My Kind of Town

A street in Istanbul - May 2011

While blogging, I was listening to Frank Sinatra’s “My Kind of Town”. In this song, Sinatra sings about specific places in Chicago and people’s friendliness.   

This song inspired me to write a post about setting which is one of the essential elements of a scene. Setting is the physical background of the story – a distinct time, place, social circumstances, as well as mood or atmosphere.  

The setting in most of my stories has been inspired by places where I’ve lived and/or visited. I said, “most” because there’s always an exception to the rule. A few of my stories take place in cities I’ve never been to. Although it's a rewarding experience, writing about a place I am not familiar with is time-consuming. I had to ensure the description and facts were accurate.

I enjoy, however, describing the setting -especially one that is meaningful to me- because it gives me the opportunity to travel there once again along with my characters.
Do you use familiar places in your setting? Do you have a special place that you’ve used more than once in your stories?