When authors write a story, they have to build the world in which the characters live. For most of my stories, I create a fictional, small town near a real, large city. Besides making a town where my characters live, I have to decide where they call home. Will it be an apartment, a bungalow, a ranch house, or a mansion? There are so many choices, but the characters’ social and financial status plays a big role in making that choice. Of course, I wouldn’t put my school teacher in a mansion unless she’s still living with her wealthy parents. My millionaire won’t live in a tiny apartment unless he’s trying to hide the fact that he’s a millionaire.
In my very first published book, The Heart’s Homecoming, now reissued as Second Chance Love, my heroine, Jillian Rodgers, is the millionaire.
After returning to her hometown, she is living with her parents not only to help care for her mother who has dementia but to keep her financial status under wraps. The hero, Sam Lawson, is building a house on the property in the woods that he inherited from his grandfather.
The house in my imagination looked something like this. The heroine helps the hero build a similar deck.
The first book in the Front Porch Promises series, A Match to Call Ours, is set in Montana, and the hero, Parker Watson, lives in a huge rustic log house with it’s own movie theater. The next three books in the series are set in Massachusetts. In A Place to Call Home, the second book in the series, my heroine, Molly Finnerty, is restoring an old Victorian house, maybe something that looked like this.
The triple decker is a unique style of housing found in the Boston area, and both my hero, Max Reynolds, and heroine, Heather Watson, in A Love to Call Mine, the third book in the Front Porch Promises series, live on the same block filled with triple deckers in my imaginary town of Oakton, Massachusetts. They live across the street from each other. You can see a triple decker in this photo I took from a car on our way to the Boston airport after a two-week visit with our younger daughter’s family. I had seen several from the commuter train we took to the Red Sox Baseball game, but the train windows were covered with grime, not good for photo taking. The triple decker is characterized by the flat roof.
I try to match the house with the style of housing you would find in a particular location. I often go to real estate listings to look at houses and take a tour, so I have an idea about houses in a certain area. I also look through house plan books so I have an interior in mind as well as an exterior. The house style below was very popular at the beginning of the twentieth century. It’s called a four square.
The heroine of A Song to Call Ours, Amanda Reynolds, stays with the hero’s great aunt who lives in a similar house. The reader visits Aunt Charlotte’s house in all the Front Porch Promises series books set in my imaginary Pineydale, Tennesee .
Although I could go on about the numerous other abodes that my characters occupy, I will mention one more, the childhood home of Ashely Hiatt, the heroine of the third book in my Dalton Brothers series, Homecoming Blessings. The story is set in Georgia, and although most of the story takes place in the mountains in north Georgia, the story starts in Atlanta. I used a real estate listing in Atlanta for this house, and since the listing is long gone, maybe you can get a sense of the house from this small excerpt from the story.
Minutes later, Peter turned his SUV off Roswell Road. A sense of anticipation unsettled her, as they entered the subdivision surrounding the golf course where her father played every weekend. When Peter drove up the street leading to her childhood home, a lump formed in Ashley’s throat, while a strange pressure filled her chest.
Birch and pine trees surrounded the two-story, tan-brick house that sat on a hillside covered with English ivy. White dogwoods dressed the yard in lace. A lump rose in her throat again when she saw the welcoming warmth of the red front door. She never expected this reaction to seeing this place again.
Every time I start a new book, I have fun finding the perfect home for my characters. If the story is set in Florida or southern Arizona, the house will mostly likely have a stucco exterior. If the story is set in Ohio, there might be the choice of a clapboard or brick exterior. Right now I’m working on a Christmas novella set in Maryland where you might find a row house or two.
What is your favorite type of house?
I will give away one of my ebooks, the winner’s choice, to one person who leaves a comment. I will choose the winner on May 3, 2022, at 9PM MST.
“Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.”
Merrillee Whren is an award-winning author who writes inspirational romance. She is the winner of the 2003 Golden Heart Award for best inspirational romance manuscript presented by Romance Writers of America. She has also been the recipient of the RT Reviewers’ Choice Award and the Maggie Award for Excellence. She is married to her own personal hero, her husband of thirty plus years, and has two grown daughters. She has lived in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Chicago and Florida but now makes her home in the Arizona desert. When she’s not writing, she spends her free time playing tennis or walking while she does the plotting for her novels.
I love old-style houses for me they are cozy, I don’t like those with a too modern design like the irregularly designed ones.
I have always been fascinated with house styles, and I love that writing gives me a valid opportunity to study architecture and house plans and real estate listings!
I love older houses, but the upkeep is horrid! I like one story for myself vs a two story, as I’d get really tired from going up and down stairs all of the time!! Years ago, after Daddy passed, Mom and I thought of buying a townhouse, then changed our minds after I re-designed the whole upstairs and added a lot more $$ to the cost. It would have gotten old to take clothes up and down the stairs for laundry!
I’ve always admired the old Victorian houses. They look so pretty, though I admit that I wouldn’t want the expense of their upkeep.
I love cabins in the mountains. (not entering this ebook giveaway , but thank you, I am not tech savvy at all)
Lilly, I like older style houses, too, but I like the interior updated.
Hi Valerie,
I love to peruse the real estate listings and house plan books. It’s fun to imagine living in some of those houses.
Hi Trudy,
Once you renovate an old house the upkeep isn’t so bad, but the upfront costs are huge. I love to watch those TV shows where they renovate houses. If you have a two-story house it’s nice to have a second floor laundry room.
Hi Megan,
I love the looks of Victorian houses, too. When we lived in Florida, the town we lived in had dozens of old Victorians that were listed in the Historic Register. Every Christmas, they had a house tour, and you could go through the houses. So fun!
Hi Alicia,
A mountain cabin sounds fun as long as it has modern conveniences.
In the series of the Tales of the Grace Chapel Inn, one of the author’s wrote about doing all of the research about how the Inn in the book would have been painted way back when it was built when they were doing all of the renovations. That was fascinating to me! I wouldn’t personally want to do the research, but all of the info they put in was fascinating! When I visited Savannah years ago, the art college there was helping to renovate the Juiliette Gordon Low house and were sticking to the original work. That was fascinating, too!
Due to being disabled, the house needs to be one story. We live in a house that is six rooms. We are going to be able to insulate it and put siding on the house this year. This is the house that I grew up in. I cannot think of moving. Thank you for sharing. God bless you.
all cute looking
Hi Debra,
I’ve lived in so many places. In fact, I counted them the other day. I’ve lived in 19 houses and 2 apartments, and that doesn’t count the different dorm rooms in college. Nice that you can live in the house you grew up in.
Being an Aussie its interesting seeing American houses (I discovered a channel that has so many renovation, house hunting etc programs) So am learning some of the names. Here we have different houses. We don’t have a Ranch style but we do have farm homes which are often colonial style.
I still remember going from Vancouver to Seattle and seeing a Barn for the first time. I was like they really do look like that. We call them sheds but are so different.
Most houses here don’t have basements or Attics and in the average town most will single story. My town has a couple of two story homes but most are single story. Mine is a turn of the last century lime or sandstone freestanding home possibly cottage style. The old house was prefab (prefabrication) where most of the homes around were all the same style and layout with no insulation.
Not sure what style I like best but I always wanted an attic (now I don’t want stairs).
I did enjoy your post today and the photos.
I love a huge bungolaw home
Victorian homes are beautiful but I don’t think I could live in one.
I’ve lived in a bi-level home for most of my life. However, if I ever move from my childhood home, it will be to a one story home so I didn’t have to deal with so many steps.
I think my favorite type of house is a historic Victorian or Queen Anne style and my husband loves a Craftsman. He likes a one-story house, whereas I love a town-home with the bedrooms upstairs & living spaces downstairs. We both also love a split-level home with a finished basement. I think that would be our dream house if we could afford it or find one :-)
No need to enter me into the contest Merrillee since I’ve probably read each book in this series, or at least have them available on my Kindle. My other favorite topic to discuss besides books is various house styles! So of course, I loved this post!
AusJenny,
I was trying to think of the house styles we saw when we visited Australia. You are right most of them seemed to be one story. We stayed in a neat house by the beach near Port Douglas.
Hi Tina,
We have a two-story house, but when we’re too old to climb stairs, we have a bedroom on the main floor.
Hi Trixi,
My reply to Tina went to the wrong place. I don’t know how that happened. I’m glad you enjoyed the post.
Hi Amy,
I use the same bungalow house in three of the books in my Kellersburg series. The hero of Hometown Dad lives in it until he marries and passes the house to his younger sister in Hometown Cowboy. Finally in Hometown Hero, the heroine and her brother live in that same house.