Almost Paradise

No, I’m not talking about the song from Footloose. Although, that’s good too. I’m talking about where you live.

Winter is in full swing and while I’m very happy with white cloaking everything in sight. I couldn’t imagine NOT living in Michigan. I love it here. Others hate it. So where would they live instead?

For the characters in my books I consider the locations for them seriously before making final decisions. Locations effect the story and in many ways can even alter the final outcome. I’ve put my characters in the freezing Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and in the hot Arizona Desert. They’ve been rained on in an invented town, similar to London and experience the windy city of Chicago, in Illinois. Sometimes characters react like my mom. They want warmth when they’re cold. (She constantly talks about moving to Florida, after fifty plus years of Michigan winters she says she’s ready to go). While other characters long for a brisk wind to dampen the scorching sun.

In the critique group I belong to, Passionate Critters, we are dispersed all over the place. From New York to Colorado, from Hawaii to the United Kingdom, and Alabama to Spain.

Would you consider any of these places a personal paradise? Are you living there? Or do you dream of living there? Feel free to post a link in your comment so I can check it out.Who knows, maybe you can change my mind about Michigan being my paradise.

For writers, why have you chosen a particular location for your characters?

The places mentioned in this post have each been linked back to a tourism, plan your holiday, site. **This is my disclaimer: Vacationing somewhere is different than living there. 🙂