Setting Lights the Way
I love talking to authors about where their ideas come from, and I’m fascinated by the small seeds that blossom over time into a full-fledged novel. In workshops, I hear about starting the writing process with a character in mind (a nurse, grieving the death of her nephew), and one of my writing friends won’t write a word until her main character is living in her head and carrying on conversations. Other instructors advise plot outlines to start things off (three criminals invade and take hostages), then characters develop along the way.
I’m a bit of an outlier. Each of my books has been kickstarted by its setting. Years back, my Colorado son mentioned that he was standing on his apartment balcony watching helicopters drop water on a nearby forest fire. The mom part of my brain got a bit freaked, but the writing part began wondering what sort of story could be set against the backdrop of a forest fire. My book Wildland was the result. Then after I got trapped underwater during a nasty whitewater rafting accident, one of the guides shared the story of a kayaking tragedy. The details of his tale stuck with me—and that was my starting point for Over the Falls.
I grew up in North Carolina, but when I was eighteen and restless for something different, I took a summer job as a horseback riding instructor at a summer camp on Lopez Island in the Puget Sound. It was a staggering contrast to summer in the South—not just icy water and sweatshirt weather, but a situation where I knew no one and felt incredibly out of place. I spent the summer living in a tipi, showering on the days when the campers remembered to build a fire under the bathhouse water tank, and absorbing the incredible beauty of the island. Snow-capped Mount Baker watched over us from the mainland, and sea otters called to us at night.
So of course (as you’ve already guessed), my newest book, Island Endgame, takes place at a summer camp on a fictitious island in the Puget Sound. The tipis, the cold water, and the island beauty kicked things off. The nurse, grieving for her nephew, and the three invading criminals all arrived later.
Setting Lights the Way
For me, for better or worse, setting lights the way. Once the setting is fixed in my head, I thrash through a messy first draft (or two, or three) before I know my characters, where they’re headed, and how they get there. When I listen to other authors describe their detailed outlines and warp-speed writing pace, I envy such efficiency. Then again, I’ve always been a sucker for something different. This less-traveled path results in a story where the setting is as much a character as the people, and my readers seem to appreciate that.
How important is a book’s setting to you? Does setting light the way for you? Do you have a favorite book where the setting steps forward as a character? If you were to start writing a book tomorrow, which would come first for you—character, plot, or setting?
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