I’m not a good traveller. I’ve never felt the urge to visit lots of
different places. Even when I do go away on holiday, I’m always pleased to come
home. There’s nowhere in the world like your own bed.
I’m a big believer in writing about what you know, so when it comes to
where to set my stories it means I don’t have a world of places to choose from.
But that’s never been a problem. Although having a good setting is very
important, I believe it’s also vital that the setting works as part of the
story. It needs to be more than just a place that people exist in. It needs to
complement the characters and bring the story to life in itself, not just be a
backdrop to unrelated action.
In Bird, my debut novel, I knew early on that I’d set it in London. I
love London, it’s my absolute favourite city. I used to live there myself and
the impact that the city has on Beth (the main character) is based on my own
experience. I also grew up in a Staffordshire village, like Beth. I love my
home village and my heart will always be there, but I felt the call of the city
and I wanted to move. This is exactly where I begin the story of Bird, with
Beth having that same excitement about her new adventure. London became the
making of Beth. It was a challenge and it changed her, but it helped her become
who she wanted to be and the city in itself is an important part of the story.
In The Birds (the sequel), I needed to find new places for the
characters to go. It was necessary for the story that they leave London. For
one particular scene I pondered for ages as to where I could set it. It needed
to be out of Britain; that was important. Beth and Simon needed to be away from
the action for a while. Then it came to me: I’d take them to Florence. I may
not be well travelled, but when I do go away, quite often it’s to Italy. And I have
a particular soft spot for Florence.
Me in Florence
For the story, I loved the fact that it’s such a romantic city, but
it’s the setting to a very dark turn of events. Would it have the power to help
things or would the beauty of the city be lost on the characters? It was an
interesting idea to me, and as I wrote it I let it play out quite naturally.
In my most recent book (the last in the trilogy), Free as a Bird, I
again needed to take the main characters out of London for a while. It needed
to be somewhere far enough away that it would be completely different to their
current lives, but still very much in England as it still needed to be part of a
particular storyline. When I thought about Beth’s love of London, I knew I had
to take her to another vibrant city. She wouldn’t be happy anywhere else.
Looking at my options, Birmingham was too close to where she grew up. I needed
her to be away from everything she knew. So I took the action to Manchester. I
very much enjoyed seeing how it affected Beth as she left the ‘magic’ of London
behind.
I have been to Manchester a few times, but I’m also lucky enough to have
a very dear friend who knows it much better than me and she was a huge help in
giving me some local knowledge. I couldn’t have written it without her, and it
was only right that I dedicated the book to her.
I’m currently in the late editing stages of my new book and I’ve put
just as much thought into the scene setting once again. But that’s a different
story…
