Just a taste of Arizona

by Rain Trueax

There are several elements to a book that must be considered before setting out writing. One of them is setting. Does the setting work with what happens in the story? How much do you know about the location? How important should it be to the plot?

For me, setting is one character in all of my books. I set them only in places I've spent time or better yet-- lived. I like that sense of reality for my stories, which are otherwise fiction. Mine are all set in the American West. Some are contemporary and some historical, but they all have ground under them where I know what the soil is like, how the wind feels, when it rains, what kind of vegetation, and even who are the people who live there.


For me, I've most enjoyed setting mine in Oregon or Arizona although I have some in Montana and Idaho. In Arizona there are 13 books of which 8 are historical and 5 contemporary-- with the addition of the supernatural in four (the fifth supernatural is on its way)-- someday. 

A lot of people have no idea what Arizona is like. If they haven't been there, they picture desert as barren hills and sand with maybe, the Grand Canyon at one end. Reality is Arizona has widely varying environments. Where we have a second home, in the Santa Cruz River valley, it's surprisingly green with mesquite, ironwood, palo verde, acacia, and along the rivers-- cottonwoods, willows, sycamores, oaks and many more I've forgotten.

When you drive or hike onto Arizona's mountains, you move through climate zones heading north and on Mt. Lemmon, you can even find fir at the upper elevations, trees like you'd find in Canada. Southern Arizona has what are called Sky Islands where animals and vegetation are vastly different than below.

To base a story here gives a writer every option from the red rock canyons to the north, to the saguaro forests to the south with deciduous and evergreen coniferous forests in between along the Mogollon Rim country where writer Zane Grey had a cabin and based many of his books (if you haven't read them, he used location heavily in his western romances). 

To share what I love about this country and why I've enjoyed writing stories here, i picked out some photos. It is almost impossible to winnow them down because I love this state from north to south. It offers a writer so many opportunities to add history or mysticism to stories of the past or present. 

Here's a taste of Arizona and the country I chose for some of my books. It might take a little time for them all to load even though I cut them down in size, I think you'll find it worthwhile-- especially if you've never been to Arizona.

Starting with the south.

Moving up the state to Central Arizona.

And finally to the north.