Story settings

I have lived in quite a few places. Being a military brat, I have had wonderful opportunities to travel and see parts of the world that fascinate most people. Because of this, I have been able to set my stories in quite a few places, based on memories, pictures and extensive research. Okay, more like research with extensive distractions, but I digress. I do admit that I have taken a few liberties with some of my settings, since it’s either hard to really describe what I mean or things have changed and since its been a GOOD WHILE since I’ve been to some of these places, or maybe never really experienced it the way locals do, it works.

One of my favorite places to set some of my stories is Killeen, Texas.

 Now, I am not a Texas girl at heart. Not even close. But this place holds meaning for me since so many things happened there that were first’s for me. First real boyfriend, first kiss…you get the idea. It’s also the one place I remember most vividly, right behind Germany and right before Virginia and Colorado. So, many of my stories are set here.

Another favorite setting of mine is Virginia. A place that I spent a long time living in and around, exploring the city and enjoying the sights. Now, I only have one story set here so far and I haven’t even published it yet, but still, I did enjoy writing that story. I do have a few more stories in this setting and I’m itching to get to them. Just thinking about VA reminds of the sights and totally awesome shopping and some very good friends that I made there. I should really make a trip back there sometime.

Last but not least, an upcoming setting that I’m using is Bartlett, TN.

 I know…random right. I didn’t even really live there that long…maybe 6 months but it was an interesting six months I will say that. I found my footing, got out of a bad relationship and just in general grew up while my family and I were there. So, I have a trilogy upcoming that is set there and I’m hoping that it does well. I’m going to have to do a lot more research to make it believable, but it’s nothing I can’t do.

We are going to revisit this topic again, since I have a whole series set in SC that I’ve finished and I’m going to be editing it and critiquing it soon, along with other settings I want to talk about.

If you are writing, where are some of the places that you take your characters? If you don’t write, where are some places/settings you would like to see?