Author Topic: Question About Writing Out of the Country  (Read 3098 times)

Offline Dresdenus Prime

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Question About Writing Out of the Country
« on: February 08, 2012, 06:33:19 PM »
A story I'm currently working on is really picking up steam in the brainstorming department. It's set in the Urban Fantasy genre but I feel like it covers a lot of new ground and could be a very refreshing read. My main problem is I would like the book to take place outside the United States.

I can use Google Maps to get a good look at street layouts and such, but when it comes to the interiors of restaurants, markets, and hotels and such, what's the best way to research layouts and what not?

One of my top choices for the setting is Hong Kong, China, if that helps provide any advice. Thanks!
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Offline Lanodantheon

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Re: Question About Writing Out of the Country
« Reply #1 on: February 08, 2012, 09:05:12 PM »

If you cannot physically go to the location in question, here are some things you can do in order of...accuracy/effectiveness/ease.

1. Go to the website of the restaurant or business in question. More and more websites are adding layouts and maps to their sites. If they are on a foreign language, just look at the pictures and/or use Google Translate to quick translate the website if they don't have an english site which shouldn't be a problem for Hong Kong.




2.Call the business/location in question and see if they can tell you where you can find a map and/or just ask the employee who answers the phone if there's someone there who's brain you can pick. Be friendly and upfront that you're researching for a book and they will bend over for you.


If the location is outside the country/a long distance call....they might have an american office you could call instead OR you could just bite the bullet. One long distance call for the sake of literary goodness.


3. Flickr. Look for photos of the interior


4. Find a similar location and extrapolate based on any other information you have. There will be common features among similar business. If it is a chain, you can bet they will all look similar.[size=78%] [/size]
 


I hope this helps.
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Offline LizW65

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Re: Question About Writing Out of the Country
« Reply #2 on: February 08, 2012, 10:26:56 PM »
Also, if you can interview some Hong Kong natives and/or find beta readers from that region, it would probably be helpful in terms of getting things like the culture, overall zeitgeist, and rhythm of dialogue right.
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Offline OZ

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Re: Question About Writing Out of the Country
« Reply #3 on: February 09, 2012, 05:41:07 AM »
There are many international members of this forum. I don't know if any of them are from Hong Kong but if there are you should try to contact them. Maybe start a thread with a title like "Looking for members from Hong Kong" or " Looking for members that have ever lived in Hong Kong".
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Offline Dresdenus Prime

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Re: Question About Writing Out of the Country
« Reply #4 on: February 09, 2012, 06:53:44 PM »
Thanks for the replies everyone. I have a couple more questions regarding my character's soon to be adventures in Hong Kong.

1. Do you think, since this is fiction after all, that I could use a skyscraper that exists in the city, and create a company that resides within? This would of course be an evil company of sorts, so I don't know if that would be a sensitive topic to the people who own the building.

2. I've been attempting to search for motels in Hong Kong, but most of the results come up as hotels. I need something more gritty than a hotel though, something that someone who is on the run can find, use some quick cash and stay for the night. At this point, if I can't find anything would it be okay just to create one?

Thanks again!
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Offline arianne

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Re: Question About Writing Out of the Country
« Reply #5 on: February 10, 2012, 03:09:42 AM »
I actually live in Asia, and have just come back from a trip to Hong Kong!

I have got some maps and things, but they're pamphlets and stuff like that, so I have no idea how I'd get them to you, but I'd be happy to answer any questions!

Okay, um, skyscraper...I suppose you could always make one up and plop it in a good location, but if you don't want to do that, there are a few places one would probably describe as seedy...what kind of company is it? Does it have to be a skyscraper?

Motels...I'd say search for hostels, most of them are cheap and hidden in what look like office buildings. The best place to go would probably be the Chungking mansions in Tim sha shui. This is a big building with many hostels/guest houses on the upper floors. Walking in on the first floor, you get people of all races (speaking English!) offering you anything from fake iPhones to food to a place to stay for the night.

« Last Edit: February 10, 2012, 04:36:26 AM by arianne »
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Offline Dresdenus Prime

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Re: Question About Writing Out of the Country
« Reply #6 on: February 10, 2012, 03:45:21 AM »
Arianne it must be fate! Thank you for the advice!

I was considering using the Nina Tower in Tsuen Wan. It looks absolutely stunning. Without giving away any plot details. I wanted to have a corporation owning part of the building, conducting illegal research. Something goes wrong and a couple floors of the building are torn apart. If you or anyone thinks that doing something like this would be better off in an original building of my own design, I could always do that. It is fiction after all.

I searched for Hostels and I did come up with a few results, so thank you for that!

Since you were there, I might as well ask you, I thought I read somewhere that bullet trains run throughout China. If this is true do any of them pass through Hong Kong that you know of?

Thanks for posting! I hope you don't mind me picking your brain over a few details in the future!
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Offline meg_evonne

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Re: Question About Writing Out of the Country
« Reply #7 on: February 10, 2012, 01:47:34 PM »
Beware that if you will not have visited the location, you will need to be extra diligent in your details.

That said, travel books, travel sites, travel reviews, and if you can actually send off a note to a travel reviewer's blog and get a response it would be invaluable.

I wrote something based in Rome, but I had been there and felt quite comfortable writing about it. Still what clinched being able to use the site was a slim little unique travel volume. Not only were there decent photos but there were descriptions and personal reflections written by everyday artists, writers, scientists, students, etc. Unfortunately, subsequent books on other locations were woefully lacking in the same depth of impressions.

Good luck.
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Offline arianne

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Re: Question About Writing Out of the Country
« Reply #8 on: February 10, 2012, 02:50:26 PM »
I don't know if there are any legal issues concerned with using real buildings as a setting in a work of fiction? Other than that, I don't think anyone would be annoyed or upset by you using "their' building in a book. And you're right, the Nina Tower is an awesome thing to get one's hands on!

One bullet train (in this part of the world they're known as express rails or high speed rails, by the way) runs from the south east of China to Kowloon Island (one of the four islands that make up Hong Kong). Is that the one you're looking for?

Purely out of interest, is there a special reason you decided on Hong Kong?
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Offline Dresdenus Prime

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Re: Question About Writing Out of the Country
« Reply #9 on: February 11, 2012, 03:02:39 AM »
Beware that if you will not have visited the location, you will need to be extra diligent in your details.

That said, travel books, travel sites, travel reviews, and if you can actually send off a note to a travel reviewer's blog and get a response it would be invaluable.

I wrote something based in Rome, but I had been there and felt quite comfortable writing about it. Still what clinched being able to use the site was a slim little unique travel volume. Not only were there decent photos but there were descriptions and personal reflections written by everyday artists, writers, scientists, students, etc. Unfortunately, subsequent books on other locations were woefully lacking in the same depth of impressions.

Good luck.

You're absolutely right. I need to make sure my details are very accurate, and to be frank, I'm scared sh*tless. However I'm confident that this is the right decision with this book. I need my characters to be completely out of their element, taken away from familiar places. In a way, I think this actually might be an advantage to me, because since I'll be writing from these characters points of view, they won't know anything about the location. So now it's just the matter of, like you say, getting the right amount of information. Travel agencies and sites will definately be on my list of places to look at, and Google Maps has some great 3D road maps for when my characters are outdoors. Here's hoping it all works out.

I don't know if there are any legal issues concerned with using real buildings as a setting in a work of fiction? Other than that, I don't think anyone would be annoyed or upset by you using "their' building in a book. And you're right, the Nina Tower is an awesome thing to get one's hands on!

One bullet train (in this part of the world they're known as express rails or high speed rails, by the way) runs from the south east of China to Kowloon Island (one of the four islands that make up Hong Kong). Is that the one you're looking for?

Purely out of interest, is there a special reason you decided on Hong Kong?


Thank you for the correction of the rail, I will mark that down in my notes.

As for my choice of Hong Kong, I've always been interested in the Asian culture, and wanted to write a book where it served as the backdrop. After doing some searching online and using Google maps I felt like Hong Kong was the perfect place to do it. It's a gorgeous looking city, with fantastic architecture. My characters need to be in an evasion mode for most of the book, and this needs to be in a place completely new and unknown to them, so I needed someplace that had a different language, both spoken and written. It was just one of those cities that fit perfectly into what I needed.

I'll have to find out about whether I can use Nina Tower. I would love to, but if it's not recommended to use an existing building for story purposes, especially controversial ones, I'll need to create a fictional building. If no one reading this topic knows I'll create a specific topic for that. Thanks again for the info!
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Offline arianne

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Re: Question About Writing Out of the Country
« Reply #10 on: February 11, 2012, 04:54:36 AM »
I should probably preface this by saying this is one of my personal favorite buildings, but if you REALLY wanted to get your hands on a skyscraper (hehe), you can't beat the 101 in Taipei (Taiwan). A couple of years ago it used to be the tallest building in the world, with its 101 floors. A friend of mine consulted on the construction of it, and he told me that apparently due to the earthquakes they have in Taiwan, the foundation of the building is not actually solid; rather, the building is held in place by a giant heavy silver ball at the top, which serves to counterbalance the building in times of earthquakes.

But enough gushing from me....

PS. Eoin Colfer used the 101 in one of his Artemis Fowl books.
« Last Edit: February 11, 2012, 04:56:50 AM by arianne »
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Offline Nickeris86

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Re: Question About Writing Out of the Country
« Reply #11 on: February 13, 2012, 08:30:28 AM »
Look on ExPat websites or ESL teacher websites there are tones of westerners out and about and they are a plethora of information.

I can't help you with Hong Kong but if you have any questions on Seoul South Korea, I am currently living there so let me know.
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Offline The Deposed King

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Re: Question About Writing Out of the Country
« Reply #12 on: February 14, 2012, 09:57:17 AM »
You sound married to Hong Kong and want your characters totally out of their element.

But if you wanted to have your characters in the friendliest asian country in the world you'd send them to the Philippines and if you wanted to throw them off the deep end they'd end up on mindanao where the rebels are still shooting.

Its a crazy country, there are lots of educated people and everyone educated speaks english.  In the middle part its peaceful.  About a decade or two the heart of the middle visayas region was starting to be over run with crime and gangs so the local government organzied secret death squads and basically went around wacking the southern rebels and home grown criminals.  A decade and a half later they are still trying to convict the local police and politicians that did the deed, and Cebu is the most peaceful island in the country.  Its also the most tourist friendly.

This is also the same place where the Muslim and Communist rebels, routinely negotiate christmas and ramadan 'holidays' to temporarily stop the blood shed so everyone can go home and celebrate.

In cebu there are lots of run down buildings in the heart of the city.  For while there was even an abandoned hotel (30-40 stories)that was built with substandard materials and tried to immitate the leaning tower of piza.  don't think its still around though.

Plus I know for a fact that lots of native philippinos (of which I'm not, I just live here at the moment) are active on the JB site.

This is the same country that is on the top ten countries in the world for two things Happiness and Corruption.

But as I said lots of walking contradictions over here.




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