Originally, I had no place in particular in mind. Mostly, the setting was just some place familiar that I could easily picture as I wrote. The way I made the college campus be nestled up to the mountainside often reminded me of my alma mater, Utah State University. However, I didn't really have the intention of making Logan the hometown for my Order. So, I just blissfully wrote my novel without choosing a real location.
I actually Googled Grayson College to make sure that my school was a completely fictional place. There is a Grayson County College in Texas, and a Grayson College that closed in 1917, but nothing current that would pin my novel to a specific location.
Then, I was talking to my sister one day and she told me a story that made me decide that I wanted to find a real place for my novel to be located. I don't know where she got her information, but my sister told me this: Apparently Richelle Mead, the author of The Vampire Academy novels, mentioned that she regretted never placing her story in a real location after seeing how the success of Stephenie Meyer impacted the small town of Forks. Not wanting to have similar regrets, I decided to do a little research and choose a location for my novel.
And the winner is...
Drum roll please...
Golden, Colorado! (and the crowd goes wild!)
Welcome to Golden...
I wanted some place in the mountains, with a small population, and images that I would just fall in love with. I also decided that the first day of school for Grayson College (and thus the first day of The Order) would be Monday, September 8th (of no particular year), and I needed a place that would have autumn colors and leaves during that time of year, and possibly the first snow fall by November 1st. Golden fit the bill! Take a look for yourself.
Fall colors in Colorado... gorgeous!
According to the source, this is near Golden...
Can't you just imagine the backyard I described in The Order being behind this house, snuggled right up to the mountain side?
Doesn't this look like the perfect place for Robert's cabin to be hiding?
See how Golden is just surrounded by mountains? Perfect!
What do you think? Hopefully the people of Golden will be flattered that I fell in love with their little gem.
4 comments:
I know this sounds like a "duh" question, but is there a univeristy there? I love the pictures, they seem to fit your book perfectly...Golden, Colorado, sounds like a fairy-tale, not a sci-fi book! I love it!
Angela- There is the Colorado School of Mines (http://www.mines.edu/) in Golden, but as far as I could tell, everything else was high schools or younger. It is kind of cool, if you use Google Earth, you can look at the city of Golden from the air and see part of the campus for the school of mines, and there is a big "M" on the football field and it says "MINES" in the end zones. Technology is awesome!
Cool. :) For some reason I always pictured it in the East like in some smallish town in New York, Maine, Vermont, or Massachusetts. Don't know why, since technically I've never been to New York, Maine, Vermont, or Massachusetts. ; )
I love Golden! And I love Colorado. Great choice.
Post a Comment