Hello, my friends.
Welcome back to all the book, music and art lovers out there. I love this season of Thanks and Giving, and Gathering around the table for Celebrations with dear ones. My wish for you all is the precious gift of time with family, friends, and each other. Because I believe in Giving Back, you will find my gift to you in my “New to You” section. And finally, in this Month of Gratitude, know that I am beyond grateful for you, the readers who have welcomed my books into your minds and hearts. Books are “An intimacy between strangers”… there is no connection quite like it.
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From my table to yours...
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Like so many of you, I love to read fiction set in an evocative place. A foreign city, a lonely stretch of beach, a monastery clinging to the edge of a mountain… Whether it is a familiar location, or somewhere totally new to the reader, the right setting can add so much atmosphere to your story. So today, the theme of my newsletter is EVOCATIVE SETTINGS.
The Story Behind the Story
will explore my personal experiences in choosing the right settings for scenes in my novels.
In the Spotlight shines a light on award-winning author Barbara Linn Probst, whose recent, beautiful novel, The Color of Ice, is set in the stark beauty of Iceland.
I’ve also included four ‘New for You’ recommendations. And yes, there is a Giveaway.
So come in, sit down, and discover how just the right setting can make a scene or character come alive.
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Today, my personal ‘Story Behind the Story’ is The Importance of Setting in fiction.
I write novels of international suspense, set in the present with flashbacks to the past, so most of my settings must be authentic. I try to ‘paint pictures with words’ and readers respond to my sense of place. They say my books are very visual and cinematic, and find themselves falling into the scene. That’s because my readers have taught me that Settings Matter. The right Setting is often so important that you cannot imagine the story taking place anywhere else.
In all three books of my Classical Music Suspense series—The Lost Concerto, Dark Rhapsody, and Shadow Music—I’ve learned something more about the significance of Setting.
First, readers expect authenticity. When you are able to personally visit a place, you experience all the authentic sights, sounds, scents and small hidden moments that make a scene come alive. I went to Boston University, and fell in love with that beautiful old city—the cobbled streets of Beacon Hill, outdoor concerts along the Charles River, the Swan boats. So it’s no wonder that I chose Boston as the perfect setting for the first book in my Suspense series, The Lost Concerto,
which introduces pianist Maggie O’Shea. Maggie owns a music shop in Beacon Hill, jogs the Boston Common paths, and is a soloist with the Boston Symphony.
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Visiting a location is not always an option, of course. That’s where research comes in. Each of my books flashes back to the past—1880s France; Hungary during the Cold War; Austria, Italy and Paris during World War II—and so extensive research is a must. Non-fiction History and Travel books, Memoirs and letters often offer the personal, authentic information you need.
Inspiration and Setting are two sides of the same coin, be open to Inspiration wherever you are. SOME PLACES JUST SPEAK TO YOU—and if you ‘listen,’ that setting just might give you a scene readers will love and remember.
Countless moments in my novels have been inspired by International travel. Gazing up at the high towers of Notre Dame, I knew it would be the perfect setting for a scene in a novel.
In Vienna, out of nowhere, several Lipizzaner Stallions thundered past me into their stable yard. Their history and beauty gave me the perfect setting for a meaningful storyline in Dark Rhapsody.
Sometimes, the character will inspire the setting. In Shadow Music, a scene set at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, late at night, deepened my Colonel’s character.
As I said, some places just speak to you. You only have to listen.
Look for the unusual. When setting a scene, I often look for unusual places that will intrigue the reader. For scenes in Manhattan, another city I know well, I chose lesser known settings—the West Side’s High Line, and Broadway’s intimate St. Malachy’s Actor’s Chapel—to move the action forward.
Paris chapters were enhanced by the unsettling Bird Market, discovered totally by accident, and Chopin’s grave at Père Lachaise Cemetery—the perfect place for Maggie to meet her mysterious Colonel.
In Cornwall—well, what could be more intriguing than the legendary remains of King Arthur’s castle, set on a cliff high above the sea (and yes I climbed every terrifying step).
Unexpected settings can capture your reader’s imagination in so many ways—stir an emotion, elicit a memory, offer a place they might recognize—or, introduce them to a new place they will want to visit. I guarantee some readers will seek these wonderful places out.
The right setting will enrich a scene, and often advance the plot as well. Since my main character Maggie is a classical pianist, Music becomes a character in my stories. I have found that evocative, intimate musical settings greatly enhance and deepen the mood and action in all my books. A backstage tour of Carnegie Hall gave me not only inspiration but several of my most suspenseful scenes ever—as did a lone grand piano in a Provencal abbey. A very special character, my cellist Hannah, came to life during a visit to the Vienna State Opera. Shadow Music opens with a performance by Maggie in Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts atrium, where she meets a mysterious Russian stranger...
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Finally, Settings can set a mood, create an atmosphere, or stir an emotion that will transport the reader into the scene. Since my genre is Suspense, evocative scenes are especially important.
A mystical Circle of Stones in Cornwall inspired a terrifying scene for Maggie. Readers still talk about the heart-pounding moments in a backstage rehearsal room strewn with hundreds of blood-red roses.
For me, the right Setting creates a mood, a feeling, an emotion, a sense of romance or danger—and the scenes take on a richer life, drawing the reader deeply into the story.
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Today my Spotlight is on an award-winning, Amazon best-selling author of contemporary women’s fiction, Barbara Linn Probst, and her beautiful new book, The Color of Ice. Honestly, she writes the books I wish I had written. In The Color of Ice, the stark beauty and blue icebergs of Iceland play a major role in the story. In fact, this book should come with a WARNING: You will want to stop everything and hop on the next plane to Iceland. Who better to be in the Spotlight when today’s theme is all about Settings? You can read my full review on Amazon, but for now… Please welcome Barbara and her thoughts on the significance of Setting in her book.
The role of setting in THE COLOR OF ICE by Barbara Linn Probst
In some stories, the setting is simply a container for the events, which would be just as compelling no matter where they took place. At other times, the setting is vital and we feel, when we read the story, that it could only have happened right there, in that very spot. The landscape itself—light, water, rocks, soil, and sky—seems to shape the lives and actions of the characters.
That was certainly true for me when I was writing The Color of Ice, which is set in Iceland. Known as the Land of Fire and Ice, Iceland is a magical, otherworldly island forged by glaciers, volcanoes, and underground thermal pools. I knew I wanted to write about a woman’s opening to passion, forgiveness, and redemption—and Iceland, like a guiding force, showed me the way. In particular, it was Jokulsarlon, the mystical blue iceberg lagoon, that provided the book’s central metaphor. Shaped by slow invisible forces, always changing, always “becoming”—the blue icebergs are the elusive “grail” that artist Mack Charbonneau yearns to capture in blown glass. So too, the northern lights, visible on their own terms …
It wasn’t until I’d finished writing The Color of Ice that I realized the significance of Iceland as a setting. Here are three quotes, all from the point-of-view of protagonist Cathryn McAllister, that illustrate what I mean.
Page 55, early in the story: “She liked who she was in Iceland. She didn’t want to stop being that person.”
Page 115, at the one-third mark: “It was Iceland’s fault. She never would have let herself fall into this kind of spell in America."
Page 240, about three-quarters of the way: “Because whatever was happening to her in Iceland would stop happening if she left too soon, before it showed her what her art could be.”
I’ll let you see for yourself how these three points are connected! Find out more on Amazon or Barbara's website.
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NEW TO YOU? AUTHORS YOU MIGHT ENJOY– |
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There is nothing quite like the feeling of discovering a new author whose books you really enjoy. My gift to you today is four writers of different genres whom I hope you will like.
Thriller/Mystery: The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb
Ray McMillian is a Black classical musician on the rise (in spite of prejudice in the orchestral world) when a shocking theft sends him on a desperate quest to recover his great-great-grandfather’s violin on the eve of the most prestigious musical competition in the world.
Historical/Dual Timeline: The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
In 18th century London, the owner of a hidden Apothecary Shop sells poisons to women abused by the men in their lives—until a fatal mistake echoes across the centuries, drawing a present-day London historian into a long-lost web of secrets and murder.
Crime Series: Duplicity by Shawn Wilson
Meet retired Detective Brick Kavanaugh, a ‘White Knight’ introduced in Wilson’s first book, Relentless, who has settled in DC and becomes involved in a complex cold case and a terrifying kidnapping that hits too close to home.
World War II Fiction, based on true life stories: The Road Remembered, by Kaye Schmitz
This is a novel of courage, humanity and love. In the last months of the war, a young soldier on the Front Lines in Europe—torn between his duty and his heart—fatefully crosses paths with a German woman who has risked her life to save Jewish children. Their bond, and the choices they make, echo across the decades.
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Book Giveaway and Good News! |
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More Good News for my newest classical music suspense book, Shadow Music. I am honored and so grateful to share that Shadow Music is now the winner of THREE GOLD MEDALS:
2022 NIEA FIRST PLACE/GOLD WINNER – National Indie Excellence Award for Suspense
2021/2 FOREWORD INDIE GOLD MEDAL – for Mystery
2022 IPPY GOLD MEDAL – Independent Publishers Award for Suspense / Thriller
2022 FINALIST - International Book Award, Mystery / Suspense
To celebrate, I am offering a signed hardcover copy of Shadow Music. Sandra Brown’s review included “Spine-Tingling.” Hank Phillippi Ryan describes it as “Gripping, intense, lyrical, heart-breaking.” A reader I never met wrote, “This is by far the best book I have read this year! It has everything I need from romance to adventure, danger and family. I had to listen to Rachmaninoff again just because of the descriptive emotion of the musician.”
As Shadow Music
begins, classical pianist Maggie O’Shea is moving on with her life after the tragic loss of her husband and her music. But just as she is beginning to resolve her past and find love again, she is drawn to Cornwall in a harrowing search for a long-lost Van Gogh, and the truth about her husband’s death. Set against the backdrop of the international music world, past and present collide as decades-old secrets from World War II Paris are exposed and a trio of vicious Russians threaten Maggie’s new-found life and all those she holds dear—including a troubled foster care teen on the run. Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 is at the heart of this story that strikes the chords of every human emotion.
FYI, The Lost Concerto (#1 in my series) and Dark Rhapsody (#2) are frequently available on E-book sale, and always through your library. Learn Maggie’s story from the beginning. All my Royalties go to charities for children’s reading, music, art, education & nutrition programs, so it’s a win-win!
To enter the Giveaway, just send a comment to contests@helainemario.com.
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Thank you for joining me today. Please feel free to connect with me at helaine@helainemario.com. I’d love to hear your thoughts and questions—and learn what settings you have enjoyed in the books you read. If you missed any of my first four newsletters, (including themes of Music in my books, Inspiration, Character, and Writing a Series) you can find them on my website, helainemario.com. Coming in future newsletters… Plot. And Romance!
I will leave you with a favorite quote, below.
‘Til we meet again, Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Reading, and take care of each other.
Helaine
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A FAVORITE QUOTE
These words have been at the heart of all of my books:
“There are four things in this life that will change you: Love, Music, Art, and Loss. The first three will keep you wild and full of passion. May you allow the last to make you brave.”
—Erin van Vuren, Poet
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