You guys are so terrific! I loved all your responses to last week’s question about family series – thank you for taking time out of your day to share.
So, now what to discuss this week…hmmm…I asked a fabulous red-haired friend of mine and she suggested we talk location. It seems to me from what I have heard in the past from publishers that it has been hard to sell books set internationally, and by that I mean anywhere but the continental states of America. How can that be? I love an exotic location, or not even exotic but different from the standard fare. People all over love to travel, right? Then why not in a book – it’s a cheap way to fly!
Tamara Leigh has taken me to Algiers, Ronie Kendig to Afghanistan, Lisa Bergren to Italy, Dale Cramer to Mexico, Lisa McKay to Indonesia, and Siri Mitchell to Paris and Tokyo – just to name a few.
So, where do you love stories to be set? Or where would you love to read about? Are you happy only reading stories set in the USA, and if so, why? Let’s talk location!
February 3, 2015 at 3:33 pm
I love to go “on location” with the books I read. America, Europe, Australia, I’ll read them al! This is probably a testament to my incurable wanderlust. I figure if I can’t travel to them all in person, I may as well stamp my creative passport as many times as possible. Ironically, I don’t like books set in my own city (Vancouver). Maybe when you are too familiar with a locale it takes away some of the escapism in the reading experience…Either that or I’m really bored with this city! HA!
February 3, 2015 at 6:36 pm
I’m especially picky when an author writes about Australia, if they are not Australian 🙂 It’s a real risk and the research needs to be spot on. I’ve seen some glaring errors in a couple of well written stories that could have easily been avoided by asking an Australian – one book in particular bothered me, as the author was not without resources or funds to so enquire! Rant over 😉
I love travelling in books, too!
February 3, 2015 at 3:42 pm
Bookish travel is the best! I generally avoid books set in Texas…since I live here, there have been a few that have been nice, but the stereotyping in others kills me! I love going to England and Scotland. I also books set in the western states. I love reading just about any place.
February 3, 2015 at 6:36 pm
Yay, that’s great to hear, Katie – thanks for sharing 🙂
February 3, 2015 at 3:59 pm
I’ll go anywhere in the world, so long as the story is good and the characters are real. My all-time favorite is Chateau of Echoes, set in Brittany, France. One of my other long-time favorites is Vienna Prelude set in per-Anschluss Vienna. Setting is just a part of a story. I don’t make my reading decisions based on a story’s locale.
February 3, 2015 at 6:38 pm
Chateau of Echoes is one of my all time favourites, too, Sally, and Zion Covenant and Chronicles, too. I’ve read both a number of times over.
Setting plays a part for me and there are some books I might read because of the setting when I might not otherwise have read, but that is rare.
February 4, 2015 at 6:06 am
This got me wondering; are there very many books set in Australia? I know there are some Australian novelists who write Christian fiction. Outside of them, has Australia been used as a setting? And what setting there would you love to see?
February 4, 2015 at 8:09 am
Yes, there are a few books. Debra White Smith wrote one of her Austen retellings in Tasmania – let’s just say I wasn’t a huge fan! Don Hoesel set some of his Elisha’s Bones in Australia – he did well except for a glaring Australian population error, and more recently Anita Higman set her Winter in Full Bloom, in my hometown of Melbourne. She did an excellent job of describing the city and surrounds.
I’m working on Ronie to set one of her stories in Australia given she has had a couple of Australian characters in her books! She’d have to come for a research visit, right?!
February 4, 2015 at 9:26 am
Hey Rel,
In line with Australian books, what about the historical ones? I am thinking of Patricia Hickman’s “Land of the Far Horizon,” Sandra Dengler’s “Australian Destiny,” and Bonnie Leon’s “Queensland Chronicles” and “Sydney Cove” series. Are they true to Australia in description and history? There were also several Heartsong Presents novels, both historical and contemporary, set in Australia, including those by Mary Hawkins.
February 4, 2015 at 11:29 am
I have noticed her Australian characters. I’m sure you’ll sway her, Rel, especially if she has to visit. 😉
February 3, 2015 at 5:49 pm
I love books set in places other than the US. Don’t get me wrong, I love books that are set in the US as well, and having visited there a few years ago I would return in a heartbeat. I love the US. I don’t think, however, that every book I read should be set there. Through my reading I have been to India, England, Germany, Czechoslovakia, France, Afghanistan, various South American countries, Kenya…and somewhere else in African as well…Lots of great places.
Variety is the spice of life, fiction location included.
February 3, 2015 at 6:39 pm
Yes, yes, and yes! Love your last line, Tracy xo
February 3, 2015 at 10:25 pm
What I find important about location is not so much the location itself, but that there are facts that tie the story into a location. For example, I just read The Accidental Empress, which was filled with vivid imagery of Austria and Hungary. The descriptions of the location definitely added to the novel. I’ve read other books where the location was so generic that it added nothing to the story.
February 4, 2015 at 9:35 am
That’s a really good point, Staci. I love historical novels that educate as well as entertain. The description of the location is just as important as the character development 🙂
February 3, 2015 at 11:53 pm
Ditto to all the comments! I like a good story told in my backyard or in Bangkok. My church book club was bogged down in reading novels set in the South (US). While we love a good Southern novel, we craved a bit of the exotic. Now we are on the lookout for books that will take us away. It’s not as easy as you’d think. There are lots of books set in England, but Christian fiction set in Asia or Africa or Australia are harder to find. Thankful for the WWII era novels of Liz Tolsma, Sarah Sundin, and Kate Breslin, but we would like a few contemporary novels set in new locales. Also, I would like some books with characters from those countries, not just about an American who goes there to visit/work/stir up trouble. Thanks so much for this weekly post. Love it!
February 4, 2015 at 9:41 am
Yes! I am with you, Beckie 🙂 It’s wonderful to hear you say that you are looking for something different in both characters and country. Have you read My Hands Came Away Red by Lisa McKay? She’s an Australian who set her powerful story in Indonesia with both American and Australian characters. It is an EXCELLENT book club selection!
Ronie Kendig has an Australian character in both her Discarded Heroes and Quiet Professional series – love them!
My friend Rachel recently did a piece at Novel Crossing about international stories – if you haven’t seen it, it’s worth checking out! http://www.novelcrossing.com/news/borders-international-reading-list-21610
February 4, 2015 at 11:43 pm
Thanks for the recommendations. I will definitely be looking them up.
February 3, 2015 at 11:58 pm
As I was thinking about your question, I realized that most of the books set outside of the US that I read are historical fictions. Sometimes I feel like all the books are set in the US and I like reading contemporary fiction set in Canada because that’s where I live. Don’t get me wrong, I like all the novels set in the US, but it’s also nice to read something set in your own country.
Now as for books set outside North America, as I said already they are mostly historical. I love reading books set just after Jesus Christ’s death, when Jerusalem was falling to the Romans… I also love medieval and regency and novels set around WWII. Those you know are mostly set in Europe. So you see, I love reading books set all around the world, but it seems most contemporary novels are set in US. If I was to find contemporary fiction set in another country I would most certainly be looking forward to reading it 🙂
Great question by the way 😉
February 4, 2015 at 10:39 am
You raise a good point there, Samantha – thanks for sharing. Try these contemporary novels set outside of the US – Lisa McKay’s My Hands Came Away Red, Jeanette Windle’s The DMZ, Congo Dawn, Veiled Freedom, etc, Ronie Kendig’s novels are all set outside the US for the bulk of the stories, Siri Mitchell’s Moon Over Tokyo and Chateau of Echoes…just to name a few!
February 4, 2015 at 1:06 am
This is such a great question. Especially from a writer’s perspective. my book was passed on by editors who cited the setting (Canada) as the reason they wouldn’t move forward on it. I tend to think there is a general conception in the CBA that believes that American fiction is the only fiction that sells. However, if you look at CBA readers they are so diverse and from so many different places and, remember, the American settings so central to a lot of the fiction published are, indeed, “exotic” to us.
I love that readers are willing to stand behind settings beyond the States. I, like, Sally, love Vienna Prelude. In fact, it was my first Christian fiction novel as a kid and inspired me not only to spend an extensive amount of time in Vienna but also to read more and more and more Christian fiction 😀 😀 😀
February 4, 2015 at 10:42 am
You and I are one on these matters, as you well know 🙂 xoxoxo
February 4, 2015 at 1:29 am
I love books set in different countries, though I will readily admit that if I am unfamiliar with the location or the culture, than I am much more hesitant to pick up the novel (I don’t like to feel like I have to learn something to understand i, sad but true).
Yet, at the end of the day, it comes down to the writing and the storytelling. I am reminded of the novel The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons (secular, very secular). Initially I had no desire to read about Russia as I knew next to nothing about the country, but from the first couple chapters, the story just swept me away.
And then I can read a book about the American Frontier, of which I know a bit about, and be put to sleep.
So, while location can definitely add (or detract) to a story, it’s the writing that sells it.
February 4, 2015 at 10:43 am
Thanks for that, Embassie – the writing is always key, isn’t it?
February 4, 2015 at 3:24 am
The only traveling I have done outside the U.S. is through books. The nice thing about a book is visiting a place you might not want to physically travel to. I enjoy reading books about Africa and the safari, but I have not desire to go there. I’ve also read some great books set in South America, but traveling there is not on my bucket list. Reading about different locations keeps things interesting. How fun would it be to have every book set in the U.S. or England, which is also pretty popular?
February 4, 2015 at 10:44 am
I love diversity in my reading, too, Rebecca. It’s such a joy to be immersed in another culture and location without the need for injections and malaria tablets – hehe!
February 4, 2015 at 9:38 am
Another great question, Rel! I love books set all over the world. While my favorites tend to be historicals set in the Eastern (not Western) United States, I have enjoyed many set in the British Isles, Australia, India, Russia, France, and many other countries. I love learning a bit of the history of these locales through the stories. They usually lure me into digging deeper into the details of the history. I will add another twist to the discussion. I think much of the setting has as much to do with time period as locale. Many American Christians see the 1960s as when things began to fall apart in a big way, so they like to look back to a time when things were simpler and traditional values seemed to be more a part of life. Along with this, they tend to like a bit of a frontier setting. This tends to point people toward the American Wild West era of the mid to late 1800s. While this explains the popularity of historicals set in the West, I think it points to something in contemporary stories as well. Many are set on ranches in said West. They seem like old-fashioned stories in a contemporary time. That also explains the popularity of Amish stories, old-fashioned and contemporary at the same time. Texas is a very popular setting because these things but it also is seen today as being very conservative in values and friendly to Christian standards while still maintaining a bit of the “wild” frontier feel. Anyway, I would love to hear what others think about this. Thanks for starting the discussion, Rel.
February 4, 2015 at 12:27 pm
I love stories set just about anywhere, if they’re well told, any location can be beautiful.
And I am glad to see that readers are supporting books set outside the US, which is lovely, but ain’t always exotic.
Said the girl who sets her work in Arizona and New Mexico.
My current favourite location is Stern Castle.
Although…I think the Barony of Godsmere might be promising as well.
February 4, 2015 at 12:27 pm
Rel! You know I’m a huge fan–though I’m not big on commenting. Shame on me… Well, I think I would have to say that my favorite place is New England, USA. Its my home away from home, so I can’t ever get enough. Pretty boring huh? 😉
Looking forward to the next question!!
February 5, 2015 at 1:52 am
“Location. Location. Location.” – doesn’t only apply to real estate. I enjoy reading books from all around the world. Learning about new places, landmarks, famous buildings and sites are all part of the reading experience for me – whether contemporary or historical. Often times while reading I’ll scour the internet for more information about the place, so that I can see for myself the site that the author is writing about. It only enhances getting lost in a book for me.
February 5, 2015 at 6:45 am
I love reading books set in other locations whether in historical or contemporary settings. I would love to see more books set in Russia and/or Eastern Europe. Although, now that I think of it, it would also be nice to see some stories set in South American countries. There are very few of those.