Real vs. Fictitious Settings

by Sharon Marchisello

When I was writing my first published novel, Going Home (Sunbury Press, 2014), I set it in Tyler, the small East Texas city where I grew up. In one of my early critique groups, a member asked why.

“It’s my home town,” was my lame reply. Inspired by my mother’s battle with Alzheimer’s disease, Going Home opens when the protagonist returns to her childhood home for a brief visit and finds her mother hovering over the bludgeoned body of her caregiver. Alone and unable to explain what happened. Naturally, the mother becomes a suspect. The protagonist must remain in her hometown, step into the role of caregiver and amateur sleuth, and try to prove her mother’s innocence. Since my mother lived in Tyler until the end of her life, that was where I set my story.

But my critique partner asked me, “How long has it been since you’ve lived there?”

Decades had passed since I left home, only returning for an occasional visit (like my protagonist).

“You might want to rethink it,” she advised. “For every reader who’s excited to buy your book because it’s set in her town, you’ll hear from others who’ll accuse you of getting something wrong.”

“You can’t turn left at that intersection!” “There’s no store on that corner!” “They changed the name of that school years ago!”

Not to mention the readers connected to local law enforcement who are offended that an amateur sleuth solves the murder mystery.

I took my friend’s advice and created a fictitious East Texas town for my setting. And what freedom! I could put the buildings and streets wherever they best fit the story and call them whatever I wanted. I made up a history that enriched the backgrounds of some of my secondary characters. Two Wells (my fictitious town) even holds an annual rose festival “almost as famous as the one in Tyler.”

When I started writing my current series about DeeLo Myer, a woman who rescues cats and finds dead humans, I had no doubt that I would set it in a fictitious town. There are a few similarities to the community where I live, but Pecan Point, although also a suburb of Atlanta, is definitely not Peachtree City. For one thing, unlike in Peachtree City, there are no ubiquitous golf cart paths in my novels about Pecan Point (at least, not yet).

One thing I did not fictionalize was the county’s animal ordinance, which DeeLo aims to change. Unfortunately, Fayette County (and its alter ego, Pecan County, in my books) is not alone in its draconian animal laws.

Trap, Neuter, Die (Level Best Books, 2024), the first in my DeeLo Myer cat rescue mystery series, opens with DeeLo sentenced to community service with an animal rescue group. She works in their Trap, Neuter, Vaccinate, Return (TNVR) program to control the overpopulation of free-roaming cats and is surprised to discover that TNVR actually violates the county’s animal ordinance. Because the ordinance considers all cats to be owned, someone who traps a feral cat and gets it spayed is considered to be the cat’s owner and is thus guilty of “abandoning” their pet when they return it to its outdoor home.

DeeLo vows to get the antiquated law changed to recognize TNVR, exempting feral cats and their caretakers from the provisions governing “ownership,” but she finds it’s not as easy as she envisioned. I drew some of her struggles from my own experience with a local rescue group trying to update our county’s animal ordinance. The murder part, however, was fiction, and none of the characters are based on real people. I promise.

Have you ever set a story in a fictional location? Or if you use real places, how do you ensure your descriptions are accurate?

Sharon Marchisello is the author of the DeeLo Myer cat rescue mystery series from Level Best Books, starting with Trap, Neuter, Die (2024). Book #2, Trapped and Tested, is scheduled for a September 2025 release. Her other mysteries were published by Sunbury Press: Going Home (2014) and Secrets of the Galapagos (2019). A sequel, Murder at Leisure Dreams – Galapagos, will be released later in 2025. Sharon has also written a nonfiction book about personal finance (Live Well, Grow Wealth - 2018), travel articles, a blog, book reviews, and short stories. She earned a Master’s in Professional Writing from the University of Southern California and is active in Sisters in Crime, the Atlanta Writers Club, and several critique groups. Retired from a 27-year career with Delta Air Lines, she now lives in Peachtree City, GA, and serves on the boards of the Fayette Humane Society, Hometown Novel Writers Association, and the Friends of the Peachtree City Library.

Website: sharonmarchisello.com (https://smarchisello.wordpress.com/)

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Meet Liz Mugavero, Author of the Pawsitively Organic Mystery Series

by Shari Randall

The word "Pawsitively" perfectly captures the qualities that shine in Liz Mugavero's work: originality, creativity, positivity, and a passion for animals. I'm so glad she stopped by WWK to talk about her current series, her new series, and her "furries."

Liz, tell us about the latest release in your Pawsitively Organic Mystery series.

My newest book, Murder Most Finicky, is the fourth in the Pawsitively Organic Mystery Series. It was released on December 29, and in this installment, my protagonist Stan Connor leaves Frog Ledge on a weekend adventure to Newport, Rhode Island with a select group of gourmet (human food) chefs. Here’s the blurb:

The dog days of summer have arrived in the small town of Frog Ledge, Connecticut, and business is booming for Kristan "Stan" Connor. Her Pawsitively Organic pet food has even caught the attention of celebrity pastry chef Sheldon Allyn, who helps Stan open a fancy pet pastry shop in Frog Ledge. A partnership is born, and Sheldon invites Stan to Newport, Rhode Island, for an appreciation weekend he's hosting for all his independent chefs. But the gourmet getaway turns sour when one of the chefs turns up dead, and a second one goes missing. . . .

As Stan tries to figure out who had a recipe for murder, the pool of suspects expands. And if she can't sniff out the culprit soon, this killer may just serve up a second helping of murder. . .

I had a ton of fun writing these chefs. To prepare, I watched some cooking reality shows and envisioned a few characters that were even more over the top. Plus Stan’s family plays a bigger role in this book, and Nutty is traveling with Stan so there’s a whole lot of Maine coon cat love. Getting out of Frog Ledge opened the doors for new and different things too. I hope you have as much fun reading it as I did writing it!

You'll be kicking off a new series this year. Give us the details!

I’m working on a series for St. Martin’s Press tentatively titled the Cat About Town Mysteries. The premise is a cat cafe, which is a place where people can go to spend some time relaxing and playing with cats. The cats come from rescue organizations, so if anyone wants to adopt one, they can. Usually they’re affiliated with a human coffee shop, so you can have a cup of coffee while you’re spending time with the furries. 

My cat cafe series will be located on a fictional island off the coast of Massachusetts, which is an interesting place for a cat cafe. My cat, Junkyard Johnny, is the muse for the story—he’s got a starring role in the action. And of course, there’ll be murder and mayhem! I can’t wait to share a launch date for this series, and I’ll be sure to let you all know when it’s coming out. It will most likely be sometime in 2017.

How do you manage to write two mystery series along with a full-time job? Any helpful suggestions for other writers doing the same thing?

It’s not as easy as it sounds…oh, wait, it doesn’t actually sound that easy, does it? I certainly don’t think I’ve perfected a technique or anything. I just try to stay really focused on what I need to do, and I’ve been trying to be better about my time management. With my new day job, I’m able to work from home more often so I’m able to spend that hour in the morning and afternoon when I’d usually be commuting on writing—theoretically. Some days that works better than others. I’d also like to say I work on one book at a time, but sometimes I get a flash of inspiration for the book I’ve set aside and feel like I need give it attention while it’s hot. It works for me to jump back and forth a bit, and I usually just pay attention to whichever cast of characters is talking to me at the moment. 

Advice? I’d have to say be brutal with scheduling your time, and stick to it. I haven’t mastered this either, but I find that when I make the writing time a priority and schedule other things around it, I have better success than waiting until I’ve finished everything else that needs to get done and it’s nine at night and I haven’t written a word yet. That technique has brought me a lot of angst over the past year! 

Your website has a page devoted to your writing crew - your furries. Are they your muses?

Absolutely. The crew on the website have all been part of the books, or will be in an upcoming book. My Maine coon cat Tuffy was the start of everything, and the inspiration for Nutty in the Pawsitively Organic series. In those books, Stan seems to find a new animal to love in every installment, so keep an eye out for new additions in the future! Visit me at lizmugavero.com 

You are very active in the animal rescue world. Tell us a little about that work.

I’ve been doing cat rescue for about 20 years, and it’s been some of my most rewarding—and challenging—work. I started in New Hampshire, and was privileged to work with the best of the best there. I learned a ton and met so many amazing animals. Of course, I adopted some! Today, I don’t do as much hands-on as before (unless you count the mini-shelter in my house!) but try to help out in other ways. Social networking for animals that need homes, transports and donations are some equally impactful ways to contribute. In fact, I just collected almost 30 books from fellow authors to donate to the Pat Brody Shelter for Cats, a Massachusetts shelter near and dear to my family’s heart.

My newest project is #ProtectOurPets, a program I’m working on with some of my colleagues at Safe Futures, a domestic violence and sexual assault center at which I’m a board member. We’re starting up a program that will offer temporary shelter for animals when their person needs to leave an unsafe situation and won’t leave her or his pet behind. If you’re interested in reading more about it, you can find info here. 

Rescue dogs have also come into my life, and I’m hoping to do some fostering in the future. Whatever happens, animals will always be a huge part of my life.

Since it's WWK, I must ask: Beach or mountain?

Ha ha! Beach, baby!