How do you choose the location/setting for your story? Do you only write about places you've been yourself, or do you research locations on the internet? How concerned are you about capturing the essence of the locale/setting? How important do you think the location is to a story?
Story locations, to me, can make or break a story, especially if i'm reading something that takes place in a locale i know well. having grown up in the San Francisco Bay Area, if i'm reading a story that takes place there and it's got it all wrong, no matter how good the story is, it will ruin it for me. And, for that reason, it's very rare that i will write stories in specific exisiting and named locaitions unless i'm familiar with them. Fantasy locales are easy, you make them up, or generic locales. Some of my stories take place in the suburbs without naming the specific cities they are in. I've written plenty of tales set is SF or Oakland, because i know those cities by heart, but would be careful of writing something taking place in New York or Amsterdamn, having no personal expericene in either city.
i think that, a location, when properly written, really gives a story flavor and brings it to life. it makes it real. these are real people in a real place, not just some made up characters. location can be a character within the story, all by itself.
I agree with Rachel- it makes it so much richer when a location is painted carefully into a story. Without that, I damn near picture it taking place on a stage set. It needs to be 'somewhere' to come to life.
So far I've only written about locations I've visited. I need to be able to include sounds and smells and I'd find that too difficult if I'd never been there.
It depends - I love New York but I fear I'd never do it justice to include it. Most of my stuff tends to take place in places I've visited, mostly through my slightly shady employment history...or in the industrial heartland of Middle England where I've grown up...
I've written most of my stories to be set in the cities I've lived in: Chicago, Detroit, and Houston. The bulk of my stories takes place in Chicago, since I grew up there and know where everything is.
for the most part I try to not to pin point my story in one specific location so that it can take place just about anywhere in the readers mind. The only time I would pick a location is if it's essential to the story. If that's the case then the first choice for me are places I've been to before. If that is not possible then I'll do some research and try to pull it off.
I have always avoided trying to pinpoint an exact geographic location as a setting for my stories. Primarily because as was noted in the Ask The Readers (of this same question) - my experiences at certain locations are most likely going to be different than what anyone who has ever visited a location I'm trying to describe, may well be different.
I've been to the Big Apple, but my experiences there, were mostly in industrial areas around The City. Nothing of much consequence has ever occurred in those areas. I might use my memories of the factories or settings to describe in future stories, but I won't identify them as specific locations.
It does not bother me as a reader, to see an author set up his or her story in a specific location. I realize that their perceptions will be different than my own.
Tell me a fact and I’ll learn. Tell me a truth and I’ll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever. I heard this from Steve Sabol about his father.
I've used locations I've been to, and I've researched locations on the net once or twice...I think usually the location isn't that important to my stories, but I think if you get details wrong, like even a cross street a certain restaurant is on, someone may notice and you lose your credibility...
Not that I necessarily had any...
I once knew a drinker who had a moderating problem...
It's been my practice as a writer to use locations in my work whenever it seems appropriate to build out the story and make it real. In short fiction, with little time and no urgent need, I will not worry about doing so. But with pieces that are longer, I really like to use plenty of descriptive language to give the viewer a sense of place. That is what makes the story come alive. To do that I will very often use places I have been, especially for extended periods of time. However, I will not limit myself to just places I Have actually been. If the place itself will add the color and truth that I need to tell the story I will go for it. I will do plenty of research and only used data that helps move the story. I do that often. I have never had anyone tell me they find my descriptions to be invalid or in error. I've become pretty adroit at digging out facts and information that will bring the story to life.
Depends on the story.
For modern stories, I tend to use my own creation, Eversham. Guess building your own city is something I picked up from being a fantasy writer as well as various sources, like comics (Gotham and Metropolis) and H. P. Lovecraft's horror. Eversham is a mashup of the three cities I have lived and I visualize being Southwest of here, probably replacing Chatham-Kent on the map. Lets me steal various memories and fit them together better than if I took a real place and started messing around. That's assuming stories that fit this region. I can also draw on my travels if I want to set a story someplace foreign.
For fantasy, of course, I have a fantasy world in progress with a collection of notes. I have already cooked up several locations in that world that I can use.
