What happens to stories when a writer moves? I mean when an author pulls up stakes and relocates to a different place. I’ve just done that and I’m wondering how it will affect my writing.
How much is a writer affected by locale? When you write in a room with a window, or even write outside, does that sliver of outside world influence you? When you go about your life—working, shopping, dining out—how much do the immediate surroundings and the local people seep into your fiction?
Assuming that effect is greater than zero, then something has to change when you box up your household goods, load a truck, and transport them to a different location. If your new place is far enough away, maybe several states away, a change in perspective occurs. Nature looks different in the new place. Local people talk differently and have different views.
Remember the famous New Yorker magazine cover from March 1976, showing the world from the perspective of someone living in New York City? Local streets and buildings were well defined, but things got vague and nebulous beyond that. It’s like that for all of us, isn’t it? We have a good handle on our nearby vicinity, but only a rough mental map of the rest of the world.
Now, suddenly, my idea of ‘near’ has undergone a disruption. I have to create a whole new mental map. As of now I must view the entire country from a different angle.
Thanks to modern instant communication, I won’t lose touch with my writer friends from my previous state. We’ll keep our critique group going. But I’ll likely establish new writer friends close to my new house. Assuming I can join a new critique group nearby, their critiques are likely to be different and to emphasize different things. They may well shape my writing, molding it into a slightly altered form.
Only time will tell if readers can discern any difference in my stories, or if I’ll detect any differences myself. I’d love to hear from other writers who have moved. What changes did you experience? Did the move help or harm your writing? Did the new setting for your real life become the new setting for your stories? Did your characters start talking differently?
Let me know. I’d love to hear about the impact of your move on your writing. For me, of course, some things won’t change. I’ll still come up with blog posts; I’ll still have the same electronic contact information; and I’ll still be—
Poseidon’s Scribe