Samhain Publishing Ltd Weblog

Where You Live by N.J. Walters

Writers are always on the lookout for new ideas, a spark of inspiration for a plot, or an interesting new character. Where do we find it? Why where we live.

Whether you live in the heart of a large city that never sleeps or in a quiet, slow-paced village in the middle of nowhere, it colors what you write. Maybe you love the pulse-pounding pace of the city with its excitement and never-ending sources of drama or you’re drawn to the quieter, more thoughtful life in a smaller community.

Either way, you have plenty to draw on when writing. Perhaps your female lead is a city gal right to her core and wouldn’t be any other way. She’s all about career, shopping, and high-heeled shoes. She knows what she wants and is not afraid to go out and get it. She has a witty comeback for every comment tossed her way. Maybe your heroine is a small town girl who has come to the big city for the first time. She’s a bit afraid, but she’s excited too. She’s not jaded like many city dwellers are, but sees everything through fresh eyes and charms everyone she meets.

Or it could be that the lure of the small town is too hard for you to resist. Drama, mystery and murder can be even more frightening when played out in a small town setting. Why? Because we expect to be safe there. It’s not the big city with its seemingly endless string of crime. We know our neighbors in a small town…or at least we think we do. Your heroine could be a woman who never left her hometown, who has made a life there for herself and her family. Or, she could have away and come home. She’d definitely see the changes in her town after being away for a few years. Or she could be a city gal who has decided that small town life is for her. I used all three of these premises in my Jamesville books—Discovering Dani, The Seduction of Shamus O’Rourke and By the Book.

Maybe your hero is a rugged, hardworking farmer or a narcotics cop in the heart of New York City. Both men are tough and rugged, but what they do and how they do it would be very different. Maybe he’s an injured, burnt out New York City cop who has gone home to his hometown in rural Maine to recover and decide what he wants to do with his life. The contrast works well. If you want to find out for yourself, you could check out my book The Return of Patrick O’Rourke. g

As you can see there is no limit to what you can do. Writers can’t go everywhere they write about…unfortunately. But, if you’ve ever been in a big city or a small town, you’ can bring that sense of “knowing” to your work.

My fictional town of Jamesville is based on a small town I lived in during the nineties. I lived there for less than a year, but it’s had a huge influence on my writing. I can draw on the sense of community, while understanding the feelings of being an outsider as well. I can close my eyes and still see the main street, picture the shops and the people as they walk by. That’s the same feeling I wanted to recreate for my Jamesville books…a sense of community, of closeness. That way, when things go wrong and danger lurks, it’s even scarier.

You can check out my Jamesville books at http://www.samhainpublishing.com

N.J. has always been a voracious reader, and now she spends her days writing novels of her own. Vampires, dragons, time-travelers, seductive handymen, and next-door neighbors with smoldering good looks—all vie for her attention. It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to live it.

http://www.njwalters.com
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