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Fiction, AUs, and a sense of place
Jul. 24th, 2012 01:49 pmI had a really hard time coming back to Chicago after this visit - that's been happening more and more over the past few years. It's not just that I so love spending time with my parents now that we're all really adults and have finally learned how to navigate most of the things that drive us crazy about each other.
It's the place. Now, my parents don't even live in my old hometown anymore, but the mountains are still just a short drive away, and my mom loves to do scenic drives, so getting there is never an issue. It got me thinking about my writing and the way sense of place is so important, in what I write and what I read.
It also got me thinking of a great idea for a fic challenge: Take a fandom set in a place you're not from, and write an AU set in the place you are from. That could produce a LOT of fascinating stories, I think--all over the map, so to speak. (Some fandoms are so shaped by their landscape that the stories would be very AU indeed).
I'm lucky to be from a region that's very scenic and rich in folklore. I'm entertaining myself thinking about Appalachian AUs for all the fandoms.
What stories would you tell, and where would you set them?
It's the place. Now, my parents don't even live in my old hometown anymore, but the mountains are still just a short drive away, and my mom loves to do scenic drives, so getting there is never an issue. It got me thinking about my writing and the way sense of place is so important, in what I write and what I read.
It also got me thinking of a great idea for a fic challenge: Take a fandom set in a place you're not from, and write an AU set in the place you are from. That could produce a LOT of fascinating stories, I think--all over the map, so to speak. (Some fandoms are so shaped by their landscape that the stories would be very AU indeed).
I'm lucky to be from a region that's very scenic and rich in folklore. I'm entertaining myself thinking about Appalachian AUs for all the fandoms.
What stories would you tell, and where would you set them?
