Everyone needs a framework, whether it’s building a house or doing the world building for paranormal romance novels. Readers need a reference point, a way to relate to both the setting and the story the characters are venturing through.
When you pick up a sci-fi novel, you expect it to show you brand new devices, far-off foreign places, and unique characters and creatures. An author has no limits, as long as the reader can relate and ‘see’ the situations, equipment, etc. That takes a deft hand and much behind the scenes world building to pull it off seamlessly in the story.
When you’re using a real-world setting, you can definitely take liberties, but you also have a responsibility to work within the framework of reality. (beyond just sticking with the laws of nature)
In The Matchmaker’s Mark, the first of my new paranormal romance series set in Charleston, South Carolina, I took some liberties within the city setting, but I worked to make it resonate with people familiar with the area.
One of my favorite comments from readers is that they recognized the Mexican restaurant where Lily and her brother Cade confronted a werewolf. It makes me happy to know that while I renamed the actual restaurant, the locals knew just where I was talking about.
Named Mama Rita’s in my fictional world, the massive burritos, layout of the place, and glowing reputation is all very much the same as it is in the real world.
Authors do that all the time -in every genre of writing – taking a real place and moving their characters through it. After all, the reality we’re living in is the most familiar framework available to us personally or through extensive research. The goal is that our characters add richness and depth to an area readers know well or can experience vicariously.
When I use real places in my futuristic Shadows of Justice series or in the contemporary Matchmaker series, I do it for myself – as a framework – but also for the reader. That familiarity is both a touchstone and a springboard for my imagination and the adventure that follows.
Live the adventure!
