Oh the Places We'll Go, by Lori Roberts Herbst

Last week, I was soaked by a rain shower in India. The week before, I watched the twinkling lights of the Eiffel Tower as I witnessed a horse walking through a Parisian park. The past year has found me traveling to England, Los Angeles, Mt. Olympus, the Mediterranean, Ireland, and the Tau Ceti star system in outer space. And that’s just to name a few places.

These journeys were made possible because I read—and thanks to so many authors who create meaningful settings. 

As I’m searching for a new book or series (because let’s be real, I only have a couple hundred on my current TBR list), one of the first elements I’m drawn to is setting. Characters and plot may keep me engrossed, but the place where the action occurs is often the stimulus that encourages me to buy and begin a book.

If I’m planning a vacation, I seek out books unique to my destination. A trip to eastern Canada began my love affair with Louise Penny’s Armand Gamache series, set largely in the fictional town of Three Pines. My fondness for national parks drew me to Nevada Barr’s Anna Pigeon series. Though I’ve never been to Venice, my travels to other parts of Italy hooked me into Donna Leon’s Commissario Guido Brunetti books.

As writers, building a setting is a thrilling creative endeavor. Even if the story is set in a real-life locale, like my recent short story “The Naughty List,” poetic license allows us the freedom to tweak and fine tune—at least a bit. (Readers will definitely let you know if you stray too far…) And if you’re coming up with a fictional location, it’s like moving into a new house, one you’ve designed and built with your own two hands, imaginatively speaking. It’s labor-intensive, but you’re only limited by what your mind can conjure.

When I started writing my Callie Cassidy series, I was living in Texas and longing for the mountains. So, I created Rock Creek Village, a fictional town (loosely based on Estes Park), nestled in the Rocky Mountains. Inventing the village gave me a way to be there daily through my storytelling. Ironically, now that I live in Colorado, I’ve set my new series in Seahorse Bay, a Texas port city where cruise ships dock (also fictional, though loosely based on Galveston). So now I’m back in Texas every day, without having to endure the heat and humidity. 

And through my reading, I’m all over the world.

What books have captured you because of their locations? What is your favorite setting you’ve written for your own work?

The Callie Cassidy Mystery series is available on Amazon Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and paperback.

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Lori Roberts Herbst writes the Callie Cassidy Mysteries, a cozy mystery series set in Rock Creek Village, Colorado, and the soon-to-be-released Seahorse Bay Mysteries, set in a Texas cruise port town. To find out more and to sign up for her newsletter, go to www.lorirobertsherbst.com