Flora & Fauna in Your Novel or Story Setting

This may be something you take for granted, but if you are writing something set in a different area or historical period, the types of plants and animals in the area can add or detract from your story. You may think you know your setting inside and out, but even if you only refer to another area, you could easily mistake one type of animal or bird for another. (Unless this is a clue in a mystery, say, for example, a character supposedly from South America talking about the emus instead of the rheas and that giving the clue that they're not from there after all.) One Regency author I read a number of years ago gave herself away as an American by refering to a bluejay. England has jays, but they aren't blue.

One thing you can do is get bird & plant guides (from the library or used bookstore if you're strapped for cash). Don't automatically refer to something and think you're right about it. (Remember that scene in "Mary Poppins," where the "robin" is an American Robin, not an English one?!)

If your book has an historical setting, make certain that the birds & animals you put into your book were there at that time. Migration patterns and habitats change. Species become extinct. Checking your facts can keep you from making a blunder that will have readers either laughing or grinding their teeth.

Make your research fun. Challenge yourself. You'll be glad you did!

Orient Yourself

That handy-dandy, seldom-used-any-more phrase comes from the days when maps had East at the top instead of North. To make sure you were headed in the right direction, you turned east, holding the map, until things lined up. The sport of orienteering, lining things up and finding your way with only a map & compass, takes its name from that time, as well.

What does that have to do with writing, you ask? Well, take this scenario: You've written a book. The hero is driving south on Main Street, and suddenly, coming out from behind a cloud, the sun gets in his eyes, setting directly in front of him. Ummmm... Oops.

Maybe nothing this extreme has ever happened to you, but if you'll take the time to make a map of your book's main location, it won't ever have to! It doesn't have to be anything fancy, or rival the ones on the internet or in atlases. A few simple lines can keep you from having your character go out the door of the department store on First Street, having gone in the same door on Seventh Avenue.

I just "drew" a map of a town I've called Fictionville, using MS Paint. You don't need a computer program, although you could use a mapping program or a drawing program. Sometimes the simplest is the best. Try a pencil & paper, and just give yourself a rough idea where all the buildings in your setting are located. Here's my sample:

Though barely legible, at least it will give you an idea. It doesn't have to be much. No one ever has to see it except you (unless you decide some day to include a map in your books, the way many authors of fictional towns have done, and have it sketched again, either by you or a professional artist). It'll keep you from mentioning the apartments between First & Second Avenue, when they're between Second and Third, or from visiting the library on Fiction Street when it's on Main.

World Building

When we got one of our older computers (longer ago than I care to remember!), it came with a fun program called "Sim Town." Using this game program, I could build little towns with schools, fire stations, police departments, roads, houses, shops, parks, and all kinds of neat things. I miss having it to play with.

However, as writers, we can invent as many towns and cities as we like. For my NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) book of 2007, I revisited a small town I'd invented for a script back a while and never forgotten. Set in the southeast corner of Arizona, not too far from Benson, Tombstone, etc., it's in an area where we have spent a lot of time, so I was already familiar with the topography, climate, flora & fauna.

So, if you write, what do you do when you're inventing a town? Do you write about something that could fit into the area where you live, or into a place where you've taken lots of vacations? Do you put it someplace impossibly romantic, like Ruritania or Lissenberg, fictional European countries?

Over the next few blog posts, I'm going to recount a little of what I've been doing to help me create continuity, so that when I write more than one book set in the area (I'm already writing another one), I won't make any serious mistakes, like giving the heroine's best friend black hair when she's a blonde, putting the diner across the street from the gas station when it's closer to the hardware store and marshal's office, or forgetting which direction from the main part of town you have to go to reach the school and the airstrip. Hope you enjoy!

Resurrection Sunday

Have a blessed Resurrection Day!

Questions for Readers

If you consider yourself a reader, what sort of books do you like to read? What makes you, the reader, satisfied with a book. Here's a little questionnaire to help writers write better, just for you!

• Do you read literary fiction, genre fiction, or both?
• If you read genre fiction, do you read just one genre or more than one?
• What are your favorite genres?
• What do you like and/or dislike in a fictional Hero?
• What do you like and/or dislike in a fictional heroine?
• Are there any plots you especially like in a book? Why?
  
• Are there any plots you especially dislike in a book? Why?
• What makes you first pick up a book?
• What makes you put a book down without finishing it?

Please feel free to post your answers. I'll look forward to hearing from you!

Ice

Okay, so the ice is a little hard to see in this tiny picture, but ordinarily you can't see the branches of the trees much when they are leafless. So far, we haven't lost power, for which we're praising God, but some people in town have. It's currently above freezing, but supposed to drop below and be frozen tonight & tomorrow..... Slippery!

Happy New Year?

2008 went by in a blur. So many things happened that it's hard to keep track. I wrote two books, for one thing. Yes, really. I'm amazed, too.

I'm not going to go into a huge reminiscence about 2008. I'm looking forward to this year. So many possibilities. So many opportunities. A new year in which to get things right.

So what are my hopes for 2009? I hope that you, whoever you are, wherever you are, will find real hope for the future, in the Biblical sense of "steadfast assurance." I hope that you will decide not to let circumstances get in your way or get you down. I hope that you will learn the true meaning of joy, not just happiness. I hope you find your joy in the Lord.

With that said, I wish for you, not an ephemerally "happy" new year, but a blessed one!