Setting-Inspired Character

When I first moved to Los Angeles, I had the idea for an urban fantasy set in my neighborhood, featuring a reluctant wizard – a woman but I call her a wizard because I didn’t want her to use magic like our stereotype of a witch (cauldron, herbs, etc.) (It turns out that she prefers the appellation “mage” anyway – see The Mage of Motor Avenue.)

The thing about LA is that while it definitely has a dark underbelly, it’s not a gritty, dangerous city the way New York is (at least in our imaginations). It’s sunshine and beaches and surfer dudes and chill vibes, so the only way I could make an urban fantasy work in this setting was to have a sense of humor about it, and thus Lois, my snarky older woman protagonist, was born.

She fits her setting perfectly because most people in LA are not very serious either, or at least they are not serious on the surface. Underneath is a whole ‘nother story.

When I was writing this series, I used to walk around my neighborhood and make notes about the landscape and buildings so that readers could picture it at least a little.

Writers sometimes use setting to affect plot events – the big snowstorm cutting off people from help, or the big city making it easier for the villain to hide – but for The Mage of Motor Avenue series, the setting inspired Lois’s entire character; I can’t imagine her living anywhere else.