I love reading books with a strong sense of place. Last week our own Rob Kelley blogged about the importance of place, real and imagined, in novels. You can read his blog here in case you missed it. Rob’s blog got me to thinking. Location is a two-edged sword.
There is something marvelous about reading a novel set in an actual place that references true to life locations. I no longer remember the novel, but I remember the mental high-five I gave the author for the spot-on mention of Tobacco Road. It anchored the book in my heart and let me revisit a special time in my life. It didn’t matter that the mention was passing or that other locations were figments of the author’s imagination. I was on board and bringing my history into the story. Hard to go wrong with that. As a caveat, if you’re a mystery writer, it’s best not to set a murder in a going concern. Caveat number two. If you’re a really famous writer, it probably won’t matter. The free publicity will soften the blow.
Inspiration for the figurehead at the Petard
My early two novels, now long out of print, were set in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The stories depicted a fictionalized version of the suburb where I lived. The real life village was tiny. Only 3,000 residents and no businesses. I plundered favorite houses and settings with abandon, but the characters, and events, were one hundred percent fictional. The third novel in this series taught me to beware the location.
When I worked recovery after Hurricane Andrew, I’d discovered an area populated by what can only be termed UFO houses. These round, squat, homes sat in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by fields and tropical vegetation. Unlike the rest of the hard-hit Homestead, Florida, area, they’d survived the hurricane without damage. There were all sorts of stories about the development. Locals called it a compound. The homes occupied by the members of a single family. Old-timers told tales of cages filled with zoo animals who occasionally escaped. The place fascinated me.
When the time came to write the third Catherine Swope mystery, the compound, now abandoned and in disrepair, played a prominent role. I am not a fast writer, and by the time I finished the book, I no longer lived in Florida. I asked a friend to visit the site and send me photos for marketing. She emailed me pictures of vacant lots. The houses that played an integral part of my story were gone. Victims of the wrecking ball to make way for McMansions. The novel became a victim of progress. The setting was too important to the story, leaving me with few options for revision. I visit it under my bed from time to time, but I know I’ll never rewrite it.
Banny “Cappy” Thorne
The experience taught me to beware using actual locations, especially in a Florida setting, where history has little value. The Hayden Kent mysteries are set in the Florida Keys. Islamorada, Marathon, and Key West are real cities. The Petard, Marathon Marina, and the Sea Farer Resort, all locations necessary to the plot, are fictitious. Cappy though, he’s real, right down to his rooty beer addiction. When I asked him if I could include a barely fictionalized version of the original, his only request was that I be kind to the old man. It was a promise easy to keep. We lost him in August 2023. I’m dedicating Death by Deception, my current WIP, to him.
Image of UFO houses above were created with Canva A/I. Images of the original houses exist online, but copyright information was not available.
When I write, most everything is either set in Maine, or an alternate universe. The alternate universe stuff is easy because nobody is gonna fact check the location. Maine, however, is tricky. If you looked at a map populated bu fictional towns, you’d see a few in the midcoast area, but most scattered along the river whose path through the state bears an odd resemblance to the Kennebec.
Sounds like the best plan, John.
You are writing fiction! I’d say you shouldn’t worry that the houses no longer exist.
I considered that, but they played such a big part of the story….
Oh, but history does have a certain value, Kait. One of the reasons I enjoy the crazy Tim Dorsey Serge books is all the nuggets of Florida history scattered throughout.
And I agree with Matthew. You are writing fiction so just go for it!
Maybe I will revisit the manuscript, thanks, Julianne!
Me…? I want to read that mystery about the round-house sci-fi-ish community that can survive a category-five hurricane, really there right now or not. I write historical mysteries set over a century ago. I love having well-researched, true-to-life settings in my stories, but boy is it tricky sometimes. I figure it’s fiction I’m writing, so an off-truth detail here and there mixed in with the (hopefully) many spot-on details, whether intentionally made-up or a mistake, are fine if it creates a story the reader can fall into–as long as it can work even for a reader from the city I’ve set the story in, in my case Boston.
PS: Your idea might make the seed for a pretty cool dual-timeline novel–one protagonist in the past at the time of the round houses, the other now or in the future when they no longer stand on the site.
Oh, great idea about dual timeline. Thanks for the encouragement. I may revisit this novel. About the houses, I always wondered why insurance companies and the state didn’t encourage construction of more of them. They worked.
Write about the UFO houses! Real places do change. (I set books in my home town, and my series timeline hasn’t gotten past 2014, so I have to keep businesses open that closed or leave the bat colony in an old warehouse that’s now some friends’ art studio.) I’m fascinated by those little round houses. I would read a book set there. The possibilities!
I really think I’m being persuaded. And I can deal with their disappearance in an author’s note. Hummmmm. Have to find the file.
Yes. Yes. Yes! Write about the round houses. You’ve even got the hurricane survival event to weave in. Sounds like there’s enough interesting back story to add all sorts of interesting tidbits. I’d buy it in a minute!
Thanks for the shout out! I love that mixture of real and fictional in places. I had so much fun in my first book writing about iconic Cambridge locations that are no more (and are sorely missed!).