. Like basketball.

Where is your novel set, and why there?

Ellie McDoodle: Have Pen, Will Travel is about a girl who goes camping with relatives she can’t stand, and she keeps a sketch diary of her adventures.
It’s set in northern Michigan because
1) I camped there every summer as a kid,
2) it’s a beautiful and entertaining area that deserves a spotlight, and
3) I haven’t read many fiction books set in Michigan.

Where is your novel set, and why there?

INTO THE WILD is set in central Massachusetts (specifically, my hometown of Northboro and the nearby city of Worcester). In 1986, Northboro was transformed into a fairy-tale kingdom for a period of three days. This novel is my attempt to cope with my memories from those days. It is my hope that through this novel, I will finally conquer my paralyzing fear of glass slippers and pumpkins.

Seriously, though, I love my hometown, and I thought it would be really fun to turn it upside down.

Where is your novel set, and why there?

THE PENGUINS OF DOOM is set in Conwell, Massachusetts—which is based on my hometown but is named after the iconic Conwell Hall building on the main campus of Temple University in Philadelphia, where I went to graduate school. One of my professors used to set exam questions in the fictional city of Conwell, and I always thought I’d like to set a book there as well if I ever had the chance.

O.W. Holmes Middle School is based on the junior high school I attended when I was the same age as Septina and Quinn. The apartment building they live in is based on one that was on my paper route, where I had to climb up and down five sets of stairs each morning to drop copies of the Boston Globe on every welcome mat.

Where is your novel set, and why there?

To Catch a Mermaid is set on Fairweather Island, a fictional island in the cold Northern Sea where the wind never stops blowing. Surrounding my main characters with wild, unpredictable water seemed best, considering they encounter a wild, unpredictable creature. Also, I live on an island so that helped with the creative process.

Where is your novel set, and why there?

The unnamed town in 13 Reasons Why is a mash-up of the city I lived in before eighth grade and the city in which I finished my public education. In my novel, Clay Jensen follows the footsteps of Hannah Baker as he, in one night, unearths some of the reasons she decided to end her life. Many of the locations he goes to were inspired by actual stores, houses, schools, and parks within those real-life cities. But I never realized (until now) that places inspired by my old town have an air of mystery around them, whereas the places I’m more recently familiar with are much more as-is.