World-Building: Lake Tearas
Creating My World
When I first imagined the Lake Tearas Trilogy series, I knew the setting had to be more than a backdrop. I wanted a place that carried the weight of memory, mystery, and meaning—a place that could shape the lives of my characters just as much as they shaped it. That’s how Lake Tearas was born.
The Inspiration Behind the Name
I derived the name Lake Tearas from the Irish word athmhuintearas, which means reconciliation. From the beginning, forgiveness and restoration were at the heart of my story. To me, the lake itself became a living symbol: a body of water shaped like a teardrop, holding both sorrow and healing in its depths. I even imagined a local legend—the Lake of Reconciliation—a place formed from the teardrops of two broken-hearted sisters.
A Common Motif
Water shows up again and again in storytelling, sometimes as a force of nature, other times as a rich symbol for rebirth, mystery or transformation. Think classics like Moby-Dick, The Old Man and the Sea, and The Odyssey. And popular movies, like Titanic, Cast Away, Moana, and Finding Nemo.
For me, water has always been spiritual. As a teenager and young adult, I spent summers along Michigan’s shores in South Haven, Saugatuck, Holland, and Traverse City. I loved sailing, water skiing, and simply hanging out at the beach with friends. But beyond the fun, there was a mysticism in the rhythm of the waves. Each time the water lapped the shore, retreated, and returned again, I felt as though it was the hand of God, reaching out to renew me over and over again. That sensation has stayed with me. I created Lake Tearas and its legend because I want my readers to feel it, too.
Why Create a Fictional Town?
You might wonder: Why not just set the story in one of those real Michigan towns?
The answer is simple: freedom.
Using a real town would have meant accuracy above all else—getting every street name, landmark, and local tradition correct. But by creating Lake Tearas, I was free to design a place where symbolism and story came first. I could place roads where I needed them, invent shops that perfectly reflected my characters’ needs, and build a legend that tied the town’s heart to the theme of forgiveness.
At the same time, the town had to feel real. That was the challenge. A fictional world still has to function like a real one: businesses must be believable, neighborhoods must make sense geographically, and the social fabric of the community must reflect both harmony and conflict. That balance—between invention and realism—was one of the most rewarding parts of the process.
I had great fun creating a place I’d like to visit. Or live.
Building a World From Memory
While Lake Tearas is fictional, many of its details are borrowed from my memories. The lake houses remind me of the magnificent homes I glimpsed from my boat while sailing Goguac Lake in Battle Creek. The winding roads and neighborhoods reflect real Michigan towns I explored on the back on my ten-speed bike.
But I didn’t want to borrow pieces of the real world—I wanted to design something entirely my own. While daunting at first, that freedom allowed me to build a town full of spaces that serve my characters and themes:
The Lake Market, a community shopping hub that represents both tradition and change.
The Victorian Neighborhood and McDermott Lake House, symbolizing the steadfast foundations on which the town was built.
The Lake Tearas Country Club, a place of status, embodying the tension between privilege and exclusion.
The Lakeside Auto Shop, Java Hut, Beachfront Ice Cream Shoppe, the Chicken Shack, Elizabeth’s Bridals, and the Lakeside Inn—everyday spaces that ground the town in familiarity while providing backdrops for drama, romance, and conflict.
By blending reality with imagination, I could create a world that felt both nostalgic and brand-new.
The Heart of the Story
In the end, Lake Tearas became more than a setting. It became a character in itself—a place shaped by the lives, loves, mistakes, and reconciliations of the people who call it home. All three books in the series circle around this lake, even when scenes branch out to other fictional places in Michigan and North Carolina.
My hope is that readers will step into Lake Tearas and feel both the familiarity of their own beach-town memories and the wonder of discovering a place entirely new.
Because that’s the magic of world-building: creating a space where the real and the imagined blend into a story that feels true.