Is Your Setting The Best For Your Story?

When you decide to start a story, the setting is usually decided by the plot points, the characters, or where you live as you write the story. Sometimes stories could easily be set in Texas in the summertime as Maryland in the summertime or California in winter without changing the story. The question is, would they have been the same? Would Gone With The Wind have been as effective if it had been written in Missouri during the Civil War or in France during their Revolution as it was set in Georgia and Atlanta during the Civil War? Would Grapes Of Wrath have been as good set in New York? Think about your characters, where would you likely find them, where would they probably have been raised to get their personality or chosen to go when they were old enough to chose? Is there a city that lends itself best to your story?