Our official first day of FALL is almost here—22 September. Ah, the changing of the seasons!
This post is all about the setting in these books. Where I place my characters, AKA the setting, offers me fun clothing and thrilling activity choices for my scenes. Let's review some of my wardrobe and activity choices.
For example, the move to fall brings cooler weather and warmer clothes. I love cold weather and all it brings: flannel shirts & sheets, sweaters, jackets, sitting before the flames in a fireplace, shoveling, hazardous travel conditions, and snowmobiling. Perhaps that's why winter played an important role in my first three stories, the Consequential Love Series. These books included winter weather, a blizzard, flannel shirts, sweaters, and fires blazing in the fireplace. These choices led to action and conversation. A flannel shirt is "worn" by Garrett on the cover of Resolute Love. The first appearance of him in a flannel shirt became a scene. Remember, Leigh is woken by him. After opening one eye and then the other, her first words are "You have a lumberjack thing going for you this morning. Why?"
Restoration is a summertime story. Alex wore many sundresses. They displayed her fine figure for our hero, Seth. He appreciated her many, shall we say, assets.
Green Eyes & Dimples begins around the 4th of July. Both main characters wear a variety of shorts. Let me tell you, Matt appreciated how Tracie looked in her short shorts. Of course, she admired him in his sports shorts during soccer camp.
The wintery setting in Resolute Love provided snowmobiling as a mode of transportation. This provided Garrett insight into Leigh's background and habits. She was quite the little speed demon. Do you recall his comment when he surged ahead of her on his snowmobile to stop her? "You're driving as though hell hounds are on your tail."
In Restoration, a pristine pond, farm work, and a lakeside country supper club offered Seth and Alex a couple of skinny-dipping episodes, a picnic in a field, and a few interesting encounters. I cracked up while writing the scene of Seth and the club owner and head chef, Harry, meeting after one of those encounters. "…Tuck in your shirt before you go upstairs." He turned and headed back to the kitchen. "And you might want to zip up, too."
Then there is the picnic in Sparks Fly. After Caleb surprised himself by suggesting a picnic to Ivy, her grandmother, Avis, identified the activity of "picnicking" to the youngsters. Caleb asked her what the term meant. Her answer was epic. "Well, it doesn't have anything to do with food and everything to do with you two and nature."
Green Eyes & Dimples offers backyard fun with a bit of canoodling or more intense activity.
All of these examples are thanks to the setting of a story. You could say I enjoy creating fun scenes by incorporating all the setting offers me.
Let me know if you have a favorite setting in any of my books with a comment on this post.