Hello everyone! Today I am pleased to welcome the fabulous Piper Vaughn.  Piper is here today to talk to us more about her latest release with Kade Boehme, Wood, Screws, and Nails. Piper is chatting with us about choosing a setting for a book and has information to share about a great giveaway.  Please help me give Piper a big welcome!

Choosing a Setting

Hey, all! It’s Piper coming to you from the sunny suburbs of Chicago. (I had to mention the weather because it seemed like this winter was going to last forever and we’ve finally had a few days in a row!) Thanks to everyone at Joyfully Jay for letting me stop by today! It’s always fun to drop in. 🙂

So, speaking of Chicago, for anyone who’s read my body of work, you might have noticed I’ve set a few of my stories in or around The Windy City. The Clumsy Cupid Guidebook series takes place in Chicago. The boys of Luck (from the Lucky Moon series) started off there. Wood, Screws, & Nails takes place mostly in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, but Chicago is mentioned often because the guys all live in the city, and the spin-off I’m working on now takes place in nearby Villa Park. I have mixed it up a bit—Kentucky, California, Delaware, New York, my and MJ’s made up island, Isla Sagrario. But I go back to Chicago and the surrounding areas because it’s familiar. I’ve moved away, sometimes for months, sometimes for years, but I’ve spent most of my life in or near the city. With it being my typical stomping grounds, it just feels comfortable. I like knowing the area. I like being able to drive over and look at something in person if I need to describe it in a book. But what else goes in to choosing a setting?

I’ll be honest and say that sometimes setting matters very little to a story. It isn’t the location that matters; it’s what’s happening to the characters, and that could be taking place anywhere from San Francisco to Shanghai. But there are some instances where the setting plays as much of a role to the story as the characters do. Case in point is my recent novelette, Love Rising. It’s set in the 1700s and the romance is between a merman and a human. I needed a location that would work within the confines of its fantasy/fairytale setting. For that I chose Isla Sagrario, and it’s important in that story because it’s an island founded by pirates, particularly gay pirates, where men can live and love freely, without fear of being open about their relationships. And then for something like Wanting, I needed the guys to be an area where an outdoor adventure company could work, and I found one similar to what I had in mind in Kentucky, so I set the story there. In Wood, Screws, & Nails the lake house plays a role in that we needed the guys to be somewhat isolated. Plus, there’s the fact that different cities—and parts of the world—have very different feels to them. The pace of New York City is very different than say, Tacoma, Washington, which feels different than being in San Diego, and so on and so forth. The nature of their surroundings can help shape a person from everything to the foods they enjoy to their political outlook.

I often wonder the reasoning behind why stories are set in certain cities. Why Milwaukee instead of Denver? Could the story have worked just as well in Columbus, Ohio? How much attention do you guys pay when you read contemporary? Do you like it when an author writes a novel almost like a love letter to the character’s home city and its characteristics? (Rhys Ford comes to mind when I think of this. Her Sinners series has me desperate to visit San Francisco!) Or do you prefer to let your imagine run wild and picture the characters wherever you want to?

Let me know what you guys think! Plus, don’t forget to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway for a chance at a $20 gift card or one of two free copies of the Wood, Screws, & Nails ebook! And if you like to follow blog tours, check out the banner below to find out where else I’ve been screwing and nailing. 😉


Blurb

wood, screws and nailsAaron Costa’s summer was all planned. Despite having to remodel the family lake house, it would be a vacation of sorts, and he had every intention of enjoying it—until the friend who was supposed to help him got injured and left him in a lurch. He decides to take the opportunity to bond with his son and hires Julian and his roommate, Malachi, to assist.

As a broke college student, Malachi could use the money, and spending the summer with Aaron for eye candy sounds like a dream. “Look but don’t touch” becomes his motto. But when Julian starts flaking on his responsibilities and Malachi and Aaron are forced to spend long hours alone together, their mutual attraction is impossible to resist.

Aaron can’t fight the temptation sexy Malachi presents. But more than their age difference stands in their way, not the least of which is Aaron’s semi-closeted status and the fact that he’s never openly discussed his sexuality with his son. He has no idea how Julian will react when he learns his father is not only gay, he’s also dating his best friend.

Buy link:

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4910

Add it on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21399149-wood-screws-nails


Bios

Piper Vaughn wrote her first love story at eleven and never looked back. Since then, she’s known that writing in some form was exactly what she wanted to do. A reader at the core, Piper loves nothing more than getting lost in a great book—fantasy, young adult, romance, she loves them all (and has a two thousand book library to prove it!). She grew up in Chicago, in an ethnically diverse neighborhood, and loves to put faces and characters of every ethnicity in her stories, so her fictional worlds are as colorful as the real one. Above all, she believes that everyone needs a little true love in their life…even if it’s only in a book.

Visit her at: http://pipervaughn.com 

Or find her on:

Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr (NSFW) | Pinterest 

~*~

Kade Boehme is a southern boy without the charm, but all the sass. Currently residing in Seattle, he lives off of ramen noodles and too much booze.

He is “the epitomy of dorkdom”, only watching TV when Rachel Maddow or one of his sports teams is on. Most of his free time is spent dancing, arguing politics or with his nose in a book. He is also a hardcore Britney Spears fangirl and has an addiction to glitter.

It was after writing a short story about boys who loved each other for a less than reputable adult website that he found his true calling, and hopefully a bit more class.

He hopes to write about all the romance that he personally finds himself allergic to but that others can fall in love with. He maintains that life is real and the stories should be, as well.


Giveaway

Piper and Kade have a great giveaway going on. Follow the link below for the Rafflecopter giveaway to enter. Enjoy!

Rafflecopter giveaway

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