The joy of reading books gives us the ability to travel to places that might not be possible in real life. A writer might use a real location that inspired the narrative, whether on their travels or somewhere they have actually lived. Knowledge of a place gives the story depth and realism. In several of my books I used personal experiences of places to give the locations a more thorough perception for my readers.

For example, in my fantasy trilogy - The Rython Kingdom, Rython Legacy and Malgraf's Dawning - the novellas are set in Medieval England. I visited multiple medieval houses and sites when I lived in England and can visualize the stonework, the ambiene of cold dark corners, the imposing structures and the real sense of history. Walking through such places there is a feeling of the past residents and research tells me how they lived within the walls.

This is true for The Twesome Loop as well as I chose a typical English village for the 'modern day' characters to inhabit. My life in such a village gave me a wealth of knowledge for the characterization of the location, even though in the book it is not a real place in reality. The other period of the narrative takes place in Italy, where I visited in the past and fell in love with. Its golden light, the way the people live life before work, the scents and incredible food, all culminating in the backdrop of the story's past characters.

However, when wrting my speculative novel, Life in Slake Patch, my then new homeland of Alberta, Canada was very different, with vast landscapes with mountains, huge lakes, and acres of prairie. This is where my matriarchal society is set. I harnessed new knowledge with multiple road trips to ensure the location reflected the prairies. The harshness of the weather, the toil needed to survive and the fierce struggle and determination of the inhabitants. In my latest novel, Willow Tree Tears, Alberta is again the backdrop, but I focused on the quarter horse ranches and rodeo season aspects of the province's inhabitants.

Other locations are completely made up, such as the planet of my YA novella, Creature Hunt on Planet Toaria. I conjured up a planet, its flora and fauna, its inhabitants, their technology and twin moons converging to create a world that would give rise to a young persons imagination.

Whether writing from a real source or an imaginary one, I enjoy creating locations for my characters to live within.

Do you read books with a preference to location?