Building Digby: Creating My Own Midwestern Town
When I first started Thirteen Weeks in Digby, I knew my main character, Paige, would land in a small-ish Midwestern town. What I didn’t know was which one… because it wasn’t going to be real.
I didn’t want Paige wandering down Main Street in a town that already existed, dodging real-life landmarks and small-town politics. I wanted a place I could design from scratch, one that felt real enough for readers to picture, but flexible enough to change depending on the needs of the story.
So, Digby was born.
Why Not a Real Town?
There are a few reasons I made Digby fictional:
Creative freedom. I can move streets, buildings, and entire neighborhoods without worrying about accuracy. If I want the community center to be down the street from Tanner’s Market, it is. If I need a big storm to roll in and shut down half the businesses, that happens too.
Avoiding stereotypes. Real towns come with baggage. Reputations, politics, and the occasional Facebook group drama. Digby is a clean slate.
Reader connection. By not naming a real place, Digby can become your town, whether you picture it in Iowa, Kansas, or somewhere entirely your own.
The Heart of Digby
Some of my favorite places to write in Digby include:
The Community Center — More than a building, it’s where the Humanitarian Action Collective (HAC) meets, plans, and bickers (sometimes all at once).
Split & The Hayloft — Two neighboring bars with completely different vibes and a petty, long-running feud. Split is modern and hip, The Hayloft is old-fashioned and stubbornly proud of it.
Fickle — Alonzo’s ever-changing restaurant, where the menu shifts weekly and the food is always the talk of the town.
Fresh Start Bakery & Cafe — The go-to spot for coffee, pastries, and overhearing snippets of conversation you probably weren’t meant to hear.
Digby Regional Medical Center — Paige’s workplace during her assignment, where the pace is fast and the lights are harsh.
And of course, there are plenty of other corners of Digby you’ll get to know… but I’ll save those for when you meet them in the story.
Making Digby Feel Real
Even though Digby doesn’t appear on a map, I’ve tried to build it the way you’d experience any real Midwestern town:
Weather that can change three times in a day.
Overlapping friend groups where everyone’s business travels faster than the news.
Familiar places people take for granted… until something threatens them.
The goal is for Digby to feel lived in, so when the characters walk into a room or turn down a street, you can picture it instantly.
Creating Digby has been one of my favorite parts of writing this story. It’s a place I get to visit every time I sit down at my desk. And hopefully, when you read the book, it’ll feel like somewhere you’ve known all along.
Oh… and about the name? Yes, there’s a real Digby in Canada, but that’s not where I found it. I actually borrowed it from a TV show I adore, Pushing Daisies. In the show, the main character has a golden retriever named Digby, and I loved the quirky sweetness of it. It felt like the perfect fit for my warm-but-slightly-offbeat Midwestern town!
“Every story begins with a place, and every place begins with a story.”
