Settings are so important!

For Harlequin American especially, settings are so important. It’s more than where a story takes place – sometimes it seems that it’s also the who (whom, actually) and the why. At least that’s the case with my Citizens Police Academy series. Lakewood, Michigan is the whom my law enforcement officers have sworn to protect and serve, and it’s the why they do their job.

The Lakewood in my series is a fictional city, but since writing the books, I’ve learned that there is a real city with that name – and it’s eerily close to where I positioned my fictional city on the beautiful Lake Michigan shore in lower, western Michigan.

That’s just happened to me again – with a new Harlequin American I’m writing. I thought I created a city, but I’ve actually stumbled across one that already exists again – and in the same proximity of my new fictional setting. Maybe I’ve retained more information from Geography class than I realize, or I have a photographic memory for only the map of Michigan.

I prefer to use a fictional city or town for my settings, so that I don’t inadvertently offend anyone. For instance, the mayor of the Lakewood in my books is not a particularly nice man, and I would hate for the mayor of the real city to think I’m talking about him or her.

I’m often asked if I base any of my characters on real people I know. My brothers and sisters always look for themselves in my books, probably convinced that I’m giving away their secrets. But all my characters are definitely real only to me and hopefully my readers. I do, however, often base my cities on real cities. For instance, Lakewood is actually a composite of the Michigan cities of picturesque Grand Haven and more urban Muskegon. And I’ve called Grand Rapids, Michigan by many other names.

So do you like reading about real settings or fictional ones that become real to you? I’d love to read your comments!

Thanks!
Lisa Childs