Chances are you put a lot of thought into choosing where you
were going to live. Perhaps there were obligations keeping you in a place or
maybe you were free to follow a dream and choose something close to a Utopia.
Whichever you chose, the place you live helps to make you who you are, how you act
and certainly influences choices you make. Your character deserves the same consideration
and thought about their residence.
What is the draw to the location? Was it someplace your
character grew up, was there a job opportunity, or a move made to be close to
someone? Does she live near friends or family? Why did your character choose
that town or did it choose him? Is the place real or made-up?
As the author you have the right to decide if you are going
to use real or fictional places in your fiction, however you need to be aware
of some of the pros and cons. Using a real place in a historical or
contemporary novel will help your readers picture the scenery and may add reader
interest about the familiar place; however if you are using a real location be
sure to do your research. Readers who are familiar with the named location will
feel put out if they come across a blatant non-fact. Some time back I read
reviews about a book set in the Jersey shore area, the writer did use the real
name of the town but she failed to get an accurate feel for the place – readers
chastised everything from the number of lanes of the main road to how old the
town hall building was. The writer’s readers, those who knew the real place
mentioned, felt disconnected.
Many seasoned writers recommend using a blend of real and
fictional places. One way to do this, as I did in my contemporary novel Karma
Visited, is to choose an authentic country, region or state and name a fictional
town that incorporates much of the local flavor. The story in Karma Visited
took place in northeastern Colorado in the fictional towns of Catawai and
Trance – the topography is real, the highways correct and I even used some real
local tourist attractions in one character’s background experiences. I used
enough reality to make the reader feel as if they were there, but I avoided
getting hindered by my own lack of familiarity with the place.
If you are writing about a historical event, which is public
domain content, you can describe a historically accurate setting, place names,
people names and events as they were recorded. A fictionalized story, however,
might call for manipulating the facts, but don’t let it lead you too far
astray. One writer who wrote about a young Jewish girl surviving a Nazi
concentration camp had to keep the factual and historical reality intact and
weave the girl’s story around those facts. If that writer were to write about
liberating that real life camp before it factually happened, the inaccuracies
would have attracted a lot of criticism from historians.
If you set your story in a post 9/11 New York City and
mention tourists visiting the standing towers it would be a gross misstep that
would catch more criticism than you would be prepared for. However if you have
a couple strolling through Central Park and mention the Carousel or Dairy
Visitor Center, then you have added brush strokes to an already vivid picture.
Public and iconic attractions are generally safe to mention by name; be careful
when you mention private sector businesses or residences – generally if you are
not defaming anyone or invading someone’s personal privacy you’ll be safe. A
good public relations move would be to notify a restaurant’s owner, for
example, if you used their restaurant as the scene of a romantic dinner. Unless
it is an historically accurate event, stay away from negative happenings in
real life settings (ie: having diners getting sick from vermin infestation at a
real restaurant could cause the owner harm and might even subject you to a
lawsuit).
It’s a great idea to use the internet’s vast supply of virtual
tours to get exposed to some of the flavor of an area you haven’t been to or
merely to refresh your memory of an area and then write a convincing reality in
a completely fictional setting. Travel guides are another great way to learn
about contemporary areas for your fiction.
Writing exercise:
Write a paragraph or two describing the neighborhood where you grew up. Be
sure to describe the buildings, the traffic and the people you might have seen around.
Writing Prompt: Think
about places you might have visited briefly. If possible list up-to ten
landmarks or features that made an impression on you and the mention of each
would send you through a figurative time tunnel back to your visit.
Challenge Assignment:
Is there a place that you haven’t been yet would want to visit? Using
research (internet, encyclopedias, books, etc) find out as much about the place
as possible and then write about a trip you “took” there recently.
