Location,
Location, Location
The
backdrop for any novel is important. Sometimes, even without trying, the author
makes the location the quietest character in the book and other time the
location is the book. For example, instead of those foggy moors, we’ll put
those Hounds of Baskerville attacks in a bustling city. The book would probably read more like American Werewolf in Paris circa 1901
and of course Sherlock Holmes would be caught in the throes of depression by
the downward spiral society had suddenly taken.
What if Carrie Bradshaw worked at the Idaho Press-Tribune instead of a paper in New York? Well, the
answer is easy. Nobody would know who
the hell she was because there might Sex and
the City, but there wouldn’t be Sex in
Boise—at least not with Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda.
Location
is one of the first things I begin to think of when I start a new book. Do my characters fit there? Can they slip
this house, city, or island on like a glove?
A lot more goes into mysteries with ambience. Agatha Christie’s The
Orient Express, backdrop steals the show and even now people do mysterious on
trains due to that very book.
Do
all spine tingles need to come into the form of the Overlook Hotel? No but would the reader have been scared
witless if the location of Stephen Kings The
Shining was a B&B just up the street from the next big city? The
isolation mixed in with the elements from winter and immense space made for one
helluva nail biter.
Jaded is a ghost story based in a
seaside costal town. Vine is a place where the upper middle
class keep each other’s secrets in hopes to cash in on a few favors of their
own. The backdrop of Jaded is this fictional town based on
Santa Barbara, one of my favorite cities in California. Santa Barbara is gorgeous, laid back, and
expensive as all get out. The people who
live there are comfortable within their own skin and with their own money. Anything that could possibly jeopardize this
way of life will be beaten into obliteration with fist and elbows. That’s why a ghost with an agenda works great;
how does one silence something that won’t shut up and money can’t buy?
Kenya Carlton
Genre: African American Romance
Book Description:
Ex-ballerina turned rehab designer Cece Newman competes in a reality show that could give her fledgling company the boost that it needs. Assigned a relic of a house in a renovation challenge, Cece soon becomes suspicious of the producer’s intentions. When she finds the house is one of many properties her ex-fiancé and baby daddy Brock Thorn owns, Cece is convinced that she is being set up for failure. Ready to drop the project and what’s left of her career, Cece has to find a way to ignore the handsome athlete while she navigates around his kooky family. Cece must also convince their daughter that mommy and daddy won’t be getting back together again, a job easier said than done—especially when the attraction between the two is hotter than ever.
The biggest hit Brock Thorn took on or off the field occurred when Cece Newman left him at the altar. Five years later, Brock is more determined than ever to get answers from his baby’s momma. Even in regards to joint custody of their daughter, Brock’s only form of contact with Cece is through her loving, protective sister Lily. Brock packs up his high profile life and digs his heels in at the crappy house he’s inherited—the very one Cece is set to renovate. As he dodges cameras and uninvited family members, Brock must get to the bottom of his failed romance with Cece—especially if he has any chance of getting back the life that was lost when Cece left.
About the Author:
Native of Chicago Illinois, Kenya worked in the Network operation Center for PBS and TLN television stations. Executive producer of her own production company Black R.O.K Productions Kenya produced a pilot for travel series Destination Everywhere, Independent short film Dawn shown at the Chicago Latino film Festival, and wrote and directed the documentary Our Africa. Writing titles available; Jaded, Sweet as Sin, Brazil re-issue, Devil’s Play, and Remember This.
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