Choosing Novel Settings

It's Tuesday which means the Romance Writers' Weekly blog hop is hopping away. This week's question was posed by the lovely and talented Brenda Margriet.  http://www.brendamargriet.com/blog/romance-writers-weekly-whats-up-with-settings-lovewritechat 
Brenda asked her fellow writers how we choose our settings and whether they are real or fictional, no matter the genre. I hope you made it over here from Elizabeth's blog http://elizabeth-janette.blogspot.com

In THURSDAYS AT COCONUTS, my characters live in a town called Crystal City (fictional) and is set in Missouri (real). Crystal City is mid-sized and loosely based on my home-town of Springfield. Side note: Since I have cops in my novel, I tried out different names to make sure the abbreviated version of Crystal City Police Department (CCPD) would sound okay over a police scanner! I do enjoy the familiarity of writing about places I know but also like the challenge of creating entirely new worlds, people, and places.

As far as my three main characters' job settings, they're all very different and only one is similar to my real-life experience.

Alexandra (Alex) is a bank marketer who gets involved with a sexy bad-boy cop who may be stalking her. I was a bank marketer and did date a cop (cough, cough). Many of her duties such as creating branding campaigns, chairing 8 o'clock Monday morning marketing meetings, writing television scripts, and getting promoted to VP all happened to me.

Hope is a high school counselor. Of course, we ALL went to high school but I've never been a teacher nor a counselor, so Hope is completely fictional. She has hippie parents (I didn't have those either) but I loved the seventies and wanted to incorporate that decade. Hope also hates her looks, hair, and compares herself to her gorgeous girlfriends. Who doesn't do that?!

Suzy is a single mom who is a wedding planner. I, too, was a single mom for many years. As far as Suzy's company, Weddings By Suzanne, I've never been a wedding planner but discovered I thoroughly enjoyed coming up with themed weddings--and creating neurotic brides and a nasty, pretentious mother of the bride was icing on the ol' wedding cake.

So, the long answer to the question posed is a little of both--I used a few real-life experiences and settings but the vast majority of my novel is fictional. I hope you'll comment and then head over to Gemma's blog at http://gemmabrocato.com/blog I was lucky enough to meet Gemma/Heidi when we both went to Kansas City to hear Stephen King talk. What a great time. Meeting the fun, sweet, prolific Gemma and hearing SK on the same day! Wow. It's not often that authors who live in other cities, states, and countries get to meet, so this was a big deal. I'll never forget her first words when I walked into the B&N coffee shop. "I'd know you anywhere." Sweet.

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How Far Would You Go?

To get into the head of your characters and write realistically, how far would you go?

We all draw upon our former and current professions to write. We've also heard the adage, "Write what you know." However, sometimes we need details that we can't find on the web. We need to be in the moment. We need to touch, smell, see, hear--even fear--what our characters go through.

Luckily, my career path has involved a wide variety of industries and I'm glad. It helps keep my writing diverse and I rarely lack for ideas or inspiration. I've worked in education, healthcare, banking, hotel management and even at a movie theatre as a teen.

But let's say I want to write about something completely different like an over-the-road truck driver or a stripper. Just how far would I go? Here are some professions I'd like to try in the name of research: 

• Waitress
• Bartender
• Starbucks barista
• Police officer
• Fireman/woman
• Television reporter
• Wedding planner (although I wrote about one anyway and thought up some great themed weddings if I say so myself!)
• Amish farmer
• Boutique employee
• Bookstore employee
• Scientist
• Court reporter
• Tarot card reader
• Stripper (I'd watch--not participate!)

That's a pretty exhaustive list and would keep me busy writing novels for years. How about you? What professions would you add? Just how far would you go in the name of research?