Have or would you ever based a story in….?
…A place you’ve only visited or never been to?
I’m writing a story, and I hate basing my stories in Texas, where I live. There are so many stereotypes about Texans and I don’t want anyone to picture my character with a red-neck accent just because that’s where I happen to live.
I want to set my setting to be in Massachusetts. It’ll be a fictional town in the west part of the state where it’s more rural. I have been to Boston once for a summer, but besides that, it was my only visit.
I know Stephenie Meyer wrote about Forks when she had only looked up google maps of the area and never stepped foot in. Obviously there are several people that think that was stupid of her.
I’m a little nervous about this. I usually just give the name of the town and leave the location to the imagination, but I think this time it’ll help the story along.
So I want your opinions. Would you set your story in a place you’ve only visited or have never been to before?
Oh darn. A grammatical error in the Title. That sucks…
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Answers
Personally I wouldn’t. There’s just too much opportunity for someone to point out errors. But if you research enough, it wouldn’t be a problem. And if it’s a fictional town, no one can say you’re wrong.
And lol, I didn’t notice the grammar error until you pointed it out.
Personally, I think you can tell when an author does that and it makes the setting flimsy. Naturally, you’ll put more detail into the setting if you know of more to put in, so experience in a certain area would be helpful… then again, I do think it’s possible… it just depends on how important the setting is to your story, I think 🙂
I think that whatever you feel comfy with you should do! It’s your story!
In Twilight, i kind of felt like Stephenie Meyer had actually been there, so the news she hadn’t been was a shock to me! Follow her example.
If you research the city you want your story to be in well, and also have a good imaginative feel to how you describe it, then you will hook your readers!
Readers want to feel as if they are actually there, the place you’re decribing, so they can basically get away from reality.
Make sure you describe the city how you think it would be in your imagination – having it exactly like the city is just boring and your readers will feel like ‘been there done that’. Use your imagination with the city, but make sure it is relatively close to the city’s description!
Good luck with your novel, if you want to publish it! What’s the name of it? I’ll read it, if it comes out! Remember publishing a book is extremely difficult though. Once you’ve found your publisher who likes your book, you have to begin working on covers and going on tours to promote your book – it’s a lot of hard work. But totally worth it! Go with your dreams and your book will be as big as Twilight! P.S bit of trivia: J.K Rowling sold HP1 for only 3,000 dollars. considering it would go on to make millions, what a rip off! 🙂
Try getting travel guides. Also see is if there is a small town with an online newspaper to help you get details.
You might also keep the setting in Texas, but make sure your characters are not stereotypes. Have one who;s ancestry is Asian and he or she has furnishings fron their homeland. Have one that hates horses.
Personally I base a story in a fictional town that is based on a real town that I know something about. You could base your stories in a fictional town but use the characters from your town if they fit the plot and that way stereotypes are non existent.
People do write about places they have never been to e.g. there are a number of Bishops in my area that have written about heaven with some authority
It’s possible but you have to be careful. I think it’ll be good if you do some research on:
– the people. So you can understand how do people from masachusetts normally behave, talk or if there’s a specific tradition etc. What kind of communities live there (italian, jews, Muslims, chinese, etc)
– the vegetation and particular animals that grow/ live in that place, to help you describing an outdoor situation
– temperature, rainfall and stuff like that
And make a rough (or detailed) map of your fictional town.
I’d base a story in a place I’d visited, provided I felt confident that my descriptions were accurate and about things I’d seen. For instance, if I’d visited somewhere on holiday, I’d probably happily base a story in the central streets and public areas I’d spent time in, but I’d be a bit more wary of basing it in a local school I’d only seen from outside or a residential area I’d driven through once.
However, a fictional town in a specific state? I can’t imagine that would be an issue. Just do your research and get the weather and general geography right 🙂 Like you say, you can leave much of the location to the imagination. It’s only going to jar if, for instance, you have deep snow at a time of year that they NEVER have it, or have your character living hundreds of miles from the nearest city when they are at most 50 miles apart, or put a mountain range in a flat state…
I’d never base a story in a specific location I hadn’t visited. Even with pro authors, it’s SO obvious when they do that. (I live in Oxford, which gets used a fair bit as a fictional location).