Location, Location, Location -
Where to Set Your Stories for Best Effect - and Easier
Writing!
Rob Parnell
When it
comes to writing fiction, there are numerous advantages
to creating a make-believe setting - whether it be a
house, a street, a town or even a whole country.
Not only do
you not need to worry about the little things like train
and bus schedules, what time the sun sets, what kinds of
flowers bloom where etc., you've also got free rein on
all the buildings, the streets, the municipal systems,
even the type of government.
Good
writers spend lots of time checking police procedures,
technology and how real places look, feel and operate.
When you make everything up - you save on all that
research. Okay, you still need to use you mind to imagine
everything but no-one can ever turn round to you and say
you got something wrong - because it just can't be wrong!
Unless
you're writing fantasy or science fiction, you don't need
to go so far as to invent everything. Many writers choose
to invent just the town (and the people in it) and leave
the country and state and its political system intact.
This is good way to create veracity without being a slave
to the truth.
One major
disadvantage is that readers have gotten used to modern
fiction being set in real places - they expect it.
Therefore, if you present a fictional town, some readers
will baulk and cry: well, if that's not real, how can I
begin to believe anything else this author tells me!
Some
readers may feel cheated that you, as the author, are
playing God and consequently can shape the 'rules' in
your world. This may hinder their willing suspension of
disbelief.
Plus,
there's the need to identify. People like things to hold
on to - things that feel real. Sometimes one of the
advantages of setting your story in New York, Paris or
London can be the reader is filling in the details for
you. Place a reader in a nebulous, unfamiliar environment
and they'll feel lost unless you describe the place fully
- which may in turn hinder your ability to pace the
action.
Stephen
King's Castle Rock is a very familiar place - he uses it
in many of his novels. What many people don't realize is
that this place is completely imaginary. Sure, it's based
on several places in Maine but it's designed to be a
credible backdrop - rather than a real place.
Kathy
Reichs uses real Canadian cities as the backdrops to her
novels - describing them with a freshness that makes them
very real - especially to readers who may never have
experienced them first hand.
JK Rowling
uses a combination of real English places like London and
Oxford and imaginary locations like Hogwarts to root her
reality in real life but also give her the latitude to
take her readers on a magical adventure.
There's no
right or wrong way to do these things. Only one rule is
important. Whether your location is real or imaginary, it
must be believable.
So - if you're tempted to invent a city, where do you
start?
Make a map.
Start small - with just one street and move outward from
there.
Most of my
stories (three novels and about a dozen short stories)
are set in a fictional town - loosely based on the place
I grew up in - called West Ridge. I have a map - it's
just a sheet of A4 I have taped near my desk. Sometimes I
will add to it if I decide I want one of my characters to
take a walk round a park or drive over a bridge, or
whatever. The best part is that it's organic - it grows
larger and more complex with every story.
It has
bars, clubs, shops, roads, hills, rivers, housing
estates, statues, parks, fountains and - best of all,
it's as real to me as the keys on this laptop!
Invent your
own city if you like. It can be a lot of fun.
