Author Q&A: Where is Flynn’s Crossing?
05-02-13
Want to visit Flynn’s Crossing in person? People ask me questions about the town all the time. Here’s some fun Q&A to learn more about it!
Q: Where is Flynn’s Crossing?
A: In actuality, it exists only in my mind – and in yours after you read about it! It’s a fictitious town set in northern California, in the foothills east of Sacramento, the state capitol. It’s based – loosely of course – on my Gold Rush era hometown and surrounding area.
Q: Why not set the stories in a real town instead?
A: To be able to maintain artistic license. If you set a story in a real town, you have to be true to the geography, establishments and attitudes of that place. It easier to hide inconsistencies in a big city, because no one knows every aspect of, say, Chicago. You can place action at well-known spots – or unknown spots – and people will either recognize it or expect that they just haven’t visited that part of town themselves. In a small town like mine, everybody who lives there recognizes everything!
Q: So how real is Flynn’s Crossing, really?
A: The flavor of the town, old buildings, quaint Main Street, shops and galleries and coffee houses and restaurants – that’s all based on fact, for the most part. But I’ve added a few features, and subtracted some that don’t fit with my plots. People’s acceptance of their neighbors and the community’s support for each other is real, for the most part. (Okay, there are always the few who don’t fit in and unfortunately are too vocal about it, but that’s life.) Areas outside of the town proper, like the location of Roxy’s or the cliff where Dane built his house, are inspired by real places.
Q: What do locals think of the fantasy mixed with reality you’ve created?
A: That’s one of the fun parts of being known locally as the writer of these stories! Readers like to guess which restaurant is really the place where DK and Cassidy had their first date, or where Mallory’s is. There have been numerous guesses about the canyon seen from Dane and Serena’s back porch, and Tess’s Victorian with its colorful past and present inspires a lot of interest. In most cases, I just smile and say that if I told them the fact behind the fiction, it would ruin their imaginations of the stories!
Q: What will we learn next about the town?
A: Not to give anything away, but… You’ll learn a lot more about Tess’s Victorian and the establishments on Main Street in Blooms on the Bones, which is being released this month. And in Wine Into Water, I’ll be digging deep into Witch Hill Winery and the history of long-settled ranches in the area. Stay tuned for that story around mid-summer.
Is there something you’re dying to know about Flynn’s Crossing? Or is there a locale you’d like to see more of in an upcoming book? Leave a comment and let me know!
