McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft

Are there any guidelines for choosing your location in a modern story?

(1/3) > >>

RodimusGT:
I have my characters ready for the most part, I'm forming the branches of baddies, friends, random extras, but the one thing I have left to decide on is where to place my story location wise. I would definately like to place it close to a city.

I was going to place in my own city, but is there any unspoken advice about using the city you live next to? If not I think it would be the easiest route, as doing research would be very simple for streets and places that my character would visit.

Now once you have the location down, what do you do about the stores, shops, and food places? For example if I wanted my characters to go to a bar to have a few drinks is it recommended that I create one rather than use a real location?

cherie:
There's an old adage 'write what you know', unless you completely create a city from scratch, you're best setting your writing somewhere you're at least familiar with.

I would be careful mentioning actual shops or bars, as I do recall the story of the owner of a fabric shop (?) that was featured in a novel trying to sue the author because they'd used it. I'm sure someone else will remember that and give more details, but I can't remember anything else about it at the moment? Though I would think a scene where your MC enjoys a drink or two would be acceptable, just don't make the barman an axe-wielding maniac!

RodimusGT:
But what if the bar man is an axe weilding maniac in real life?  ;D

Quantus:

--- Quote from: RodimusGT on March 17, 2011, 02:05:12 PM ---But what if the bar man is an axe weilding maniac in real life?  ;D

--- End quote ---
Then I'd want to stay off his radar personally.   



The danger with setting it in a city where you live in is over-familiarity.  You want a place that you are familiar with so you can include a rich amout of detail, else your story feels flat.  But if you are too familiar with your setting, you can get all the details but start taking some of the big picture setting stuff for granted, which ends up leaving big honking holes in your decription. 

For example, you can always tell authors that actually live in New York.  It's such a microcosm that they can get every gritty detail of the subway or the corner deli, but will assume you are familiar with the street numbers, various neighborhoods and such enough to know automatically that its strange to go north of 151st street at night because its a rough neighborhood (dont quote me on that safety tip, Im not a new yorker) or that The Park is a vastly different place during the day vs at night. 

So basically it comes down to "Write what you know" but still remember to assume that your reader doesn't.


0.02

RodimusGT:
Awesome advise Q thank you.  :D

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page