Readers love story trivia. I find book backstory to be interesting as well. How did an author decide on a certain theme or overarching problem that needs to be solved? How were characters with flaws and complexities created? How was a setting selected and why?
Amish
Christmas Search,
my latest book from Love Inspired Suspense, released this month and highlights
two interesting locales that were fun to research and include in the story. The
book opens in Pinecraft, Florida, a winter vacation destination for Amish folks
who want to escape the cold northern winters for a few weeks of sunshine and salt
air. Pinecraft was established in the 1920s as a tourist camp in a rural area
north of Sarasota. Over the years the city has expanded and now surrounds the 178-acre
Amish vacation oasis.
 |
| County initiatives to ensure Pinecraft retains its historic charm are featured in this Sarasota Herald Tribune article, from Feb 24, 2015, written by Josh Salman. |
From December to April some 5,000 plain folks—both
Amish and Mennonite—travel to and from Florida on charter buses. A crowd of
onlookers is always on hand to welcome the new arrivals and to farewell those
returning home. Vacationers rent cottages and bungalows that include conveniences
not found in typical Amish homes, such as air conditioning and central heat, as
well as televisions and dish washers. Two-wheel bicycles and three-wheel
adult tricycles are favorite modes of transportation within Pinecraft, while city buses or taxis are used to ferry the Amish to the beautiful beaches of nearby Siesta Key.
Shuffleboard and bocce ball are favorite pastimes.
Amish restaurants, handcrafted furniture and knick-knack shops and fresh
produce stands attract tourists to the area. Big Olaf’s ice cream
parlor does as well.
Pinecraft has a laidback feel that draws folks from all walks of life, both plain and fancy. In my story, it also attracts trouble that sends my heroine, Lizzie
Kauffman, on the run along with Amish woodcarver Caleb Zook.
 |
| President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Little White House, Warm Springs, GA. |
Searching for their missing friend leads Lizzie
and Caleb north to another interesting locale—Warm Springs, Georgia. Situated a
little more than an hour from Atlanta, the historic town is the site of
Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Little White House. The president first came to
Warm Springs in 1924 in hopes of finding a curative treatment for his polio. His
condition improved after soaking in the mineral waters, and a few years later,
he established a rehabilitation center in Warm Springs that attracted polio
patients from around the world. After the Sabin and Salk polio vaccines stemmed
the disease in the 1950s, the center switched its focus from infantile paralysis to the treatment of persons
with other types of disabilities and remains one of Georgia’s finest rehab centers.
 |
| A wax replica of FDR in the Little White House. |
The town of Warm Springs features 100-year-old restored shops as well as the Hotel Warm Springs Bed & Breakfast Inn where journalists rented rooms when FDR stayed at the Little White House. It was at the Little White House on April 12, 1945, that the president suffered a cerebral hemorrhage while sitting for his portrait. Newsmen covering the president raced to the hotel phone—which remains in the lobby today—to call their papers and file stories about Roosevelt’s death.
When FDR died, journalists called their newsrooms from the
phone booth at Hotel Warm Springs (seen at the rear of the photo).
I’ve written magazine articles about Warm Springs and its history for a number of publications and love spending time in the charming town. I hope readers will enjoy learning more about Warm Springs and Pinecraft when they read Amish Christmas Search.
 |
| The chapel on the Warm Springs Rehabilitation Center campus where FDR worshiped the Sunday prior to his death. |
Do you enjoy learning about interesting towns in the stories you read? Share information about any towns in your area of the country that would make unique settings for a book. Leave a comment to be entered in dual drawings for Amish Christmas Search and a two-in-one also out this month that includes my story, Amish Christmas Secrets, and Vannetta Chapman’s story, The Amish Christmas Matchmaker.
Wishing you abundant blessings,
Debby Giusti
Amish
Christmas Search
An Amish girl’s disappearance is a mystery…
and
the clues lead straight into danger at Christmas.
Convinced
her friend didn’t run away as the police
believe,
Lizzie Kauffman searches for the truth—but
someone
will kill to keep it hidden. Now the Amish
housekeeper
and her friend Caleb Zook are on the
run
for their lives. And if they want to find their
missing
friend, Lizzie and Caleb must figure out
a way
to survive the holiday.
Order HERE!
Hi Debby:
ReplyDeleteWow! I'd buy "Amish Christmas Search" just for either location in which it is set. I've heard a lot about the resort area in Florida but I have never read a story set there. As for Warm Springs, as soon as I see those words I always think of Lucy Rutherfurd. I suppose you don't mention her in the story. Talk about romance!
I just downloaded, "The Amish Christmas Matchmaker and Amish Christmas Secrets" as a 2 in 1 deal. I like Christmas romances the best and always like an Amish read. We have Amish here near Tulsa. I'm getting well set for my holiday reading.
I think a good place to set a story would be Chama, New Mexico, or Crested Butte, Colorado. I've been there and loved it.
I often buy books for the location in many different genres and I'd love to see greater diversity in locations. I'd say you have a big winner in "Amish Christmas Search".
Vince
I need to research Chama, New Mexico! My hubby is a New Mexico State grad and our first home was in El Paso, TX. We traveled north into NM a number of times. That area is beautiful!
DeleteSo glad you like the idea of the two locales. No, I didn't mention Lucy Rutherford, but her room above the garage is part of the Little White House tour. I find it amazing that the media did not report FDR's handicap. That certainly wouldn't be the case today!
Thanks for getting the two-in-one. I'm sure you'll enjoy Vannetta's story. She's a very talented writer.
Hi Debby, I DO enjoy learning about interesting towns in the stories I read! Being a GA lady, I was familiar with Warm Springs but never heard about the resort area in FL. I loved Amish Christmas Search (reviewed it on A.) and also enjoyed Amish Christmas Secrets earlier this year. So don't count me in the draw. Keep writing your great books and blessings on you.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jackie! You know I appreciate your support!!!
DeleteHubby and I were in the North GA mountains this weekend for our grandchild's baseball tournament. I love that area...and the changing leaves made the rolling hills even more beautiful!
Debby, I love this, "How did an author decide on a certain theme or overarching problem that needs to be solved? How were characters with flaws and complexities created? How was a setting selected and why?" This is one of the reasons I enjoy reading books by authors I know. It's an insight into how their minds work, as well as the H and H. It's a trifecta when they've discussed the writing process on Seekerville or some other site and I can see the "bones" of the story. Or the sausage-making.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoy reading about different towns and cities, and their little pockets of personality, such as Boston's Chinatown and Italian North End. I love enclaves where people preserve their traditions throughout the years, which I suppose can be said of any place where the Amish live.
Please enter me in the drawing. Like Vince, I'm stocking up on my holiday reading -- and my housebound-in-a-New England-winter reading, and my possible self-isolating for this next round of COVID reading.
BTW and FYI, on the matter of getting inside an author's brain, I will be here (Yes! Here! On Seekerville!) Oct. 30 talking about the process of my recently-completed epic Western. This is so fun. First time I ever guest-posted on Seekerville was in October 2015, when I was Diva Of the Month. Remember those? Oh we have come a long way since then, me off the Island, all of us going from strength to strength.
Back later,
Kathy Bailey
Your Kaybee
KB, I'll enjoy reading your blog and learning more about your writing process!
DeleteI visited Boston as a child and would love to return there. Such an interesting city. Regrettably, trips to New England are on hold for now. My husband and I did travel to Northern VA to visit our son and family over the Columbus Day Weekend. Reuniting with loved ones was wonderful! We always travel along the Shenandoah Valley to get to their area of VA, and the scenery was gorgeous. Rolling hills, historic homes and farms, changing leaves! I'm sure the entire valley could provide interesting settings for both contemporary and historical stories.
You mentioned preparing for a long, cold winter. Brrr! Our fall weather has been picture perfect, and I'm hoping we have a mild winter as well. I don't like to be housebound, even with good books to read! :)
Kathy, I remember those Diva Of the Month days! Five years ago and yet so much has changed. Congrats again on your writing success, and thanks for being a faithful Villager! It's always a joy to read your comments.
You're in the drawings!
Kathy, I look forward to reading your post on Seekerville!
DeleteI enjoy learning about interesting towns in the stories I read! I am putting these books on my to be read list. Thank you for the opportunity to win.
ReplyDeleteEmma, thanks for leaving a comment. You're in the drawings! Tell us something about yourself. BTW, a character in my current story is named Emma, which was also my grandmother's name.
DeleteAmish Christmas Search was so very good. I enjoyed the dual setting.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Lucy! Prayers for you and your family...and especially your mother!
DeleteDebby, how fun to read some of the history behind the locales in your newest story! And, I learned more about FDR. Thank you for that. :)
ReplyDeleteHi Jeanne!
DeleteThey've built a new FDR museum in Warm Springs that I hope to visit when the virus ebbs. Seeing the pool where he swam was so interesting--really a step back in time. Plus, I had a wonderful tour of the rehab center he started and the special dining room where he hosted a yearly Thanksgiving dinner for the polio patients. The black and white tile floor remains just as in a photograph of him enjoying the meal that hangs in the room. The entire area is steeped with history.
That sounds like an amazing place! And when you can "feel" the history around you? It's kind of awe-inspiring.
DeleteSo true, Jeanne! I spent a weekend at the Hotel Warm Springs and felt surrounded by history!
DeleteHi Debby!
ReplyDeleteHow fun that you set part of your story in Pinecraft! I've never been there, but I'd love to visit. I'd also love to visit Warm Springs. So much history!
And what fun for you to have researched both areas for your story. Just like teachers learn more than their students, writers get to enjoy their story settings more completely than their readers!
Interesting towns in my area? The Black Hills area is packed with interest and history! That's why both writing projects I'm working on now are set here. Both historical and contemporary story settings have tons of material to work with.
Looking forward to reading your new book!
Jan, you told me about Pincraft some years ago so thank you! I've used it in two other stories! I subscribe to Katie Troyer's blog. She was Amish, left the faith and moved to Pinecraft years ago and has become a local icon who snaps photos of life there. Although the Amish usually shy away from cameras, they are more accepting while in Pinecraft, especially if Katie is taking the pictures. I love her snapshots of the charter buses unloading vacationers as folks gather about to welcome the newcomers.
DeleteI'd love to visit the Black Hills and always enjoy the commercials the governor there moderates to invite folks to visit the state.
Debby, you really do need to visit the Black Hills. It is a gorgeous area.
DeleteI'm sure it is, Sandy, and I love rolling hills and beautiful scenery!
DeleteI love reading about new places in novels and sometimes those places make it on my list of places to visit. :) One town over is Camp X where German POWs were held during WW2 in Canada. There was a relatively famous local battle where the POWs tried to seize the camp. It lasted for three days when Canadian forces won. Also in the other direction (to the west of our city), is another training camp for spies. British and American spies made their way to Whitby, ON to train in espionage. It's a fascinating local history we have here where I live. :)
ReplyDeleteBoth camps sound so interesting, Lee-Ann! I've never heard about US spies training in Ontario. How fascinating! What a great location for a time slip novel. :)
DeleteGreat post, Debby. I enjoy reading about real places. I just finished reading your book last night--actually the wee hours of the morning as I was having trouble sleeping. I really enjoyed it and wrote a review for Amazon. I was actually going to look up Pinecraft and Warm Springs, so glad you told more about them. I am familiar with Warm Springs from learning about FDR but wasn't aware how they are preserving it today. Here in Nebraska a lot of locations would be great for western themed novels. Not too far away is Red Cloud where Willa Cather grew up and where she set many of her books, although she changed the name of the town.
ReplyDeleteNo need to put me in the drawing for Amish Christmas Search since I already have it,
Thank you, Sandy, for the review. I'm so grateful!
DeleteI loved Willa Cather's stories! Still remember when her heroine was in a sleigh and the wolves were chasing after her. So scary! I've driven through Nebraska and spent the night at Offutt Air Force Base when we were traveling cross country. A lovely state!
Hi Debby, I loved learning about the two places featured in your new book and I'm always glad to learn about real places. About 20 miles from me is a small village called Washington, KY, and it is here that Harriet Beecher Stowe saw a slave auction while visiting. This is supposed to be the inspiration for Uncle Tom's Cabin. Washington is in Mason County and it sits on the Ohio River so the Underground Railroad is a big part of its history also!
ReplyDeleteBlessings!
Connie
Connie, how interesting. I've lived at Fort Knox, KY a number of times but never knew about Washington and the tie in with Harriet Beecher Stowe! Love learning local trivia. Our country is so rich!!!
DeleteWe loved our visit to Warm Springs many years ago! I'd love to go back.
ReplyDeleteThese setting sounds wonderful for a story! It sounds very exciting.
I've used the quaint, historic downtown areas of several small town in the North Georgia mountains and around this area to create my fictional towns. Dahlonega, Madison and Monroe are three of them. I love visiting them and taking photos of the beautiful town and homes!
Typo alert! Trying again... These settings sound wonderful... :) :)
DeleteDahlonega plays into a scene in my next book. Such a charming town, and I love the university. Two of my children graduated from there.
DeleteMadison is filled with history, isn't it! And all those beautiful homes. What a great location to set a story. I wonder if I could create an Amish community nearby. :)
It is so fun to learn about interesting towns
ReplyDeleteAngeline, so glad you could visit the blog today! :)
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