5 Tips for Nailing a Southern Setting

At the mere mention of a southern setting, a reader knows there will be heat rising from the ground, sweet tea, and a creaky porch where folks gather. Building a strong southern setting goes beyond including the well-known calling cards. Southern stories reflect deeper cultural roots, lean heavily on family traditions, and contend with a busy natural world on all sides.

(Setting the Mood for Readers.)

In my new book, Good Hair Days, the sisters run a Dolly Parton themed hair salon that’s been passed down generation-to-generation to each first-born woman. Because of their southern roots, they follow their late mother’s instructions like dogma, and eventually they find themselves in trouble by way of a renovation gone wrong. To get themselves out of hot water, they lean on each other, their family, and their close-knit community.

When southern settings inform the characters’ decision making, motivations, and behavior, magic happens.

In the South the trees grow thick and tall, the bugs chirp on full volume, and the mosquitos are super-sized. If you spend any amount of time in the region, you’ll take your turn to find a miniature lizard or frog that’s found its way into your residence. Storms downpour in tropical torrents, and Southerners keep an eye trained on the weather report during hurricane season. As we build southern worlds for our stories, these are the elements that our characters will contend with. Perhaps watching a busy butterfly bush is a source of comfort for a character who holds dear memories of planting it with her late grandmother. Perhaps an incoming storm warning upends plans for an elaborate outdoor wedding. Perhaps a character is bitten by a venomous snake off the trail and faces a ticking clock to find help before the venom takes effect.

First things first, it might be valuable to do an internet search for signature southern dishes unless you already know them by heart. But beyond writing the right menu, southern food is about culture as much as it is the ingredients on the plate. Southerners feed their people. It’s just what they do. They can’t help themselves. Even if you’ve just eaten, you will be presented with food at a neighbor’s home or a family gathering. At minimum a plate will be loaded and wrapped for you to take when it’s time to go. Special occasions call for pulling out all the stops, all hands on deck, and a banquet-worthy array of provisions. Maybe you’re asked to bring your prize-winning red velvet cake or maybe folks rely on you to bring the durable paper plates everyone likes, but whether it’s something big or small, every person helps.

Southern living might be slower paced than the rest of the world—especially so if your spot is off the beaten track, a mountain cabin with spotty cell service, a beach shack beyond the tourist beach. Southerners often like to tell the long version of the story over a cold drink on their porch. Words aren’t parsed out, meandering side stories aren’t rushed over. Language can reflect this—especially dialogue—but with consideration so the pacing of the story doesn’t suffer. Including southern phrases and idioms in sprinklings also brings the fun, but take note to do so in moderation to avoid sounding hokey.

Traditions and etiquette are as ingrained in southern culture as football. Whether it’s required attendance at the family reunion or making it to the baby shower for your second cousin twice removed, traditions—and social rules—run deep. Your southern characters should be aware of the rules, but whether they follow them is up to you. In fact, this is fertile ground for tension and conflict for your story. The main character skipped the church potluck to attend the rock concert of their love interest? They dyed their hair bright purple right before serving as maid of honor in their sister’s wedding? Surely, they will reap the consequences.

As much as paying mind to the customs and quirks of the region matters in building a believable southern setting, your unique voice is required too. Simply put: Southerners aren’t just one thing. Southern culture is the traditional stuff that comes easily to mind, but it’s also newcomers to the region who bring their own traditions, their own dishes, and their own voices. It’s the beautiful thing that happens when what we had before meets something new, and together one place evolves into something more vivid and alive.

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