Three Steps to Creating a Contemporary Setting for your Novel

World Building - Creating Fictional Communities

Red fisheries sheds, Tancook Island

Writers can be inspired by characters or an event, but as the story evolves the characters need a place to live. Setting is a character is it's own right and often dictates direction in the story. Some writers set books in real places. In a large city, this works. However, using a smaller, limited population creates privacy issues and limits events. The solution is to create a fictional community to showcase the story. Caleb's Cove in the Caleb Cove Mystery series is a created community inspired by three real-life geographical locations.

Although a contemporary setting is easier to create than a fantasy world, it's still necessary to define geography, to understand and remember the residents' philosophy and to know who in "town" your characters can trust.

To create your fictional, contemporary world:

First:
Brainstorm what type of community you want.

• Do you want a large place or a cozy, hamlet? 
• Will you locate it on the ocean's edge or the prairie's bold sweeping field?
• Canada has been settled by varied ethnic groups over the years. 
• What is the origin of the community? Has the town grown from the WW11 interment camps in Canada? Or did its settlers arrive in the 1700s?
• Is a second language spoken in the area you are creating?
• What about the geography, the buildings, the occupations in your newly created town?

Second:
Find towns and locations that have your wanted ingredients.

• You do not have to take a whole town,  you can choose elements and relocate them to wherever you like in your town. I found elements in a number of places and combined them to create Caleb's Cove, set on Dane's islands off Nova Scotia's South Shore. following are some of those places. 
• Several real locations provided inspiration, visuals and ambiance for Caleb's Cove. However, all people and story events are products of my writer's imagination and other than the awesome ocean setting, bear no connection to any real person in the three background communities.

Third:
Create your town, describe it, download pictures and draw a map of the areas in your book.

TANCOOK ISLANDS, Nova Scotia, Canada 

Tancook Island started it all. I've had a fascination with Tancook for decades. My sister-in-law's mother worked on Little Tancook and I loved her stories and the name. At eight I thought it a great setting for a mystery and wrote (longhand in a Hilary Scribbler) The Mystery on Tancook Island.

Accidentally, or at the bidding of  my unconscious, my mystery series is set on an island off Nova Scotia. Additional details and ideas for Caleb's Cove came from Tancook and two other Nova Scotia locations. (For more on Nova Scotia visit: http://www.novascotia.com/explore)

BELL'S ISLAND 

What is know as Bell island today is actually three older islands that were combined when the road through the LaHave Islands was built. The road now joins Jenkin's Island, LaHave Island and Bell's Island into one large island know collectively as Bell Island.

PETITE RIVIERE

• Caleb's Cove is on a fictional set of islands modeled on current day Bell Island. Bridges join the three separate parts and the main fictional island is larger than the real one.
• The hamlet and various buildings and stores are based on Petite Riviere along the 331 and Fisherman's Wharf located in Eastern Passage, back of Dartmouth.

HIKERS AND STORY SETTINGS

Once upon a time travel was the best way and sometimes the only way to research a story site. Writers these days have wonderful information available on the internet. And although visiting an area is still a preferred research method, my thanks goes out to the folks who take the pictures and write the text and make it virtual visiting available.

One of the best sites for my setting is the Hiking the LaHave Islands by John Hutton. Viewing the photos, following the map and reading the text pulled me back to the area. I could smell the ocean.

Typical house - Note Lunenburg "bump"

This house, which Hutton tells us in a typical home in the area, sports a Lunenburg Bump, the uniquely shaped dormer on its front. This could easily be Uncle Lem's house in my Caleb Cover mystery series.

Bush Island Bridge

In the first book, a hurricane washes out the bridge trapping the characters with a murderer on my fictional island. In book two, the official opening of the new bridge plays a role.

In reality, there are several bridges connecting the La Have Islands. this one is the Bush Island bridge. It's just like the one washed away in Sheldon Harris Came Home Dead.

For a unique experience try John Hutton's virtual Hike - better still plan your next walking vacation and visit the La Have Islands in person.

CREATING A SETTING FOR YOUR NOVEL

WORLD BUILDING INSPIRATION #3

Crescent Beach and Georges Island

Devon turned onto the beach road leading to the island and Caleb’s Cove. Rain sheeted on the windshield, defeating the wipers and distorting her view. Hunched forward, she followed the spit, acutely aware of the white capped waves assaulting the fence between sand and road. Torrents dissected the road and blurred sky, ocean and land into one mass. (Came Home Dead)

The third and perhaps most critical inspiration for Caleb's Cove and the island it sits on, is Georges Island and the road access to it, Crescent Beach. Located in Lunenburg County, the LaHave Islands stagger out from the mainland, forested jewels in the Atlantic Ocean. Although details are altered for the fictional world, Devon drives along this beach road as the hurricane takes over the landscape.


Crescent Beach, Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia

The LaHave Islands

Other information about the scenery and the history of the LaHave Islands and area can be found at Lunenburg Region, Nova Scotia. The area is closely connected to the sea, to the Bluenose which is found on the Canadian Dime and the prohibition era rum running.

The land, the history and the people provide a rich background for the Caleb Cove Mysteries. (Even if the actual community and all
the folks in it are figments of my imagination.) Writing the stories is so much easier with so many potential details available in the real world.

WRITERS ON WRITING - Blog Hop

The what, why and how of my writing life

Thanks to Western Romance author, Mary M. Forbes, and Romance Author, Lorraine Paton, for inviting me on the Blog Hop. Answering the questions prompted me to review what I write and why, a useful activity for all writers to revisit from time to time. You can find my answers below and their answers and more information about their books on their blogs.

1) What am I working on right now?

My current writing project is the second book in the Caleb Cove Mysteries. Katya Binks Came Home From Away. This first draft is created within a “Challenge Group” consisting of two other writers from ARWA. We swap up to 25 pages per week and Skype to give each other feedback. The process includes brainstorming opportunities. My projected release date is June 2014. At the same time I am collecting the what if's and maybe's for the third book tentatively called, You Can Never Go Home Jeffery Brown.

2) How does my work differ from others in its genre?

The biggest difference is possibly the setting. The first three Caleb Cove Mysteries are in or near a fictional island community off the east coast of Nova Scotia. The south shore of NS is rich with history from the saga of the Bluenose to the colorful stories of rum runners. Overall my stories are more contemporary than a cozy, less sexy than a romantic suspense and less technical than a police procedural. The Caleb Cove books deal with identity. Who are we? And what happens when our names, our professions, our personal histories are challenged?

3) Why do I write what I do?

Mysteries have always fascinated, entertained and amused me. I’m drawn to creating complicated back stories that lead to mysteries and uncovering the story behind the story. I blame it on Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys and wishing as a child that I was not the daughter of a small town Presbyterian minister. My reading history included writers like Mary Stewart, Agatha Christie and later Anne Perry. On TV I like Bones or Castle. The bottom line: I enjoy books with puzzles, relationships and satisfactory endings. So, that’s what I write.

4) How does my writing process work?

First, there’s a trigger. Maybe it’s a news event, a scene out a bus window or a story someone tells me. Next I write a premise and collect the maybes and the what-ifs. My brain roars with ideas, some of which are actually useful. The ideas might sound crazy or impossible or mundane. It doesn't matter. At this stage, everything that pops into my head is recorded. Later I review, compile and create a skeleton for the story. I flesh out the skeleton as I go, using either scene cards or a rough first draft. It’s a loose plan. What I’m going to write is suggested, not written in stone, and changes as I layer my way through the book. Finally, I do a line edit, listen to it in Natural Soft Reader and present the (hopefully) final copy to my Beta Readers.

COMING SOON - MORE ANSWERS ON THE WRITER'S LIFE

On Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Calgary author, Suzanne Stengl

Suzanne Stengl writes cozy mysteries, and heartwarming romance. She is a member of the Alberta Romance Writers' Association and the Calgary Association of RWA. Suzanne is active in the writing community and gives willing of her time and expertise to help other writers. When she needs a break from her keyboard, she swims lengths at the Y, skis at Sunshine Village and hikes in the Rockies. She’s also a pretty good line dancer . . . and a very poor euchre player.

Suzanne's novella, Angel Wings is a sweet romance with a twist, and and her most recent novel, On the Way to a Wedding, is a charmer with a 5 star rating.

Ryder O'Callaghan finds Toria Whitney on the side of a forest road with a totaled car, a sprained ankle, and a wedding dress. Both Ryder and Toria are scheduled to be married in three weeks--but not to each other. 

On Friday, March 28, 2014

Author Dee Van Dyk

Dee Van Dyk is a professional writer living and writing in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She is the author of three non-fiction books (Conspiracy Theories, Hurricane Katrina Survival Stories,and Hurricane Hell) published through Altitude Publishing. 

Her first fiction novel (Sin Eater, A YA Paranormal) is due out on bookshelves in April 2014.

Her work has appeared in many North American magazines and publications, including PROFIT, Canadian Living, Homemaker’s, Write Magazine, Alberta Venture, FiftyPlus, Mocha Sofa, Campus Starter, WestJet Inflight Magazine, Jetsgo Inflight Magazine, West Word, Beltline Outlook, Madame, Home Cooking, Food for Thought, Student Counsellor, Canadian Writer’ s Journal, Avenue, Moving To, homemakers.ca, canadianliving.ca, CanLearn and Visitor’s Choice.

On Friday, March 28, 2014

Author E.C. (Eileen) Bell

E.C.Bell

E.C.Bell (also known as Eileen Bell) has had short fiction published in magazines and several anthologies, including the double Aurora Award winning “Women of the Apocalypse” and the Aurora winning “Bourbon and Eggnog.” Her first novel, "Seeing the Light", (Tyche Books) will be out in November, 2014. 

When she’s not writing, she’s in Edmonton, Alberta, living a fine life in her round house (that is in a perpetual state of renovation) with her husband, her two dogs and her goldfish.