Wednesday, November 30, 2016

V is for Vicariously

Debra loves to step into other people's shoes in books.

One of the best things about books is they can take you to other places. Whether it's a galaxy far, far away, or a southern plantation in the throws of the Civil War, or a city under a near-constant cover of clouds in the Pacific Northwest, or a magical, enchanted castle in England...stories take us there. All without the hassle of passports or ground transportation or air travel. And while we're there, we get to live the lives of the characters who inhabit those places.

Which is why I tend to write small town/country feeling fiction. My bio says that although I live in a suburb of Chicago, I'm a country girl at heart. My stories definitely reflect this. With very few exceptions (three out of fourteen to be exact), my stories all take place in small towns. Where there are cowboys. And dance saloons. And tractors. Or at the very least a cozy Main Street filled with home-town shops.

I don't think I would ever in reality leave my life here, but it is fun to step outside of it and enter another world. Reading other people's stories and 'living' them is fun, but what's really exciting is getting to create my own world that I can play around in and live in my imagination. It gives me goosebumps to think about the endless possibilities.

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

7 comments:

  1. After setting my books in London, the Lake District, Paris, and Egypt, I seem to have settled in Ireland now! I enjoy books that give a flavour of different places, but hate it when the author gets some basic fact wrong about a place!

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    1. That is a concern for me...that I will get something wrong. If it's not a place I've completely made up, I try to set my stories in places I've actually been...just so I can get the details exactly right. :)

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  2. I love being able to do that too. But not only for the settings; I love feeling a part of the character's world--their friends and family too.

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    1. Oh definitely...enjoying the 'whole package' is the best part! :)

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  3. I read somewhere that historicals and paranormal require the most world-building. But I love reading both because I love to immerse myself in strange new words.
    That said, I love Jen's stories about the Jewish faith. Paula is my armchair travel agent. And your stories are pure delight.

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    1. I definitely learned a lot from Jen's writing, and I do love 'traveling' with Paula.

      And I totally agree about the world building for historical and paranormal.

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