You may have noticed my absence on the weekends lately. This summer, I vowed to take some “me time” and have fun away from the keyboard.
So, I’ve been spending my weekends on the seacoast of Massachusetts. I grew up two towns over from where I’m staying, so the area will forever have a special place in my heart.
When I first started writing, I focused on children’s books. Once I left the seacoast, I stopped writing for many years. Life, work, and bills got in the way. It wasn’t until I moved to New Hampshire that the writing bug bit me again. This time with a focus on thrillers. During my career, I’ve written psychological thrillers, ventured into true crime/narrative nonfiction, then combined my lifelong passion for wildlife conservation and veered into eco-thrillers, the genre I write in now.
As I stood on the seacoast that first weekend, staring at the same view of the Atlantic Ocean from my youth and young adulthood, I had an overwhelming desire to write children’s books again. With the wisdom and knowledge of life experience behind me, I decided to use the same theme as in my eco-thrillers only geared toward young, impressionable minds — Animals are guardians of ecosystems and caretakers of Mother Earth, but they can’t do their job if we keep destroying their environment (or hunting them to extinction).
*Side note: theme should organically emerge from the storyline. No one wants or needs the writer to stand on a soapbox. Let the characters actions and reactions reveal the theme.
The following weekend I outlined the story from start to finish, the salt air and melodic melody of waves powering my desire to help future generations by delivering an exciting plot with animal characters they can relate to, learn from, and love. When I drove home on Monday morning, and the seacoast vanished from my rearview, my mind reverted to action-packed eco-thrillers and vigilante justice.
A longtime friend asked how I could make the switch from kids to adults so easily. My response? Location.
The question made me wonder if other writers experience this.
How much does our environment influence the stories we write?
Would you write in the same genre if you lived in a different area?
If you’d stay in the same genre, would a different environment change the type of characters you create?
Lastly, if I hadn’t written children’s books when I lived on the seacoast, would the Atlantic Ocean propel me to write them now?
Maybe, maybe not.
After I wrote the first draft of a wild and fun adventure for kids, I researched some of these questions. And here’s what I found.
From the Ripple Foundation:
Your environment directly affects different aspects of your writing, from your style to the topics you write about. Through experience, your surroundings, such as location, atmosphere, and culture play a significant role in your writing.
Writing is an artistic medium which can change based on the environment you are writing in… Writing in places where you may have emotional and cultural ties can help you easily communicate your feelings.
That certainly held true for me.
The ambience of your environment is a powerful characteristic that can affect your writing. Your brain constantly picks up information from your surroundings, and your senses affect your thinking. Things like air temperature, environment, weather, and odours are processed subconsciously by you.
The human brain never ceases to amaze me. Salt air and the ambiance of the Atlantic reignited my passion to write for children.
From Brainly.ph…
The environment in which a writer lives can shape their perspective, attitudes, beliefs, and values, which can, in turn, influence the themes and messages in their literary works. For example, the Romantic poets were heavily influenced by the natural beauty of their surroundings, and their works often reflected their appreciation of nature and the importance of individual experience.
The physical environment of a region can also influence the literature that emerges from it. For instance, writers living in harsh, rural environments may draw on their experiences of hardship and survival to create stories about resilience and perseverance.
From Princeton.edu…
Scholars of great literature often are intrigued by questions that lie outside the pages of the text. For English professor Diana Fuss, one question that consumed her was: Where did my favorite writers write?
To find the answers, Fuss wrote “The Sense of an Interior: Four Writers and the Rooms That Shaped Them,” a study of the living and writing spaces of four well-known authors.
In the book, Fuss described the smoky ambiance of Sigmund Freud’s consulting room, the view from Emily Dickinson’s bedroom window, the inhospitality of Helen Keller’s house, and the claustrophobic atmosphere of Marcel Proust’s bedroom. The purpose of the book was to understand how the writers experienced their writing spaces.
“When these figures inhabited these domestic interiors, what were they seeing, hearing, smelling and touching?” Fuss said. “What was the full sensory experience of inhabiting that space, and how did the domestic interior shape the acts of introspection that took place there?”
Fuss noted that Proust, who suffered from asthma, lived in a cork-lined room with heavy drapes to keep out natural light and air. The author of “Remembrance of Things Past,” a work suffused in sensory experience, “found it necessary to suspend the senses in order to write about them,” according to Fuss.
Her findings corrected some misconceptions. Dickinson, for example, has long been portrayed as a helpless agoraphobic trapped in a dark, coffin-like room in her father’s house. When in fact, Dickinson’s corner bedroom had the best light and views in the entire house.
“It was a room that invested her with scopic power,” Fuss said. “Far from being confined in her room, she in fact was a kind of family sentinel.”
TKZers, let me ask you the question I posed earlier.
How much does your environment influence the stories you write? If you’ve resided or spent an extended period elsewhere, did you write in the same genre? How did your stories change, if it all?
Interesting question. I don’t feel my desire to write certain things changes according to the location where I am writing, but for sure different locations can be a source of inspiration & ideas — say you’re visiting a working cattle ranch that started back in the 1800’s, or you’re strolling through a museum and artifacts get your ‘what if’ brain going. But I haven’t had a location fundamentally change the genre I’d like to write. But you never know! 😎
It’s a strange phenomenon, isn’t it? Yes, I agree, the What-if? questions stir with new locations!
I would say that a lot depends on the genre you write in. Growing up in industrial towns along the east coast you might not find a lot of material for Fabio style romance or paranormal fantasies. It has to come from your imagination.
On the other hand the closer you get to your background and upbringing in your subject material the deeper the influence is likely to be. My stories are a synthesis of growing up in Jersey, living in the farm belt for thirty or so years and studying and working in the rural law field, and the number of years I spent living in way upstate rural New York near the Canadian border.
Those years can either be empty years or you can make something of them.
All of this led to the creation of a fictional county and city with fictional characters but the basis for these notions are from my life experiences.
So, I would say yes. The environment forms your way of thinking and that is where the boys in the basement live.
Agreed, Robert. The girls in the attic live there too. LOL
When YOU can’t move, your imagination can – and has to. Memories of places from the past can be mined and tweaked if you can’t go visit them again in person.
Fortunately, my list is long – England, India, Mexico, and a small amount of Germany and France – plus a number of US states and vacation locations, all make up for little traveling for the present.
The environment needs to support the writing neutrally, so quiet, good lighting, and a comfortable setup accompany a way to block distractions. That, and Freedom of equivalent to block the universal temptation to surf the web.
It all comes out of your own head.
Wow, Alicia. You’ve lived so many places! Plenty of life experience to draw from. 😀
I will have to think about this. I have visited a lot of famous writers homes. Place certainly does influence the stories. Thinking Jack London, Louis L’Amour, and Stephen King – The Shining (Colorado), Duma Key(Florida), Castle Rock stories(Maine).
Good for you, Warren! I’d love to visit famous writers homes. I bet the Colorado hotel from the Shining was super cool.
Great question, Sue. Definitely where I live influences story environment. I grew up in San Diego and knew it well, along with the history and decadence of “old families.” The city pace was fast and often tense b/c of business.
Then we moved to rural Montana. While San Diego has one season (spring-summer), Montana has four distinct seasons. That very much changed my perception of time and made me more aware of how it passed. In winter, the sun doesn’t rise until almost 9 a.m. and your car headlights turn on by 3:30 p.m. In summer, it’s light until after 10 p.m.
The first winter, a pipe inside a wall burst b/c what did San Diegans know about draining water pipes? Changing from summer tires to studded winter tires. Driving on ice and snow.
Another major shift was from frenzied urban to the slower rural pace. What a relief.
I began writing full-time. The first three or four mysteries were set in San Diego b/c dramatic crimes always happens in the city, right? Then as I dug below Montana’s beautiful scenery, I discovered different sorts of conflict and intrigue and shifted story settings to here cuz humans still commit crimes. They don’t happen as frequently as in the city but they can still be doozies.
Plus I could inject complications like icy roads and cell dead zones. With only four deputies to cover a 5000 square mile county, calling 911 could mean a looooong wait for help. Characters have to save themselves from emergencies.
Montana settings offer mountain cliffs to throw victims off of, wild animals to threaten, rushing rivers to drown in, millions of acres to hide a body in, forest fires, etc., etc.
Boring? Never!
I experienced the same, Debbie. The hustle and bustle of city life didn’t allow for much, except work and nightlife. New Hampshire is a lot like Montana, except you have a longer daylight in summer. The latest it stays light is 9 p.m. Plenty of places/animals to add danger, dump sites for bodies, and endless nature gets the wheels of imagination spinning.
Not to mention the stillness. When I first moved here, the silence freaked me out. No cars whizzing by, no streetlights, nothing but an eerie stillness at night. Unnerving for those who aren’t used to it. I love it now, though!
Great questions, Sue. And good luck with the children’s stories!
For me, environment has been very important. I was born and grew up in the Midwest, living in small-town and rural Ohio for all but three years. I spent much time visiting farms, riding horses, camping, fishing, hunting, working in farming and construction. When I went to college and med school, it was in Indiana and Ohio. So, I’ve been marinated in the Midwest all my life and it has influenced my stories.
I am fortunate to now live in the old family home on a 30 acre woods – Cedar Heights. It has become the setting for my Mad River Magic clean teen fantasy series set in the Magic Forest. All those years of exploring and working in my setting has given me a wealth of ideas for my books.
Good luck with your children’s stories, Sue!
Thanks, Steve! It’s exciting to write for kids again. My Mayhem Series will continue for adults, but children get my weekends. 😀
Thirty acres sounds like heaven!
Interesting observations, Sue.
Although I’ve lived my entire life in various states east of the Mississippi River, my books are all set in fictional towns in the American West. I suppose I chose that because I’m in awe of the majesty of the western topography. Those wide, open spaces inspire me. Maybe I’m channeling my inner pioneer.
Still, I have plans to set a future book in NYC and another one in Europe.
Oh, isn’t that interesting, Kay. I’ve written books set in places I’ve never visited for the same reason — I’m in awe of the location.
Fascinating question, Sue. I really hadn’t given it much thought until today. It seems likely, as you and others have demonstrated. I’ve lived in the same house for 35 years, the same metro area since I was eight, and lived in the temperate rainforest region of the Pacific Northwest my entire life.
Except for one science fiction novel, Spice Crimes, all of my published novels have been set in the PNW, though my own travels have informed where they’ve gone. I’ve been all over the U.S., as well as to British Columbia, Iceland and Ireland. My long time love of history has also informed them (I have a Bachelor’s in History, specializing in East Asia).
I’m excited to learn you have been inspired to return to children’s fiction! I look forward to hearing more. Hope you have a great week!
I’ve always wanted to go to B.C. and Iceland, Dale. The PNW sounds like a gorgeous place to live — and the perfect environment for a mystery.
Thanks! Hope your week’s off to a great start! I extended my weekend to watch a sand castle competition. It’s unbelievable what these artists/sculptors can do with sand.
Interesting concept, Sue.
I’m not much of a traveler, and I’ve never written anywhere else except my home office with views of the surrounding sagebrush-covered hills. Very dry area, lots of sunshine, and a few apple and cherry orchards nearby.
I have been a few places: Minneapolis, Dallas, Portland, Atlanta, LA, Mexico, Vietnam. But I’ve never used any of those experiences in my stories . . . yet. However, there’s a chance that those travels lurk somewhere in my characters’ minds that they haven’t shared with me. Secretive they are sometimes. 🙂
My two novels are set in WA state, where I’ve lived all of my life except for 8 years in the seventies. It’s familiar. Maybe some day I’ll branch out and set a story somewhere else.
BTW, I really like this comment from Robert above: The environment forms your way of thinking and that is where the boys in the basement live.
Have a great week…
I loved that line in Robert’s comment, too, Deb. It’s so true!
Wishing you a great week, as well. 😀
I can’t seem to get out of L.A.
Then again, it is so rich for crime, noir, and thrillers, plus I grew up and still live here (yes, I do pay a “resort fee” — otherwise known as taxes — for being near the ocean and the mountains).
On occasion, I have done a different location. But then almost always make up a town so I can do what I want without getting letters saying, “That’s not where the Post Office is! Why don’t you do your research?”
🙂
Hahaha. When I researched the question, I immediately thought of you and L.A., Jim! It’s the perfect environment for your books.
My settings change, but my genre doesn’t vary much. Right now, I’m finishing a book set on a Danube River cruise. I’ve got another one set in Croatia. One in Mexico. My Pine Hills Police books are set in Oregon. Most of my Mapletons are set in my made up small town in Colorado, but I’ve moved some of those, too. I’ve been almost everywhere I’ve set my books, but some are based on research, local contacts, and the liberties of fiction.
Like you, I never thought I’d write in another genre, Terry. Never say never, I guess. LOL
I have three 4 series, two set in or around Memphis where I grew up, one set in Natchez, Mississippi, and the one I just finished in the Cumberland Plateau above Chattanooga. I was familiar with all the settings except for Natchez and traveled there 4 times before COVID-19 to experience the town and Natchez Trace in that area.
For my next book, I am returning to Logan Point, which was set near Memphis. It’s funny–in two of the series the towns were total fiction and in two I had to make sure I put restaurants, streets, etc where they are supposed to be. I like making up the town much better. lol
Great post, Sue!
Thanks, Patricia! I added a fictional diner to a book set in Revere and used “old” Revere (how I remembered it). One reader wrote in a review: Revere looks nothing like this now. Guess he never bothered to read the date stamp. LOL Fictional towns are so much easier!