Small Town Settings

[Cli-Fi]

Small Town Settings Cannot Work Without Dead Bodies.

I read this today and I can't honestly think of a small town story without a dead body. It's ridiculous how much this is used in every medium to get close to these small towns. Some of which are really quaint and cool with their own little things that make them special. Can't people be introduced to these towns without killing? Or raunchy sex? (as in chick-lit romance novels) It's like nothing else happens in them, until murder strikes. Is this an unwritten literary rule?

Most small towns are filled with drama without any murders.
Take the common expression, "This was always such a peaceful place."
Or
"Nothing like this [murder] has ever happened here before."

Why does it always have to be murder?

 

[SciFrac]

It doesn't, but death is probably the fastest way to raise stakes. I'm with you. I'd rather see other unique problems explored, but that requires a lot more craft and may appeal to a smaller audience. I'm sure many more romance novels are set in small towns.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I've always found it an amusing cliche in mystery series. The inevitable small town that has a murder every few months, until you'd think they'd be running short on either townspeople or people willing to drive through.

This is why my mystery series is set in Atlanta. But my amateur sleuth comes from a small town (mine, to be exact), so I can throw in the requisite small-town murder once in a while if necessary.

 

[Cli-Fi]

This is why my mystery series is set in Atlanta. But my amateur sleuth comes from a small town (mine, to be exact), so I can throw in the requisite small-town murder once in a while if necessary.

I've always liked that actually. When the detective is overlooked and seen as they can't figure it out. Either because they are in a small town (not sure why they are always somehow portrayed as dumber than city cops) or because they are recruited from somewhere that is not DC, NYC, or LA and all the other cops look at them like, "Who the hell are you and why should we care?" Then they usually say some smart-ass stuff and everyone shuts up!

 

[Phyrebrat]

Someone runs away, someone goes missing, someone gets given something (an item or opportunity), a stranger arrives, a necessary thing breaks down, etc etc. These are all things I've read that do not depend on death.

pH

 

[Vladd67]

Read Me Deadly: Cabot Cove: Murder Capital of the World

 

[The Judge]

You're lucky that in America it's a small town that has all the murders. Here in England it's often a village. Made me think twice before moving here, I can tell you.

 

[Overread]

You're lucky that in America it's a small town that has all the murders. Here in England it's often a village. Made me think twice before moving here, I can tell you.

Just avoid MidSummer also don't forget bigger towns aren't safe either! Oxford and Denton are two places I'd never go for their high murder rate! And London is right out! Everything bad happens there (though its not as bad as Japan where any big city is liable to be stomped to the ground by various beasties!)





That said mechanically small settlements are easier to write. Characters can all easily interact without huge leaps of mental faith; you don't have to have a lot of coincidences of how different character meet up, such as you might have with a city. Plus you can make it somewhere fantasy that isn't real (even if it's set in modern times) without it seeming strange. Fake big urban areas tend to push things far more to fantasy for readers; whilst little no-name villages and such are asy to slip in

 

[Danny McG]

I think they did this in a Monty Python sketch with some village where nothing ever happened. The only thing in it's annals was a ploughman had stubbed his toe in the fifteenth century

 

[Cathbad]

St. Mary Mead, where that sweet spinster was always getting involved in murder. Yet they called it a "quiet" village.

I'm sure the inhabitants were pleased when Miss Jane went on Holiday (where she inevitably got involved with yet another murder).

 

[Vertigo]

As I just mentioned in another thread you should check out Jasper Fforde's The Big Over Easy, which beautifully parodies this trope along with the necessity of having a sidekick to document the detective's investigation for the popular press (think Dr Watson). And the necessity of making the investigation needlessly complicated just for the sake of the aforementioned press report/story.

 

[Cli-Fi]

Someone runs away, someone goes missing, someone gets given something (an item or opportunity), a stranger arrives, a necessary thing breaks down, etc etc. These are all things I've read that do not depend on death.

pH

Well do they take place in SMALL towns? I can see someone running away/ someone goes missing but that usually ends up with a murder or killing of some sort.

The most times someone gets given something is fantasy. They most likely are from a small town but then go on a grand adventure AKA LOTR.

I have not seen a necessary thing breaking down as something that would be a problem for a small town. Unless you consider something like Under the Dome. That sort of thing does work, but there isn't lack of dead bodies in that book.

A stranger arriving can disrupt a community but oftentimes he/she is linked to murder or some bad omen. Especially if these people are aliens (the extraterrestrial kind).