The role of location in fiction

Julia Keller writes an interesting piece for chicagotribune,com, starting with the mention of Chicago in the new book by C. J. Box. The concept of place holds a very special, uh, place, in the mind of the reader.

JK: For authors, tapping the power of place is not simply a matter of naming a town and then moving on with the story. The place is the story. You may think the story is about the characters and what happens to them -- but it's not. The story is about where it occurs. Fiction is already ephemeral enough; the incidents therein never happened in the first place. What gives it gravity, what endows it with shape and mass and meaning, is its location. More...