Hailey's Novel Diary – 5/17/17

Chapter 4 is mostly not in Los Angeles.

Before I started writing this story, I thought it would take place entirely in Los Angeles. Most of my initial research was on people and places in Los Angeles. It's definitely a big enough city to hold everything.

But then the story demanded that two of the characters go out of state for a little while. That disappointed me at first. I liked the idea of everything happening in Los Angeles. I could always change it, but it would not make as much sense.

There is a novel called The Mezzanine, which takes place entirely on someone's lunch break. I like the idea of such a narrow limitation. How hard would it be to write an entire book about someone's one hour stuck in an elevator, for example? But then there is the story. You have to do what the story demands. Limitations are a nice challenge, but as soon as you have to choose between the story and your own self-imposed limits, you have to choose the story.

Sorry, LA.