This month, our writing group talks about how Buffalo influences our writing--both directly and indirectly. This discussion began as an argument about whether living in Buffalo, i.e. having a Buffalo return address on your SASE, was a detriment. Melody VonSmith admitted to keeping her 818 area code after moving back because she felt people didn't take her seriously. Turns out this was based in something:
Melody VonSmith: I was told in a rejection letter that the writing showed promise but the setting was a problem, because people from other areas of the country would not be interested in reading it.
Donna Hoke: I have a play very specifically set in Bidwell Circle that will be produced in California in November, so it wasn't an issue there.
Gary Earl Ross: Too many in New York think the City is the center of the universe and no place else counts--
MVS: Exactly!
Gary Earl Ross --which is both limiting and stupid.
MVS: No one cares about this place except people from here.
[Mumbling, grumbling, name calling and obscenities removed...]
BRO question: Okay, explain to Melody: Why should people outside of Buffalo be interested in work set here?
AL: Two words: Nikola God Damn Tesla.
MVS: That's four words.
AL: (to MVS) Three. Goddamn is one word in my lexicon. Anyway, I have the talking stick, shush. (to BR) Tesla, man! I'm a bit fuzzy on why steampunk people don't come to Buffalo in brass-goggled droves. This burg was the Silicon Valley of the turn of the last century. Electric light. The biggest office building in the world. These wild silo things. Fascinating.
MVS: It's unique presently as well. It's a border town, home to half of the Peace Bridge. The greater area includes a significant Native American population and all the bizarre politics that go along with that. It's also a water town, with unique diving opportunities, and of course Niagara Falls. People outside of here don't know these things.
DH: That shouldn't matter anyway: Stories are ultimately about people--or, in Alex's case, beings--and the assumption that beings in Buffalo are less interesting is ludicrous.
MVS: Fair enough. There are plenty of books set in places I could not care less about as a place--Baltimore, Miami, Dallas...don't care! You're right: If the story is good, the book is worth reading, or the play is worth seeing.
BRO question: Do you directly represent Buffalo in your work?
GER: My best known works delve into the past--Blackbird Rising is set in 1901 at the Pan-Am, and Matter of Intent is set in 1960--and I attempt to make Buffalo a character. I'm now working on a P.I. novel set in present-day Buffalo, and I hope to make the city as much a character as my hero.
AL: I set a short story in Buffalo a while back, and aspects of the city appear in much of my stuff: I've been writing mostly sci-fi recently, with a particular focus on the mechanics of space travel. A city which once served as a major shipping port, now struggling to change itself into something new -- change "city" to "planet", and you've got yourself a great sci-fi setting
DH: It's a little different for plays, at least mine, where the external setting isn't as important as the internal setting. But I use local anchors--Wegman's or Lockport--because as soon as an audience member hears them, they instantly identify and the story becomes more personal.
MVS: I set the crime noir here because I think the area actually lends itself well to the genre. My play Bonegrinders was set here and the theater in Chicago was intent on maintaining that setting even though I told them they could set it there if they wanted to. I'd like to see a comedy done about local politics, say BassPro and the downtown casino. (Yes, a comedy.) So maybe I'll write that.
Donna Hoke is a magazine journalist, playwright, crossword puzzle constructor, children's author, and editor of Buffalo Spree Home.
Alex Livingston writes space opera, interactive fiction, and stage plays.
Gary Earl Ross is a professor at the UB EOC. His writings include the novel Blackbird Rising and the play Matter of Intent, winner of a 2006 Edgar Award.
Melody Von Smith is a keyboard-wielding sociopath believed by some to be a werewolf.
why should anyone care about a book set in buffalo? nobody cared about savannah until someone wrote a book about it (midnight in the garden of good and evil).