Thanks, Madison, for hosting
me today—the first day of our tour. I’m certainly excited to be on tour again,
and I’m especially enjoying meeting and visiting with you. One of the items I
really like about Anne’s tours is meeting new authors and readers!
And starting off our tour with
“setting” as the topic, certainly gets me in the talking-about-writing mode.
It’s not news that many authors consider setting so very important. I’m one of those. And the key, I think,
is not only including setting in your tale, but most importantly, taking your
reader “there.” And that’s so much writing-fun for me—tantalizing the reader’s
senses with my narrative, and verbally painting the location through my character
reactions/interactions with their environment.
You’ve asked in particular,
what makes the setting in my most recent book unique?
To start with, a key to my
story ideas and plots is a particular location that has appealed to me. Indeed,
called out to me. Lies of Convenience
encompasses several such places that were the inspiration for this particular
tale. The foremost being the view from a wonderful cousin’s high-rise apartment
on Chicago’s Michigan Avenue. They have the most wonderful view of a section of
Lake Michigan’s waterfront. Then there’s
a Quonset hut in my area, and then
there’s Route 66 itself, and then
there’s the Mojave Desert and its challenges… My book’s Preface tries to
bring all those elements together:
The world of this author’s
mind is populated with a multitude of places and characters—many composites, and
many imaginary. Occasionally, some of these people and places
escape—intermingle with reality—and become backdrops and inspiration for tales
of mystery.
Situated on Route 66 as it
crosses California’s Mojave Desert, NewTown is a fictional place, but its
inspiration is drawn from the many “small dots” spreading themselves along The
Mother Road. This particular NewTown tale—even though populated with imaginary
characters involved in fictional events—is nonetheless, triggered by the
realities of High Desert terrain, weather, and the fortitude of its very real
inhabitants.
CHICAGO, on the other hand,
more than halfway across the country from NewTown, and at the start of Route
66, is on a capital-letters-scale, a world-renowned, sophisticated, and
larger-than-life city. Indeed, to experience Lake Michigan’s unparalleled
waterfront, especially under the magical shroud of night, with city lights
a-sparkling—is to be bedazzled, awed, and visually imprinted for life.
Besides their shared Route 66
heritage, how do these places and people—real and imaginary—intersect? Therein lies the story…
Thank you, Madison for
hosting me on my first tour stop. It’s been lovely spouting off about setting!
Bio for Madeline
Madeline (M.M.) Gornell has four
published mystery novels—PSWA awarding winning Uncle Si’s Secret (2008);
Death of a Perfect Man (2009); Eric Hoffer Fiction finalist and Honorary
Mention winner, the da Vinci Eye finalist, and Montaigne Medalist finalist Reticence of Ravens (2011); and PSWA award winner and Hollywood
Book Festival Honorary Mention Lies of
Convenience (2012). Both Reticence
of Ravens and Lies of Convenience
are Route 66 mysteries.
Madeline is also a potter
with a fondness for stoneware and reduction firing. She lives with her husband
and assorted canines in the Mojave Desert in a town on internationally revered
Route 66.
Contact and Buy Info from Madeline (M.M.) Gornell:
Madeline’s books are
available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com, and Smashwords, in paper and
e-book formats. You can visit her online at her website http://www.mmgornell.com , or her BLOG http://www.mmgornell.wordpress.com or email her directly at mmgornell@earthlink.net
Book Giveaway:
Buster,
Dobie, and Mugs (the latest) are each drawing a name from comments for free
copies of Lies of Convenience (or a M.M. Gornell title of your choosing)
Buy link for Lies of
Convenience:
