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Jul 12 05 7:28 PM

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This is really making me antsy, it always does. Setting. Not just basic setting, I can do that, what is stressing me out is the setting for a city. This next book, I want a setting for a big, dirty, dangerous city. But I feel wierd writing about big cities in Texas where I live.

Plus, you know when writing about Texas it gives of an image that doesn't look in the least, dirty or dangerous. In fact, a writing friend of mine in England keeps calling me a hick, I know he's teazing, but that's just the image he gets from here.

My city in this story should give a certain image, like New York, but I've never been to New York. Second closest: Los Angeles. The only time I've been there was going to Disney Land when I was five, I don't remember anything. So, what do I do? Do I just give a name of a fictional city, add some detail but be sure not to give out what state? I'm really stuck on this. Any ideas?

-- Making Bad Jokes Is My Schtick!! Now Let's Make Like A Tree And Leave!! ...What?...I Said They Were Bad. -- Harley Quinn - Static Shock

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#1 [url]

Jul 12 05 11:01 PM

What genre are you writing? How important is it that you give your story a "real" city as a setting?

If you feel you really need that reality to the story, write it, then find someone who's very familiar with the city you've used and ask them to read over the story and double check your researched facts.


Tina

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fiction Factor
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The Complete Guide to Writing Science Fiction
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#3 [url]

Jul 13 05 12:02 AM

I'd actually be more comfortable writing about a fictional city. But a big, dirty, dangerous city that's not on the map? *shrug* It might work, but that still pops up the question, 'What state?' does that question actually need to be answered or not?

The genre of this book is...thriller, I think. There's also a problem with your idea to get someone who's familiar with one of the big cities: I don't get out much and neither do the friends I do have. Any other big cities besides Dallas/Fort Worth were visited or lived in during their childhood.

I really would rather a fictional city. I would need a name for it though, and that I'm not so good at.

Hmm...I'm going to have a little chat with myself in the bathroom...

-- Making Bad Jokes Is My Schtick!! Now Let's Make Like A Tree And Leave!! ...What?...I Said They Were Bad. -- Harley Quinn - Static Shock

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#4 [url]

Jul 13 05 12:44 AM

Having grown up in Los Angeles and lived in the Seattle and Washington, DC, I can tell you that each city has its own specific culture. For example, an interior decorator who is very successful in L.A. will probably have trouble in New York because of L.A. dress style. DC has a terrible me-first culture, which manifests itself in bad drivers.

Particularly with Thriller, a real place is simply going to work better for the story. The genre is made up of real places, which is part of the "thrill"--that something can happen in a place the reader might have actually been. I just got through reading one that used Harlem as part of the setting to make one of the characters seem more mysterious (as to why he was living there).

All that being said, there's lots of information on big cities. Visit the newspaper Web sites for a particular city, such as the Los Angeles Times. Reading the newspaper will give you a good feel for the city's culture. The book's going to take a while to write, so you may have an opportunity at a later date where you might be able to visit.

Linda Adams
The Joy of Thrillers http://lazette.net/vision/Issue29/Thrillers.htm

Member of International Thriller Writers
http://www.hackman-adams.com
http://garridon.blogspot.com/

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#5 [url]

Jul 13 05 3:28 AM

QUOTE
There's also a problem with your idea to get someone who's familiar with one of the big cities: I don't get out much and neither do the friends I do have. Any other big cities besides Dallas/Fort Worth were visited or lived in during their childhood.



I wouldn't necessarily ask a friend to read the book for consistency issues anyway. This is where you need to find a crit partner and looking in online groups and asking for help from writers who may have lived in the chosen city in the past or presently is the route I would take.

But I write fantasy about made up worlds for a reason....No one can tell me I'm wrong about th culture. fictionfactor/bleh.gif fictionfactor/bleh.gif fictionfactor/bleh.gif


Tina

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fiction Factor
One of Writer's Digests' 101 Best Websites (multiple years)
http://www.fictionfactor.com

The Complete Guide to Writing Science Fiction
2008 Eppie Winner for non-fiction!

The Fantasy Writer's Companion
The Complete Guide to Writing Fantasy

http://www.stygianwritings.com

The Fractured Publisher
A fun and amusing way to browse for books
http://www.fracturedpublisher.com

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#6 [url]

Jul 13 05 3:43 PM

If you want a real city, just go online and look up pictures of New York or L.A. That should help you get an idea of what the city looks like. If you're trying to totaly recreate a city, just create a basic plan for the city with specialized buildings and defenses.

You can try and fail, but never fail to try.


"Life is love old man."
said a young man

"Ah, but is love not what you make of it?"
said the old man

"how wise you are."

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#7 [url]

Jul 13 05 6:42 PM

One thing to keep in mind is the physical differences in city planning. New York, Boston, and generally most east coast cities are very packed together due to their colonial cores. LA, Phoenix, Seattle, etc are very spread out in comparison.

In here is a tragedy --- art thou player or audience?
Be as it may, the end doth remain: all go on only toward death.
As did this one, playing at death, find true death at the last.
Truths and lies, life and death: an endless game of turning white to black and black to white.

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#8 [url]

Jul 13 05 7:06 PM

Yea I never thought of that (the whole city planning thing). That would come into play. It makes sense how location affects the planning. I'm going to have to put that idea into my plans. Thanks.

You can try and fail, but never fail to try.


"Life is love old man."
said a young man

"Ah, but is love not what you make of it?"
said the old man

"how wise you are."

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#9 [url]

Jul 13 05 7:33 PM

I've lived in so many cities - Memphis, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Des Moines, Rockford ... and visited fifty more - some of them in Texas. They all have dirty, ugly parts to them. They all have some good points, too. Texas is no different. Take a drive down one of your older, busier streets and get a good look at the strip malls, the empty lots littered with trash, and the abandoned buildings. Every big city has them. Then let your imagination go to work.

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#10 [url]

Jul 17 05 1:02 AM

I live in the shadow of New York, and I can tell you that you have to specify if you want that "big, dirty, dangerous" feel. Those parts exist, of course, but you have to know where.

Manhattan alone has so many neighborhoods and little areas that you can cross a dozen cultures from one end to the other. I've been through Harlem, the Upper East Side, Midtown, Downtown, Greenwich Village, Soho, Battery Park and probably others that I'm forgetting. Everything is different. There is no "New York." There are hundreds of "New York."

From personal experience, New York does not really feel dirty or dangerous to me. I once walked by myself from 10th Ave. and 22nd St. to 12th and 38th (took me about fifteen to twenty minutes) at dusk without so much as a second glance from other pedestrians or a real feeling of "Oh, my god, I might be mugged!" Then again, I was in Midtown. I'd think twice before doing that in Harlem.

If you don't want to use a real city, I would suggest knowing what state because every region of the country is different. If you know the region, you can pepper your story with enough details for it to ring true with your audience.

"I will eviscerate you in fiction. Every pimple, every character flaw. I was naked for a day; you will be naked for eternity." - Geoffrey Chaucer, A Knight's Tale

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