Location. Location. Location. (and a contest)

Louisiana: deep in the country but really only miles from a city steeped in despseration and devastation.

New York City: at the height of the Wall Street 90s, hedonism, neon, and flesh on every sidewalk.

Rome: in every church and every underground passage, the stones bleed history.

Nashville: the Athens of the South, eye-catching architecture and history-making locations spread across one of America's fastest growing cities.

These are all settings for books you know.  Some writers take pride in using location as its own character...And I must say, I love these books!

There are certain genres that lend themselves to the location-driven plot--mystery and historical fiction being two of them.  What would historical fiction be without a setting?  The late 19th century is a time, but place your characters in Victorian London and you have a feeling, a vision, a set of social mores that enrich your plot.

Mystery/suspense is also a great friend of the location-character.  Think of all the scenes made more mysterious by placing: an empty house, a dark night completely quiet or slashed by torrential rain, a building housing a shell corporation--bustling with lemming-like people as they keep their secret locked inside all that concrete.

Now, see if you can guess the books or writers whose locations I described above.  The first person to get all four correct will receive a book by one of the authors!  Spread the word...I bet you can figure these out if you think about it.

Questions for discussion: Do you like reading a book where location is a character (let's make it a given that it's done well)?  Is location important to you in your writing?  Would you rather read about real locations, or imaginary ones?  How about writers--do you prefer to stay true to history and geography, or create your own setting?