I’m in the revision stage of a new novel which I hope will publish this spring, and it starts a new series of small town, ‘sweet’ romances set in my fictional small town of Sweetgum, Tennessee.
Who doesn’t love the magic of a small town? Or at least our shared fictional ones. From Andy Griffith’s Mayberry to the Gilmore Girls’ Star Hollow, we love for these towns to embody values like community, connection, and even quirkiness. And we even enjoy recognizing some of the limitations of a small town – whether that’s everyone knowing everyone else’s business or people’s roles and boundaries overlapping just a little too much.
I come by my love of a small town honestly. My grandparents, as well as my aunt and only first cousin, lived in Sweetwater, Texas. When I was growing up, I spent a lot of time there, and I have wonderful memories. My aunt was the only algebra teacher at the high school, so over the course of her thirty-year career, she had pretty much everyone in town in her class and wherever we went, she was known and loved. My grandparents’ home was known for fried chicken and homemade ice cream, Double Mint gum, climbing trees, and watching Lawrence Welk and Hee Haw. My grandfather went to the bank every day to drink coffee with his cronies, and my grandmother smelled of dusting powder (it was a thing back then) and would slay you in a game of Flinch.
One of the great magics of fiction is creating a world that author, characters, and reader can all inhabit. Our small towns – whether in a Hallmark movie or an indie romance novel – provide us with a safe place to call our own, if only for a little while. Because the main thing a small-town setting does is assure us that everyone, somehow, belongs.
What are your favorite or fictional small towns? Feel free to share in the comments!
I lived in a small town in Granite, Oklahoma. Everybody was almost related to me. It was fun!! Didn’t get to stay long enough. My parents and Dad’s parents are buried there.