Authors, Writers, Publishers, and Book Readers

Is it better to make up a place in a book or use an actual location?

I know I havent actually been on here before, but that's only because I forgot about it. Lol. But I could really use some help. I'm trying to write a book, but I don't know if I should use an actual location (like an actual town in a state) or just make up my own. Which do you think is better? Again, sorry for just jumping right in after making the account and not using it for a few months :P

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Permalink Reply by Kay Elizabeth on January 31, 2011 at 6:53am

Come on in, Julie. The water's lovely. :) That's an interesting question. If you want to give a certain feel to a story right away, picking a location your readers will already be familiar with gets them into the groove right away I'd say.

For example if I tell you my story will be set in Paris or Nebraska, you immediately relate different images in your mind to that setting. If it's a fictional town name though, you need never worry about there being anyone actually from that town whose name or description might match your characters. Me, I'd like to choose a name just for the fun of making it up. :)

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Permalink Reply by Julie Ann Burgos on February 3, 2011 at 2:32am

Thanks :) Making up the name is my favorite part of making fictional places too :) And being able to make it any way I want it to be.

Kay Elizabeth said:

Come on in, Julie. The water's lovely. :) That's an interesting question. If you want to give a certain feel to a story right away, picking a location your readers will already be familiar with gets them into the groove right away I'd say.

For example if I tell you my story will be set in Paris or Nebraska, you immediately relate different images in your mind to that setting. If it's a fictional town name though, you need never worry about there being anyone actually from that town whose name or description might match your characters. Me, I'd like to choose a name just for the fun of making it up. :)

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Permalink Reply by Jeremy Vaeni on February 5, 2011 at 7:40pm

I think maybe instead of saying which is better, I'll point out some pros for each and I think the cons are implied by the pros of the opposite.

FAKE LOCATION PROS:

-- You don't have to study the region's history. (Saves time, energy, and unleashes the imagination.)

-- Anything goes. You don't even have to adhere to basic physics.

-- Conducive to fantasy and sci fi novels.

-- Create atmosphere of mystery in real life about you. As in, "I wonder which place the author was REALLY talking about?"

REAL LOCATION PROS:

-- Rooted in reality. Some audiences need that.

-- Built-in audience: The residents of that town/state. (You know you've at least got one place you can easily set up a speaking engagement and, if it's a small town, probably make the local papers.)

-- If your book really takes off, you could end up creating an underground tourist spot of the town, which, in turn, may sell more books.)

-- You might enjoy learning about the history and sociology of a location.

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Permalink Reply by Kay Elizabeth on February 8, 2011 at 10:21pm

Bravo, Jeremy! Very nice post. I think your point about the sky being the limit if you choose a fake one plus the reduced research time would sway me in that direction. Although the built-in audience is a great selling point for using a real one too...argh! I'm torn. :)

Jeremy Vaeni said:

I think maybe instead of saying which is better, I'll point out some pros for each and I think the cons are implied by the pros of the opposite.

FAKE LOCATION PROS:

-- You don't have to study the region's history. (Saves time, energy, and unleashes the imagination.)

-- Anything goes. You don't even have to adhere to basic physics.

-- Conducive to fantasy and sci fi novels.

-- Create atmosphere of mystery in real life about you. As in, "I wonder which place the author was REALLY talking about?"

REAL LOCATION PROS:

-- Rooted in reality. Some audiences need that.

-- Built-in audience: The residents of that town/state. (You know you've at least got one place you can easily set up a speaking engagement and, if it's a small town, probably make the local papers.)

-- If your book really takes off, you could end up creating an underground tourist spot of the town, which, in turn, may sell more books.)

-- You might enjoy learning about the history and sociology of a location.

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Permalink Reply by David Wayne Green, I on February 9, 2011 at 7:35pm

When I first started writing my book, I used a fictional city with made up street names and everything...I even drew out a map of the city....and then, I decided since the book was loosely going to be based on my teen years to go ahead and used the actual city I grew up in. This made it easier for me to describe locations because they were actual locations and street names that I was familar with. They also tied into the story since, as I mentioned, the book was loosely based on my teenage years and some of the events mentioned in it actually took place during that period of my life...

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Permalink Reply by halim abdelrahman on February 10, 2011 at 2:41pm

hey Julie, its best to make up a unreal place that way you'll be able to make up anything about that place and no one can say your wrong. and another pulse side to making up a place is that it will expand your imagination bigger. any time you need advice on anything just ask you not so old fourteen year old friend halim

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Permalink Reply by Aries on February 10, 2011 at 7:53pm

The problem with such a thing is that the writer will mostly assume the reader is perfectly familiar with the area it's set in. If I wrote a fanfic set in Grand Theft Auto 3's Liberty City, I could describe very minor details and let people's memories of the game do the rest.