Going Home (What role can setting play in your novel?) @ Shari Maurer

Going Home (What role can setting play in your novel?)

Posted on July 13th, 2010 Shari 8 comments

Currently reading: WHISPER by Phoebe Kitanidis (From the Tenner ARC tour)

Thanks so much to everyone who entered my contest. It was fun to read about everyone’s summer plans and thrilling to see how many of you were organ donors. Congrats to our winner: Amy S!

Speaking of organ donors, I was recently contacted by the dad of a 13 year old hockey player, Marshall Taylor who needs a kidney transplant.

Marshall Taylor

Marshall’s family is also working hard to spread the word about organ donation. And they just got some very good news: Marshall was approved to have the transplant done this summer with a donation from his aunt. Marshall is lucky–he was able to find a kidney donor, but not everyone is able to do that. So, again, I’m urging everyone to register to be an organ donor.You can read more about Marshall’s story and even donate money to help him and his family with the enormous expenses that they are incurring to help save Marshall’s life, at his website.

Big news in NY: You will soon be able register to be an organ donor on-line, with an electronic signature!

So now to the “Going Home” part of my post title. Last week my boys and a few of their friends went down to Duke University to attend basketball camp. Being a Duke grad and eager to visit campus, I happily volunteered to drive them down. I was very excited to be back, but I don’t think I realized how truly emotional and sentimental I’d feel as I drove the streets of Durham, NC and wandered the Duke campus.

Durham seems to really embrace their Duke grads. Here is Change of Heart on the “Local Author” table at the Durham B&N.

And I was able to sign stock. Here’s a pic from The Regulator, a wonderful Indie on 9th Street in Durham.

I found two amazing places to write. One was these little cabana/picnic table things. It was 90+ degrees outside, but I just loved them. They are on the Bryan Center Walkway at Duke and positioned next to grates that shoot cool mist out of them on hot days. This is a pic of the boys who attended basketball camp, enjoying their last lunch on one of these things.

And my other favorite place was at Perkins Library. There is now a coffee shop with floor to ceiling windows that was stunning.

What an inspiring place to write!

They were even welcoming in Chapel Hill when Bonnie Doerr and I had a signing at Flyleaf Books. And anyone who knows anything about Duke and UNC knows that it’s usually not a companionable relationship. It probably helped that both Paul and Liz from Flyleaf were transplanted New Yorkers!

Bonnie Doerr and me

Change of Heart at Flyleaf Books

So back to my point about coming home, I walked around the entire week feeling like I had. And wanting to write about it and set a book there. Which is what happened at the end of last summer when my daughter got home from sleepaway camp. She was so obsessed and in love with it and I remembered how much my camp, Camp Eisner, meant to me (I met my husband there, which is probably part of the charm) that I decided to set my current WIP at a camp.

I think there’s something about using a setting you adore as a basis for a book. Have you read books where the setting feels like a character? Can you sometimes feel the love of the place where a book is set? Have you ever written something and started with setting before even thinking of plot or characters?

I’d love your thoughts…

Thanks!

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8 responses to “Going Home (What role can setting play in your novel?)”
- Nelsa July 13th, 2010 at 11:24
  
  Hi Shari! I totally believe setting should be treated almost like another character. I wrote a blog post about it a while back because, before my first book (set in Portugal) I never thought much about how setting can inform your story. It’s so important that even within the larger setting of the novel, an author thinks about where each scene is occurring – does it mirror or give resonance to the underlying themes in your book? Sounds like your WIP will have some deep, emotional connections given your love of your camp! Good luck with it!
  Nelsa
- Shari July 13th, 2010 at 11:27
  
  I agree, Nelsa. I was always taught that setting shouldn’t be superfluous–you should use where you are to advance the plot, too.
- HeatherM July 13th, 2010 at 11:27
  
  Congrats to Marshall’s family, that’s excellent news! As for setting, I couldn’t agree more. To me a great setting is just as important as any other part of the book. It helps immerse me in the novel. Beautiful Creatures is an excellent example of a book where the setting was amazing.
- Allison July 14th, 2010 at 00:04
  
  Great post Shari! I want to hang out in that library coffee shop!
  
  I agree about Setting. I am no writer, of course, but I felt that come through very strongly in Sweetwater. The whole book revolved around the location – I feel like I can visualize the whole thing. Looking forward to reading your WIP!!
- Martin Woolf July 14th, 2010 at 09:21
  
  Shari,
  Thanks for all that you have done to publicize the importance of organ donation.
  
  It’s great news that Governor Paterson signed the Electronic Signature Act so that New Yorkers will be able to enroll online in the Donate Life Registry.
  
  Just to clarify: New York State still has to implement this change on their website, so in the meantime, New Yorkers still are asked to fill out the registry form, print it, sign it and mail it in. We don’t yet know when the one-step sign-in will be online.
  
  Martin Woolf
  Communications Manager
  New York Organ Donor Network
- Shari July 14th, 2010 at 09:29
  
  Allison, “Sweetwater” was one of the books I was thinking about when I mentioned setting as a character.
  
  Martin, I didn’t realize that NY hadn’t implemented it yet, so I’ve edited the post. Sorry about that–I got too eager!
- Anne M Leone July 14th, 2010 at 12:54
  
  Oh, setting always inspires writing for me. It’s funny, I’m currently living in the UK and missing my home of Chicago very much. So when I started a new novel this past winter, I didn’t plan on it, but it ended up being in Chicago. It’s been fun to revisit the city through my writing, though I think for convenience’s sake, the next novel I write might be set someplace I’m actually currently living! =)
- Blythe August 15th, 2010 at 05:46
  
  Best of luck to Marshall. My husband was evaluated as prospective donor last year, and it was a very emotional ride. So many things have to be just right. (I think the standards are more flexible for family members.) In the end, the recipient was matched with someone else. So now my husband is just back to blood donation–the local blood people were happy he didn’t have to drop out of circulation. As they say, his blood is excellent for babies.
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Shari Mauer

Going Home (What role can setting play in your novel?)

8 responses to “Going Home (What role can setting play in your novel?)”

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