Setting Help

[anygivenmemory.livejournal.com]

HELLO FELLOW WRITERS! I need a little help. I am outlining my novel at present. I have the character sketches done and I know what I want to do with the plot. I even know the general area that I want to set my book, at least in my mind's eye. I wanted to ask the community: What do you do for settings? Do you completely make up towns for places, or do you set your stories in real towns and use actual landmarks and street names? I have noticed that Google maps can be very useful, but I don't know if I can stick strictly to the real setting. For one, I have never actually been there myself, and secondly I am worried about writing something that may rub people the wrong way. For instance I have an orphanage in my novel. I am concerned that if I use the name of a real orphanage and write about a bad employee or something that there might be repercussions if my book was to actually get published. So what do you do for your own writing? Use real or made up settings, or a combination of the two? What kind of settings do you like to read about?

Comments

[thebonedawg.livejournal.com]

It doesn't matter to me which kind of setting I read about (real or made up) as long as it's compelling. Some of my own stories are set in real places, but my plots don't typically center around a certain place so it's easy for me to neglect specifics of a place. For my current novel, I'm setting it in south central Minnesota, about 40 minutes south of St. Paul. My setting is not a real place but it's going to be based on real cities in that area.

It doesn't bother me too much, but one thing that irks me a bit is when writers use a real place but are inaccurate in their "facts" about it. For instance, I read a book where the characters went through my actual home town. They mentioned stopping at a Target in this city. Well, we don't have a Target here and we never have. It was a good guess on the author's part as there are Targets in most significantly sized cities (at least around here), but clearly he hadn't done his research on this particular city. It wasn't a huge deal to me, but I know a lot of people are bothered by that sort of thing.

[kurushi.livejournal.com]

There are many things you could do to resolve your concerns.

First, you could base a fictional city off of a google map (or any map, really) for main roads and basic infrastructure, but have entirely fictional businesses and orphanage.

Secondly, you could choose a real-life city and be true to life in every aspect BUT the orphanage. A lot of fiction writers do this. It gives you the veracity and feel, but saves you from any legal issues. A great idea might be to choose a town or city that does not have an orphanage, so you get the roadmaps and amenities but also have the fictionality of the orphanage in no doubt whatsoever.

Another option might be to find an orphanage that is suffering from a severe lack of funding, public recogninition or resources; they might actually like the idea of more awareness and publicity if your book is published and popular, though you'd probably want to be talking to an agent or legal advisory about issues that might arise before you even think about this one. If I did this (and I probably wouldn't), I'd be setting it up so that part of the profits ended up going to the orphanage just to be polite.

And yes. I live in Australia, and reading very American versions of cities here is quite frustrating! Especially assumptions that some inland towns and cities have beaches, or that places in cold wet climates are hot and dry. Make sure if you base your story in a real city to build up background information regarding climate, economy, culture, and landmarks. If they go to a branded store, just visit that store's website to double-check whether or not it exists.

[somewhatlacking.livejournal.com]

There's a community called "little_details" that could also help you. If you're looking to write about a location that you've never been to before and you want the FACTS about what that place is really like, you can post a question asking about it there. It's very useful, and your questions are not limited to merely details on locations, you can ask about ANYTHING.

And when I write, it's usually a combination of reality and my own creations. For instance, if I were in your situation, I would suggest writing about a real location (because that'll be easier for you when describing it) with an orphanage that you've created yourself. I would not use the real name of the orphanage.

[mythic-fantasy.livejournal.com]

Personally, I use a mixture of both.


I like to make up the names, but I sometimes draw inspiration from real cities, or even fictional cities in other books (this is usually because I mis-pronounce the names and then reread and find out I was saying it wrong), . Personally, I try and say the places and make sure I can picture someone else saying it in the story.