The screen flickers and the camera sweeps across a tree lined drive, rolling hills, and bees frolicking among the flowers. Mr. Darcy steps into frame and with a perfect swan dive plunges into the pond on his estate where the elegant manor of Pemberly watches all. Another screen flickers. This time craggy hills rise on either side of a green moor across which races a black horse and flame-haired Highlander. Why, it’s Jamie Fraser riding to save his Sassenach from whatever newest batch of trouble she’s managed to stir up in the wrong time period. Now, cast your eyes upon glittering hot sands, pyramids rising like mirages, and treasure beyond your wildest imaginations just waiting for Rick O’Connell to discover it.
What do these stories have in common besides great clothes and swoony men? Lush, vibrant, breathtaking settings that set the mood for a myriad of adventures, misunderstandings, passionate declarations, and romance. Where would Mr. Darcy be without the elegant English countryside backing him up? Could Jamie and Claire’s love have flourished elsewhere beyond Scotland? And would Evelyn look twice at Rick if there weren’t mummies chasing them across the desert? Of course, true love may conquer all no matter where it blooms, but these settings add that certain je ne sais quoi that takes a story from good to totally immersed in magic. The kind of magic that happens when all the perfect elements come together in a seamless blend of amazingness, transporting audiences beyond the ordinary to riding off into the sunset together.
When Place Becomes the Heart of Romance
Really, what romance reader doesn’t want to be swept off their feet and carried to a place viewed best through rose-colored glasses? Me, for sure!
Historical writers are often drawn to their preferred eras because of the history happening at that time, but also where that history is taking place. When you crack open a medieval novel, readers expect knights and their ladies fair stealing kisses in drafty old castles that are filled with the scent of roasting meat being turned on a spit in the great hall. A Regency read isn’t the same without a ballroom filled with romantically tense glances and tender touches of gloved hands. How can readers expect to feel the heady rush of a flapper if they’re not dropped in the middle of a speakeasy smelling of gin and pulsing with the Charleston?
Settings are imperative to capturing the mood of a story. It is the framework around which the characters move and breathe and fall in love. It’s often used as motivation for change, unrest, hope, or fear, and can be as opulent or foreboding as needed to prompt a character into action. Think of Elizabeth Bennett stepping into luxurious Pemberly for the first time and the true presence of who Mr. Darcy is smacking her full in the face. Her heart at long last begins to soften toward him. Compare that with the foreboding Jane Eyre feels when roaming the gothic gloomy halls of Thornfield Hall and discovers that her crush Mr. Rochester is hiding more than skeletons in his closet. Talk about needing to work through relationship issues. And would emotions have been as high for Rhett and Scarlett’s first kiss if Atlanta wasn’t burning down around their ears? Highly doubtful.
These specific settings allow us to step back in time and experience that world for ourselves. One of the reasons I love reading and writing historicals is because of the escapism. Driving a car, going to the grocery store, dealing with internet issues are all part of my everyday life. When I read, I want to step away from all that. I want to visit a world and time that I can’t physically ever belong to except in the pages of a book (or screen). Stepping into a historical era allows us to forget the mundane or the conveniences we take for granted and watch as a duke and the penniless maid who’s captured his heart enjoy their first kiss at sunset without stopping to take a selfie. They are in the moment because they’ve allowed the setting to consume them, and thereby consume us on a deeper level of storytelling and appreciation.
Why We Crave Love in Another Time and Place
Now before you think I’m bashing on contemporary stories, I’m not. I quite enjoy some modern stories but also realize that I’m completely biased in my opinions and tastes and will take an 18th century aristocrat or WWII bomber pilot any day of the week and twice on Sunday because I am all about the romance of escapism. Modern culture relies too much on technology to keep us occupied and unfortunately out of touch with the things that truly matter. I miss the days of purposeful courtship where couples talked to each other face to face or through long love letters. Back when a man went the extra mile for his lady love.
Take any western where a rugged cowboy on his majestic stead tracks down the cattle rustlers who’ve stolen his sweetheart’s heifers. Does our cowboy write a strongly worded letter of complaint? Heck no! He goes in six-shooter blazing and wrangles those little cows and returns them to his girl for a big you’re-my-hero kiss. This could only happen in a western and we love it because there’s something incredibly sexy about the uncivilized landscape.
So the next time you pick up a historical novel, take time to observe the landscape. Spin around that castle ballroom, pick flowers in the hidden garden, or stroll along that stormy beach because they just might be setting the mood for romance.
