The Notebook takes place in a small southern town. Why did you choose that setting rather than, say, a big city like New York?

I live in a small southern town, and life there is different than in a big city. Last night, for instance, a friend of mine got hurt. Instead of bringing him to the hospital or an urgent care clinic, I took him to the doctor's house. The doctor took care of him, drove to the office to pick up a temporary cast, returned, and then bandaged him up. No charge, by the way.

Small towns feed a nostalgia that people have for the way things used to be. Simpler, less rushed, more community oriented, things like that.