Building a world for your story isn’t always filled with spacecraft and foreign planets. I love creating the place where my characters can thrive, grow, love, and heal.
What storyworld do YOU like to get lost in?
Original Post published 8/19/2015
Currently, I’ve been reading about creating a ‘story world’ and what’s involved in the intricate design of a world where readers can lose themselves in a story.
It may sound fairly straight-forward and simple, but it’s really quite complex. Readers need to feel the cohesiveness of feeling like they are really ‘there’ – in your story, during that time period. This not only requires crafting, but research too.
The most well-loved, memorable, and meaningful stories had a distinct time and place which couldn’t have occurred as effectively anywhere else. For example, Charles Dickens’ brilliant stories cannot be separated from London. I can’t imagine Frodo living anywhere else, except the Shire and Middle Earth.
In A Twist of Faith, I’ve created the town of Ransom, Virginia – a small community that reminds me a lot of the Blue Ridge Mountain town in which I grew up: Small population, close-knit families, quaint downtown, and amazing scenic views. I want readers to walk the streets of Ransom and Mitchells’ Crossroads as they journey along with the characters.
In my historical series, Penned in Time, I’ve tried to recreate the feel of the World War I era. The uncertainty, the change and energy… the small English villages, manor houses, and clothing.
All of those things make a storyworld.
Developing a strong story world helps readers take a trip and never leave their chair.
It gives me a great sense of joy and awe to think that, because of my Christian perspective, the stories and novels I write might give a sense of hope to those who read them. Through the time, place, characters, dialogue, and exposition – readers will sense the beautiful truth of hope in the Lord, no matter the circumstances. What a wonderful goal for which to aspire!
My upcoming novella, Second Impressions, which is released in a fun compilation called Love at First Laugh, takes place in the beautiful city of Bath, UK during the Jane Austen Festival.
o up of a LOVELY building in Bath that just looked delightful! The Huntsman.
Okay, this week has been CRAZY…and it’s ONLY Tuesday!
e you ready for my Valentine’s GIFT???
per, hit the shelves. In April, my first contemporary romance novel, A Twist of Faith, made its debut to kick-off the Mitchell’s Crossroads series, and my historical romance series came to a end (close to home) with the release of The Thorn Healer in December.
In April, my favorite book I’ve written (to date) releases. Just the Way You Are is the first book in A Pleasant Gap Romance series. This is a lighter and much more comedic-styled book that takes all the things I love most and pushes them together in one story 🙂 I’ll be posting more about it throughout the weeks leading up to release, which is April 6th!!! If you’re fond of England, the Blue Ridge Mountains, swoony heroes, hysterical heroines, adorable children, crazy families, a teeny bit of matchmaking, AND a historical mystery…well, this book is for you 🙂 Oh, and if you like romantic comedies like those with Meg Ryan, Sandra Bullock, or Amy Adams…well, that sweet-spot of pixie dust has been reserved for this kind of story! Funny, romantic, and sprinkled with just a little bit of magic. 
Of one thing I am certain, Laura Frantz’s writing holds as spellbinding a quality as the stories she weaves with such intricate detail. A Moonbow Night is no different. Steeping in imagery thick with the mountains and hollows of frontier Appalachia, Laura introduces us, not only to riveting characters as alive to history as the famous Daniel Boone, but also to a culture, faith, and setting that breathes off the page.
It’s true. The past two days I’ve been on the verge of tears from the absolutely BEAUTIFUL reviews that have come in about 
So…to get back to those amazing readers?!? Here are a few quotes from the reviews that have come out so far. WOW!
Wow! It’s been a crazy year, but after lots of hard work and some brainstorming help from my super duper brainstorming team and agent, Julie Gwinn – we have a new book baby!!
What else to know about The Thorn Healer? It received 4 1/2 stars from Romantic Times and was listed as a Top Pick!! 
It’s Christmas!
from 2011. It’s personal. It shows our family. I MADE it.
By the use of my own skills, I can only do so much to fix this keepsake. It will still look cracked and damaged, and I’m certain it will still have a hole in the back because some of the pieces were crushed too small to replace, however God (through Christ) restores our brokenness of soul and spirit to even better than what it was before.
You know what happens when you leave a creative mind in a car alone for too long?
I have channeled my inner Williams Shakespeare/John Milton and created a word that embodies the type books that I usually write.
So, without furthur embellishment from yours truly, here is the word I’ve created 🙂
You guys know I love any excuse to party! And today I have a great one!!!
August Reinhold!!! YAY!!!
The story takes place in the real tow of Hot Springs, NC – a very small place couched by the Blue Ridge Mountains. Unfortunately, the amazing Mountain Park Hotel no longer stands, but remnants of the hotel are still visible on the site – and the hot springs are still in use.
