Tuesday Tidbit: WHERE IN THE WORLD IS KAMOLA?

I love my home state of Washington. I live on the western side of the state. The rainy side. The GREEN side!

I love how fresh and clean the rain makes the air smell and how green it makes everything.

And I love setting stories in my home state. Whenever I get the chance, I try to set my stories here, but I’m not tied to that. Not every story I want to write is suited to take place in Washington, and I’m good with that.

So when deciding where to set my Quilting Circle series, I naturally looked at Washington first. After considering the state as a whole and deciding “yes” Washington will work well, I looked at areas I have lived in before because I have a knowledge base to start with.

After some consideration, I chose the town where I went to college, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to use a “real” town or not. As a writer, this is a question I face with each story. Real town? Or fictional? I have used both, and both have their strengths and weaknesses.

“Real Town” strengths; it’s already there so I don’t have to make up the town layout and such, readers can recognize the town therefore connecting with it, and readers get excited when their town (or a town they know) is mentioned in a book. Weaknesses; it’s already platted and the layout might not suit the needs of the story, readers recognize the town and someone will know when one tiny thing is wrong (even in a historical), and readers get pulled out of a story if the town doesn’t feel like the town they know or don’t have key figures they would expect.

“Fictional Town” strengths; the sky is the limit. I can layout the town to best suit the story. I won’t get the details wrong because it’s my own creation. Weaknesses; it doesn’t have that real-life personal connection, readers won’t recognize it, and with nothing concrete to look back to, I might forget things when the third book (which I’m currently writing) comes along and misplace a building or two.

So I chose a fictional town based off of a real town because my characters would be moving around in town a lot. But those who know Ellensburg will recognize it as such. And now came the task of naming my town. I decided to name it after my residents hall, Kamola, and named a couple of the college professors in the boarding house after another residents hall (Mr. Lumbard) and the dining hall (Mr. Tunstall). Whenever I read those names it take me back to my college days.

In a novella that released in January 2018 ("Holly and Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides), I set the story in the real town of Ellensburg. Well, not really in the town but outside of it on a cattle ranch. I chose the real town name for two reasons. One, I loved my college years in Ellensburg and wanted to use it. Two, my characters weren’t in town much, just at the train station, so using the real town name worked well.

So to answer my title question, “Where in the world is the town of Kamola?” In my imagination, so wherever I am, there is Kamola. And wherever the reader is, there is Kamola also. =0)

Do you prefer reading stories set in real towns—even if the author changes some of the details to suit the story—or fictional where everything is fresh and new?

THE WIDOW’S PLIGHT is a finalist in the Interviews & Reviews Reader’s Choice Awards Book of the Month. I would love it if you would pop on over and vote for THE WIDOW’S PLIGHT. You can vote once every 24 hours during the month of May.

Here is the link to the voting.

https://www.interviewsandreviews.com/april2019.html?fbclid=IwAR1zMDXUE8OdSawnoB5cXR28TcH2JQdlFEa1e1R8Gxqvwic06RNs3cIAIgQ

Thanks!

NEW!
THE DAUGHTER'S PREDICAMENT (Book 2 in the Quilting Circle series )
Can a patient love win her heart?

As Isabelle Atwood’s romance prospects are turning in her favor, a family scandal derails her dreams. While making a quilt for her own hope chest, Isabelle’s half-sister becomes pregnant out of wedlock and Isabelle--always the unfavored daughter--becomes the family sacrifice to save face. Despite gaining the attention of a handsome rancher, her parents are pressuring her to marry a man of their choosing to rescue her sister’s reputation. A third suitor waits silently in the wings, hoping for his own chance at love. Isabelle ends up with three marriage proposals, but this only further confuses her decision.

A handsome rancher, a stranger, and an unseen suitor are all waiting for an answer.  Isabelle loves her sister, but will she really allow herself to be manipulated into a marriage without love? Will Isabelle capitulate and marry the man her parents wish her to, or will she rebel and marry the man they don’t approve of? Or will the man leaving her secret love poems sweep her off her feet?

RECENT!

The MISSADVENTURE BRIDES Collection

Love Is One of Life’s Greatest Adventures 
Seven daring damsels don’t let the norms of their eras hold them back. Along the way these women attract the attention of men who admire their bravery and determination, but will they let love grow out of the adventures?

Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure, a 1904 road-trip
Zola Calkin sets out on an adventure to be the first woman to drive across the country. Will the journalist tasked to report her presumed failure sabotage her efforts? Or will he steal her heart?

COURTING HER PRODIGAL HEART

Mother-to-Be’s Amish Homecoming... Pregnant and alone, Dori Bontrager is sure her Amish kin won’t welcome her—or the child she’s carrying—into the community. And she’s determined that her return won’t be permanent. As soon as she finds work, she’ll leave again. But with her childhood friend Eli Hochstetler insisting she and her baby belong here, will Dori’s path lead back to the Englisher world…or into Eli’s arms?

THE WIDOW'S PLIGHT ~ A sweet historical romance that will tug at your heart. This is book 1 in the Quilting Circle series.
Washington State, 1893
     When Lily Lexington Bremmer arrives in Kamola with her young son, she’s reluctant to join the social center of her new community, the quilting circle, but the friendly ladies pull her in. She begins piecing a sunshine and shadows quilt because it mirrors her life. She has a secret that lurks in the shadows and hopes it doesn’t come out into the light. Dark places in her past are best forgotten, but her new life is full of sunshine. Will her secrets cast shadows on her bright future?
     Widower Edric Hammond and his father are doing their best to raise his two young daughters. He meets Lily and her son when they arrive in  town and helps her find a job and a place to live. Lily resists Edric’s charms at first but finds herself falling in love with this kind, gentle man and his two darling daughters. Lily has stolen his heart with her first warm smile, but he’s cautious about bringing another woman into his girls’ lives due to the harshness of their own mother.
     Can Edric forgive Lily her past to take hold of a promising chance at love?
THE WIDOW'S PLIGHT is now available in ebook and paperback.

#ChristianRomance #HistoricalRomance #Romance

MARY DAVIS s a bestselling, award-winning novelist of over two dozen titles in both historical and contemporary themes. Her 2018 titles include; "Holly and Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection (January), Courting Her Amish Heart (March), The Widow’s Plight (July), Courting Her Secret Heart (September), “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in The MISSAdventure Brides Collection (December), and Courting Her Prodigal Heart (January 2019). Coming in 2019, The Daughter's Predicament (May) and "Bygones" in Thimbles and Threads (July). She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.

Mary lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of over thirty-four years and two cats. She has three adult children and two incredibly adorable grandchildren. Find her online at:

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