Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Hearing From Readers

Here is a short excerpt from Where Love Once Lived:

Matt’s Quarry restaurant overlooked a rock pit that he’d turned into a lush garden by adding a thick layer of arable soil followed by a variety of trees, bushes, cacti, and flowers. People came from around the country to see the garden, making it difficult to get reservations for the restaurant, especially when the flowers were in full bloom. Matt had saved them a table with a view, and the special lighting installed in the garden below made it easier to appreciate the garden’s beauty.

Sunday, a friend in Georgetown gave my ego a boost when she told me she wanted to go to Austin to eat in the Quarry restaurant. Well, there is no such place. I made it up. But, think what that's like for a writer to hear a reader say something like that. What it meant to me was the description of the setting in the book was so good the reader wanted to experience it for themselves. Wow!

As I explained in an earlier post, my writing instructor encouraged us to not use restaurants in our stories because they had been used so much. But, I felt I really needed to place Karen and Brian in a public place where he could break up with her without causing a scene. Restaurants aren't the only public places, but they do include a certain code of conduct that might not be found elsewhere.

To help sell my writing instructor on the idea of using a setting she felt was boring, I spiced it up by coming up with an imaginary place that looked like the Butchart Gardens in Victoria Canada. She bought it and everyone seems to enjoy that scene.

By the way, being in a fancy restaurant didn't stop Karen. She's unlike most people. All Brian had to do was sit there quietly and she tossed a bill on the table and started to walk out.

See http://christianbookmobile.blogspot.com/search/label/Quarry%20Restaurant for the complete post about the restaurant.

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