Story Setting, real or fake.

When you write a book, do you use a fake town or a real one? Why?

My Guardian Legacy series is an urban fantasy, but the Guardians' HQ/setting is in a town in northern Utah, my home town. To get my facts straight, I visited the local high school and got the layout for my fictitious high school, the hotel near and RV park, where my character and her grandfather lived, made calls to local business and city offices...you name it, I researched it.

Even though I found it easy to use a real town, my characters visit other places across the globe, so I do a lot of research online too as I write. Needless to say, I go nuts when I don't have internet, like today.

Our wireless has been acting up, so I had to vamoose to the library to use their wireless. Turned out great. I made today's deadline--finished chapter 8. Woohoo!!

TEASER (scene from Vegas) from BETRAYED

With Bran behind the wheel of the Suburban, we headed toward the Strip—the stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard South where the largest hotels, resorts, and casinos were located. The entertainment capital of the world pulsed with people’s hopes and dreams. Desperate-looking people stared out of taxi windows and disappeared into the flashy buildings.

I reached up to touch the Cardinal pendant through my shirt. The jadeite core was warming up, typical of its behavior in Vegas, where demons mingled with humans in casinos and resorts. Despite that, my dagger lay calm in its sheath, which meant no strong demonic presence in our vicinity.

The ravens were the first warning that things were not okay. The black birds perched on the Arc de Triomphe replica at the entrance of Las Vegas Paris. More sat on their Eiffel Tower. Ravens weren’t nocturnal birds to begin with. They were also a rare sight in Vegas.