Setting: How do you handle using a real location for a novel?

In my last blog, I encouraged you to send questions that you've often wondered about or issues that you're dealing with in your work in progress. I'm still eager to hear from you so please leave a comment with your question or email me at authorgailmartin@aol.com and I'll add your question to the topics I'll cover.

Today the question has to do with setting and mainly the concern about using the names of real places and real streets.

Here's my advice:
One of the exciting things in writing about a real place is connecting with not only your faithful fans but readers who live in the area of your setting or even those who live in the state. Many of my books are set in Michigan, because it's a state I know well. I've traveled all over Michigan as a lifetime resident, and I've enjoyed many of its wonders. I hear from many readers who either live in Michigan or lived in Michigan once and who love to read street names they know, restaurants where they've eaten, businesses they've visited and sights they've seen. I have used many real places, and I have also create fictitious towns based on real ones.

How I've done this is to set my book in a fictitious town neighboring a real location. For example, my Loving Series contains seven novels set in Loving, Michigan, a fictitious location which I patterned after Grand Haven, a tourist area on the shore of Lake Michigan. I did this to avoid errors about Grand Haven. No one could challenge anything about Loving, but my characters often went to Grand Haven where I used real restaurants, real street names,real festivals and annual events in the community. I was able to do this, because I had visited Grand Haven numerous times and had actually visited these locations and eaten at the restaurants. I am still receiving letters from people who loved that series.

Using real places works well, as long as you don't say anything negative about these places. My editors had no problem with my doing this, but if I would have said something negative, then they would have asked me to create a fictitious restaurant or business for that scene rather than using the name of an actual place.

In my book With Christmas In His Heart set on Mackinac Island, I used real names of everything. Although I had stayed on the island every season---spring, summer and fall, I'd never visited in winter when the island is fairly bare of tourist. Because of my lack of information about that time of year, I asked a year-round resident of the wonderful and unique island to provide me with all the things I needed to know about Mackinac Island during the winter months. I knew what corner residents purchased their Christmas trees and how they got them home -- in an isalnd without motorized vehicles -- as well as how they disposed of the trees after Christmas. Again this book was loved not only by Michiganders and visitors of this island but by many readers. It sold very well and won a National Readers Choice Award this year for best inspirational.

I prefer to know a location fairly well before using it as a setting. I have written a few books set in places I'd never been, but I did tremendous research and, in most cases, knew someone who lived near the setting and could ask that person for details. In fact, one friend took videos of the town, sent photos and so much more to help me.

So don't be afraid to use a real location, especially one you know well. If you're already published, make sure your editors allow actual locations, and then, do good job researching so that you can provide real facts -- but caution: don't contrive a scene just to use a well-known location in that town. Make sure every place your characters go is relevant to the story and helps to move the plot forward. That's the secret to good writing.