Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Top Ten Tuesday: Settings I'd like to see

I'm thinking I may restart this blog with a bit of a meme, to ease back into trying to keep it up on a regular basis. And so, I decided to take a crack at this week's Top Ten Tuesday. This week the list is focused on the top settings you'd like seeing more in books.

I'm not sure I can come up with 10, especially since I'm mostly a fantasy reader, so I'll go with my top 5. :)

1. Snowy or icy countries: I grew up in upstate NY, so while we had plenty of warm times during the summer, there was also a great deal of snow. A GREAT deal. There are so many ways snow could be used to shape a plot and affect the atmosphere. Heavy snows that bar people inside can give you a claustrophobic feeling. The simple difficulty of walking down the street can add to tention. Let's see it!

2. Deserts: Same as above, but with a whole different set of difficulties. People sometimes go into a desert in fantasy, but a good chunk of the time it's just to have them almost dehydrate to death for some drama. But if something were largely set in a desert, with the different sorts of buildings, the different survival skills, etc? Fantastic opportunities.

3. Industrial Revolution New York: So much steampunk takes place in England! Why? I know they got much cooler and more fancy clothing, but I'd love to see some set in the fantasy-romanticized version of NY!

4. Grasslands: Open spaces, Hissing winds. Why are there always so many trees in fantasy? Everywhere people go, there are trees! I want to see the lands opened up, the horizon stretched out. I want to see what sort of towns would spring up without a lot of trees around. I want to know what sort of cultures would grow up around there. That could be fun.

5. Kitchy restaurants: A lot of fiction and urban fantasy takes place in diners, and some of it takes place in the nice, upscale restaurants, the sort of $30-plus-a-plate places that display the means of the characters involved. But we almost never get someone chowing down in an Applebees, surrounded by families, with the ballgame playing in the background. and I feel like this sort of setting could offer a lot of both humor and characterization (Especially for characters who might not usually choose to be in such a setting!)

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