Monday, July 9, 2012

Story Setting, real or fake.

When you write a book, do you use a fake town or a real one? Why?

My Guardian Legacy series is an urban fantasy, but the Guardians' HQ/setting is in a town in northern Utah, my home town. To get my facts straight, I visited the local high school and got the layout for my fictitious high school, the hotel near and RV park, where my character and her grandfather lived, made calls to local business and city offices...you name it, I researched it.

Even though I found it easy to use a real town, my characters visit other places across the globe, so I do a lot of research online too as I write. Needless to say, I go nuts when I don't have internet, like today.

Our wireless has been acting up, so I had to vamoose to the library to use their wireless. Turned out great. I made today's deadline--finished chapter 8. Woohoo!!





TEASER (scene from Vegas) from BETRAYED

With Bran behind the wheel of the Suburban, we headed toward the Strip—the stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard South where the largest hotels, resorts, and casinos were located. The entertainment capital of the world pulsed with people’s hopes and dreams. Desperate-looking people stared out of taxi windows and disappeared into the flashy buildings.
I reached up to touch the Cardinal pendant through my shirt. The jadeite core was warming up, typical of its behavior in Vegas, where demons mingled with humans in casinos and resorts. Despite that, my dagger lay calm in its sheath, which meant no strong demonic presence in our vicinity.
The ravens were the first warning that things were not okay. The black birds perched on the Arc de Triomphe replica at the entrance of Las Vegas Paris. More sat on their Eiffel Tower. Ravens weren’t nocturnal birds to begin with. They were also a rare sight in Vegas.

16 comments:

  1. Congrats on finishing Chapter 8! I know how annoying no net can be. Ack! I hope you have no more trouble with yours. :-)

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    1. Thanks, Lexa Finally had it back last night after talking to a tech guy somewhere in Mumbai

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  2. I usually use fictitious towns, but I have used real ones. Sometimes I'm not too specific, saying The Poconos but not naming the actual town because I'm basing it off a real one but not holding strictly to it.

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    1. I use fictitious buildings and schools, but the idea of sketching my own town puts me to sleep. I think I might go all fictitious in my next series.

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  3. I use fictional towns, so I can set everything where and how I want it. If you use a real city or town, readers familiar with it will want and expect you to name real streets, going in the proper direction, with real buildings, etc. Since my places of business are fictional also, I don't want readers to be pulled out of the story with the thought "that company or type of store doesn't exist here." Fiction allows me more freedom.

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    1. So true about fictcion gives you the freedom to let your imagination soar. But do you have to sketch the town?

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  4. Thanks for the preview. Very ominous and intriguing.

    As to real or imagined places . . . I often use details from places that fit my story, but I only used a real name in my first book. I'm always leery that people will read about where they live and say, "That's not the way it looks!" :-)

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    1. One guy asked me about a street when he read my first book AWAKENED. He said his wife came from my town and she didn't remember that street. Mind, I don't use the name of my town in the book, LOL. I explained to him this is fiction.

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  5. My fantasy series is set in a real town (also my childhood home), but my new project is completely fictional. I like both options.

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    1. Sarah, my fantasy series is also based on a real town. My next one I'll use a fictitious town. I've eben played with the idea of using an abandoned town.

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  6. I like to make up my own places. It's more fun for me, plus I can design them however I want to. Maybe one day I'll write something with a real town, but I am not a fan of researching that much. So we'll see.

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    1. I'm opposite you. I love research... However, I'm going to get creative from now on... The problem is Google maps makes it so easy.

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  7. i read many books with real or not real set in the story. since i lived in Indonesia, sometimes it's hard to me to know if the place in the story is fact or fiction. but, i love when i read the book with the maps of location where it happens. i used to buying USA map's (separating North and South and Canada) and display it in my room's wall, in case if i can't imagine where the place in the story, i can look in the map. Hehe.. I even buy globe too :)

    happy writing, Ednah! :D

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    1. Thanks, Kristiana for stopping by. Do yu know when Betrayed will be released in Indonesia by Ufuk?

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    2. of course i know, you telling me first, when you have signed with the publisher :)
      my facebook account is 'Liz Freya Kris', anyway :)

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