When Setting Is a Character

Can setting be a character in a story? You bet. Some places naturally are so exotic, exciting and beautiful that they cry out to star in a movie or book.

I’ve read books, wonderful books, set in faraway places. But the settings served only as a backdrop, mentioned, but forgotten. I’ve always been a little disappointed that I didn’t learn more about the locale during the stories. I love stories where the setting is the framework that holds the story, especially when the story is set in a beautiful place I want to visit or one I want to revisit.

When I traveled to Rome, Italy, in 2006, my second trip there, I was again blown away by the city’s beauty, vibrancy and history. All four of my grandparents came from Italy, so the country itself holds meaning for me.

Rome was bustling as always that June, especially with World Cup fever all around. We stayed at a hotel on one of the most popular and crowded streets, Via Corsi. Trevi Fountain was a short walk away. The Pantheon was around the corner. And so was an amazing gelato shop where we bought too many luscious gelatos, the Italian ice cream. Yum. Kiwi Melon was my favorite. My husband and I ate at least two gelatos a day. Good thing we walked all over the city to shed those extra calories.

Italy is magical and begs to be its own character in books and movies. As we walked the ancient cobbled streets of Rome, ate amazing food (saffron gnocchi with fresh-shaved truffles, anyone?) and drank lots of delicious wine, I just knew I had to set a story there. And I knew the richness of Rome could never fade into the background. It had to be a character.

In the fall of 2009, The Wild Rose Press announced a new romantic suspense series, Jewels of the Night. The stories could be set anywhere in the world, but had to involve a stolen blue diamond. The proverbial light bulb went off in my head. I’d write a romantic suspense set in Rome. My novel, Murder, Mi Amore, was released in December 2010. I’ve since gotten the rights back and have published it myself.

Imagine if you were a young American woman vacationing in Rome to get over a painful breakup, and your Roman holiday is suddenly disrupted by jewel thieves, murder, and one very hot and mysterious Italian guy who may or may not be involved with the strange goings on around you.

That’s the premise of Murder, Mi Amore. Rome and other parts of Italy are as important to my story as my hero and heroine, Dominic and Lexie. Every scene in Murder, Mi Amore is authentic. Even the meals Lexie ate are the same ones we enjoyed on our trip. The hotel on the Via Corsi where Lexie stays is the one where we stayed, but with a different name. I remember well how I felt as I shouldered my way through the throngs of tourists and natives on Via Corsi. I used those feelings to describe Lexie as she makes her way on this same street after she buys the handbag that launches her wild adventure. When Lexie is dragged through dark and narrow streets by her would-be kidnapper, I pictured the little alleyways dotting Rome.

As I wrote about Lexie and Dominic meeting for the first time at Trevi Fountain, I could hear the chattering of the crowds and the snap of cameras and feel the sun’s heat. I could almost taste the wine Lexie orders. When you see pictures of this iconic fountain, it looks as if it’s in the middle of a very wide street. Nope. It’s set in a corner of a narrow cobblestoned street.

While writing Murder, Mi Amore, I was once again in Rome – running my fingers over the walls of the Coliseum, tramping through the Ancient Roman Forum, eating luscious pizza and drinking rich red wine at outdoor cafes while motor scooters darted around us.

A chapter in Murder, Mi Amore is set in the Abruzzo town where my grandparents were raised. Writing that chapter brought me back to the beautiful, mountainous, rural region of my ancestors. On our trip, we traveled the same road to Abruzzo as Lexie and Dominic. However, unlike them, no one was trying to run us off the road into a deep ravine.

Could my story have taken place anywhere else? Yes, but I would have lost a major character – an exciting and exotic character, and one a little bit dangerous. Italy.

My husband and took a Viking River Cruise up the Seine in June, 2016. I plan to write a Gothic romance set in Normandy. The rugged, rainy coast of Normandy is perfect for a dark Gothic.

We spent time in Paris, one of the world's great cities. Here's a picture of a gargoyle at the top of Notre Dame Cathedral.

Because our son lives in Las Vegas, we go there at least once a year. My husband suggested I start writing stories set in Vegas. I loved the idea. I now have two novellas set in Las Vegas, and I’m currently writing a marriage-of-convenience novel set there.

Anyone who has been to Las Vegas knows the place has its own character that can’t be duplicated. The story possibilities set in Vegas are endless.

What do you think? Do you like having a setting as a character in what you read and write?

Here’s the blurb for Murder, Mi Amore:

Danger. Deception. Desire.

Murder, jewel thieves and terrorists intrude on an American woman's Roman holiday; can she trust the sexy, mysterious Italian man who comes to her aid?

Lexie Cortese is in Rome to forget. The last thing she expects is to meet a sexy Interpol agent who suspects her of being part of a terrorist plot involving a stolen diamond. Suddenly thrust into a world of murders, muggings, and kidnappings, Lexie doesn’t know what to think—or who to believe.

Dominic Brioni’s assignment is simple. Befriend the American and bring her to justice. Only Lexie seems the most unlikely terrorist Dominic has ever met. Sweet, determined, and direct, she faces life with courage and fire, a fire that sparks his protective instincts and a longing for something more—something he allowed himself to hope for only once before.

But that woman betrayed him, and his boss isn’t about to let him forget it. With his career on the line and Lexie in danger, will Dominic learn to trust his heart before they both get killed?

  Here’s a little about my Las Vegas story, Bad Luck Partners, in the anthology Season of Promises Holiday Box Set.

Holidays have never brought Las Vegas hotel concierge Laney Sikora anything but bad luck in the romance department. The worst was her fiancé dumping her on Valentine’s Day. Via text. She’s determined to spend New Year's Eve alone with no romantic entanglements. But when her hunky new neighbor locks himself out of his apartment, she can’t leave him standing in the hallway. What's a girl to do?

Las Vegas is just a pit stop for Chicago native and radio personality Chance Carlisle while he waits for his agent to land him something bigger in L.A. But in the meantime, he keeps bumping into—literally—his adorable, but accident-prone, neighbor. Their private New Year’s Eve celebration leads to a plan: they’ll become the Bad Luck Partners, dating only on holidays and special events, avoiding holiday heartbreaks and matchmaking mamas.

 
But Fate might have something else in mind for the klutzy cutie and the hotshot talk show host. Can their temporary partnership become a forever deal?

And from A Very Vegas Christmas in the anthology Holiday Magic, from The World Romance Writers.

A Las Vegas event planner in need of luck meets a mysterious guy who might be her winning ticket. Will his secret split them apart?

Can things get any worse for Las Vegas event planner Amanda Moreau? Her boyfriend dumped her for a stripper; she’s arranging a Christmas wedding for a Bridezilla; and her mother is playing matchmaker from 2000 miles away. When she meets hunky and ever-so-sweet Erik, who’s in town for a conference, she begins to hope her luck is changing. But Erik has a secret that threatens to split them apart. 

Links:

Murder, Mi Amore:

http://www.amazon.com/Murder-Mi-Amore/dp/B009UEVVP0/?tag=carmaraut-20

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/murder-mi-amore-cara-marsi/1103364955?ean=2940016033266

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/murder-mi-amore/id599801756?mt=11

https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/murder-mi-amore

Season of Promises Holiday Box Set:

https://www.amazon.com/Season-Promises-Merry-Holly-ebook/dp/B01LQUP9AS/?tag=carmaraut-20

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/season-of-promises-holiday-box-set-marian-lanouette/1124742472?ean=2940153535586

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/season-of-promises-holiday-box-set

Holiday Magic:

https://www.amazon.com/Holiday-Magic-Rose-Anderson-ebook/dp/B01MXQQQJM/?tag=carmaraut-20

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/holiday-magic-rose-anderson/1125245793?ean=2940153544717

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/holiday-magic-2

Visit my website: www.caramarsi.com for more on all my books.

Reincarnation. Yes? No? Maybe?

Reincarnation. Yes? No? Maybe?

It’s that time of year again when thoughts turn to the supernatural—witches, ghosts, monsters, vampires, shifters. I want to talk about another supernatural phenomenon: reincarnation.

You don’t hear much about reincarnation nowadays, but back in the 1970’s the occult was all the rage. Along with that came interest in reincarnation. I always thought being reincarnated meant you came back as an animal. Not so. Although there may be a belief out there that says we are reborn as animals, I didn’t encounter that in my readings. If I were to come back as an animal, I want to be a spoiled housecat like my very spoiled diva cat. To feed my interest in reincarnation, I devoured books by Edgar Cayce and Ruth Montgomery, two experts on recurring lives.

Here’s the definition of reincarnation from Dictionary.com:  Being reborn in another body. Several religions, including Hinduism, believe that the human spirit returns to Earth in different forms again and again as it strives for perfection.

The object of being born again is to make up for past sins, aka karma, and try to live a better life than the last one. When a soul reaches perfection, think Mother Theresa, that soul goes to its reward in heaven and isn’t reborn again. Here’s the definition of karma from the Urban Dictionary: the Buddhist belief that whatever you do comes back to you, e.g. if you do something good, something good will happen to you, and vice versa.

When a person dies, his/her soul goes to a spiritual plane, think Purgatory. That soul has a guide who reviews that person’s past lives and determines what the person must do in the next life to atone for sins and wrongs and attain perfection. Then the soul is reborn as an infant. Young children will sometimes remember their past lives, but that goes away as they get older.

One of the theories being tossed around in those heady, riotous 1970’s was that many of the Vietnam War protesters were the reborn souls of men who had died in World War 2, and that they didn’t want any more wars. Interesting to think about.

When my son was three or four, he used to tell my husband and me that when he lived with his “other daddy” he had a black dog that lay at the bottom of the stairs. My son has had only one daddy, and we’re a cat family. We’ve never had a dog. I got chills every time my son told us that story. As he got older, any memories he had of his “other daddy” and the black dog left him. I think it’s telling that my son never said his “other mommy,” which makes me think he recognized me from being with him in a past life.

A friend once told me that when her little brother was three years old, he’d tell the family stories of living in Paris, France, in the 1700’s. He’d describe the sounds of the carriage wheels and the smells of the city. How would he have known that, especially the smells? He couldn’t even read.

Things have happened in my life to make me believe reincarnation could be real. When I was a small child, my grandmother had paintings of scenes from Ancient Rome hanging in her house. I’d stare at those paintings and know what it was like to live there. I still remember the familiar feeling and the happiness I got when looking at those paintings. Around the same time, I used to have dreams where I was dressed in flowing Roman clothes and standing in a garden decorated with Roman statuary. To this day whenever I see a wooden door in a stone wall leading to a garden, I get chills. In a past life, did I live in Ancient Rome and did I have a garden with a wooden door? I love anything to do with Ancient Rome and read all I can about it. It was a very brutal time in our history, yet, I feel it was a happy time for me.

On the other hand, I hate, absolutely hate, the Middle Ages. I rarely read Medieval romances. I think I lived a very bad life then. Of course, most of us can say that. Unless you were of the nobility, you lived a particularly harsh life in that dark period.

Some years back, I toured an old house a friend had just bought. I’d never seen that house before. In the basement was a “vault” room, a place where the original owners stored their money and jewels. As soon as I entered, I knew without a doubt I’d been in that room before. Has this ever happened to you?

Once, when my son was a toddler, a friend invited a group of us to her house to have our fortunes told by a psychic who did past life readings. A fun evening. I brought my son because my husband was working that night. Without my asking the psychic anything about my son, the man looked at him and told me that my son had been my brother in a previous life and he was with me in this life because I needed to teach him a lesson. I haven’t figured out yet what that lesson is. At the same reading, I showed the psychic pictures of my husband and also my ex-husband. He couldn’t get a reading on my husband, but he told me I’d been with my ex in another life and I’d done something bad to him. I had to make it up to him in this life. That could explain so much of what I went through with my ex and why I put up with the things I did.

People will say they were a queen or a Pharaoh or some famous person in another life. The reality is, if reincarnation is true, most of us lived ordinary lives of quiet desperation.

One of the tenets of reincarnation is that you must do no harm to another living creature. If you’re in business, ambition is good, but you must not hurt others in your rise to the top. This is wonderful advice no matter your beliefs.

If you’re of a more scientific bent, my memories and experiences, as well as the memories and experiences of others, could be what Carl Jung called “the collective unconscious.” Here’s the definition: (in Jungian psychology) the part of the unconscious mind that is derived from ancestral memory and experience and is common to all humankind, as distinct from the individual's unconscious. In other words, my memories of Ancient Rome might be in my DNA, passed down through the ages from my Italian lineage.

There are times when I want to believe in reincarnation. It’s comforting to know we are given another chance to get things right. They say in each life you’re surrounded by the same people. It’s also comforting to know your loved ones will be with you in your new life. At other times, I feel tired and don’t really want to do this all over again. What about you? Have you had experiences like mine? Things you can’t explain. Are you a believer in reincarnation? Or are you a person who rejects it and thinks it’s nothing more than the collective unconscious? Or are you a maybe like me?

I’d love to hear about your “unexplained” experiences.

In the spirit of the season, my scary, sexy shifter romance, with elements of suspense and reincarnation, is on sale for only 99 cents.

Nick Radford is a reluctant werewolf who’s been fighting the Beast within for nearly 500 years. He’s never killed a human, but the Beast is gaining strength and Nick may not be able to ward off his inner demon much longer. Kyla Yaeger is an elite were-hunter with a scarred past. Her life’s mission is to slay the werewolves who slaughtered her parents. Her quest has brought her to Maine where she's been summoned to destroy the werewolf terrorizing the quaint little village of Heavensent. The last thing she needs is to get distracted by her mysterious--not to mention hunky--new neighbor Nick Radford. By the time Kyla learns Nick is her target, she's already fallen for him, making her task of killing him that much harder. She is torn between her love for him and her duty to kill her sworn enemy. Nick fights his forbidden love for Kyla, knowing she is duty-bound to kill him. Kyla and Nick must join together to fight an even bigger threat--one that will destroy all humanity. Only by their combined powers can they destroy the evil and bring an end to a centuries old curse.

 http://www.amazon.com/Cursed-Mates-Cara-Marsi-ebook/dp/B00JK5AHLS/?tag=carmaraut-20

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/cursed-mates-cara-marsi/1104197347

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/427944

http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/cursed-mates

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/cursed-mates/id858952514