Is it Real? Or is it Cake?

 

You may have heard of a television show called, “Is it cake?” If not, the idea is that bakers create cakes that resemble — sometimes incredibly well — familiar inanimate objects. The point is to guess which one is cake.

When I thought about what to write about this week here on the Suspense Sisters, I thought about how authors often do the same thing as these bakers. Our job is to create fictional worlds and describe them in such a way that they seem real to the reader, even if they’re not. The best way to do this is to base it on our real world and then let our imaginations soar from that starting point.

The reason is two-fold. 

One, it grounds the reader in the familiar. We might use a state name or a nearby large city to pinpoint where we are on the globe while still setting our actual story in a town that doesn’t exist. 

Two, this gives writers freedom to change details necessary to the plot. We can change street names, local businesses, geographic landscape … all while not confusing anyone who tries to find it on a map or annoying those who live there, if we were to set the story in an actual town.

Do writers ever set their stories in actual locations? Yes! I’ve done both. In my Addie Masters Mysteries, Rockport is a real New England town in Massachusetts. In that case, I try to stick to the town map as much as I can, but I also employ my imagination as I create fictional businesses and characters.

In my Shadows Over Whitman series, I created Whitman and built it over the real Oregon town of Enterprise. Sometimes I would forget Whitman wasn’t real and try to find it on Google Maps. Cue the face-palm. Doy!

In my newest novel, The Puzzle Within, I renamed Denver as Platte City, and then I took real locations and fictionalized them for the story. This allowed me to alter any details I needed to while still making them feel real because—well—they are. Just renamed and changed up a little bit. But you can find all these places on Google maps, and you can visit them in real life.

Fictional Name = Real Name

Silver Lake = Dillon Reservoir (Heart Island)

Wynkoop Station = Union Station

Abbot Castle = Walker Mansion Ruins

Chroma Cliffs = Paint Mines Interpretive Park

Eagle's Nest Observatory- Observatory Park

Mintaka- Ashcroft Ghost Town

Platte City Aquarium- Downtown Aquarium

What about you? What are your favorite fictional settings? If you could visit one imaginary town, which would it be? Which do you prefer, set in real places or fictional?

Comment below for the chance to win an eBook copy of The Puzzle Within.

FBI agent Arizona Powers, recovering from a nervous breakdown, isn’t ready to call it quits. Hoping to prove herself, she takes on a protection assignment for Bridgette Van Sloan, the spoiled teenage daughter of an ambassador.

Nick Trueheart, a former escape artist, joined DSS as a risk analyst after the tragic death of his wife. Consumed by his obsession to learn the identity of his wife’s killer, Nick lacks the time and patience to handle the unstable field agent.

When Bridgette disappears from an escape room, Nick and Arizona become entangled in a dangerous game and a race against time. The risks are high as they confront their own failures and unravel secrets hidden within to save Bridgette—and themselves—from a sinister plot.

Gina Holder is an indie author and stay-at-home mom. She’s had an infatuation with books for as long as she can remember. She loves sharing uplifting messages from God’s Word and introducing readers to new and new-to-them authors on her blog. When she’s not writing, Gina enjoys playing the piano, cooking, reading, watching Hallmark mysteries, and solving “escape room” puzzles. She loves growing in her craft as an author. She published her debut novel in 2017. Gina lives in Wyoming with her husband and daughter.