Question about Setting

Well, I wouldn't think you should make up a state, but making up a town or city would be okay. Or you could do like Springfield from the Simpsons -- nobody seems to complain about that.

The most important thing would be to know things like climate and what the culture's like, though.

Where do you want them to live? What part of the country?

IMO, if a novel is set in the REAL world, place provides credence and is essential to setting.

I’d choose an area that you’re familiar with, basically set it on my own doorstep, so to speak.

From the Midwest? Set in Chicago or Detroit. Smaller cities and towns, can be fictionalized.

Hopeful, Illinois; population 421; set on the southwestern fringes of Cook County. You can create (and populate) any kind of small town that you’d like; an artist community, a ritzy bedroom suburb, a town that’s dying and disenfranchised, after the leading employer in the area closed and moved offshore.

Then, have your characters visit Downtown Chicago to see the Christmas light on Michigan Boulevard, visit the Water Tower shopping mall, etc.

I always try and adhere to the old adage - write about what you know.

I'm over 20k into my WIP, and I still don't know what state it's set in. It's down to a very few, due to constraints that I discovered as I wrote.

By the time the WIP's finished, I'll know the state and specific section of the state, then I can edit accordingly. The joys of computers. By the I'll also know the major city they visit when they need something their smaller town doesn't provide. At this point in the writing, it's not important for my purposes.

I did end up setting my book in a real city, but when my editor and I were discussing it, she told me that either option was just fine.

If your writing is contemporary, I'd say use the town you know best as your setting. You could change the name if it's small. Otherwise, I don't think it makes a difference.

In my WIP, which is fantasy, I never thought much of states or environment. (I didn't use much detail for an urban setting.) I'm almost to last of this "re-editing" and am constructing my next novel. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the first novel was located in an alternate California when for over a year I was thinking east-coastish. One of the candidates for my next effort is set in the same world.

Setting is so important. In my novels (one is small-town Wyoming, the other a varied succession of Central America landscapes), the settings almost serve as extra characters. Though these are both settings I know well -- I didn't just decide, "How about Panajachel, Guatemala? sounds lovely!"

The best reason to write about places you know: When you know your setting, it steps out of the background and interacts with your characters in compelling ways. For instance, in my Central America backpacker book, dialogues are never two talking heads -- they take place on hammocks in rainforest hostels, or on windswept island beaches at night (etc. etc.). The unique settings help each scene seem cinematic.

I'm fortunate that Central America lends itself to some colorful backdrops -- which is why my book takes place there. But maybe you haven't traveled much, or don't know any locale too well outside your home city or town. And nothing seems more boring than writing about that. But really, it's not boring, because you know the details we don't. Think about it: a writer in Wyoming (Annie Proulx notwithstanding) might not believe their hometown is interesting enough to serve as the setting of a novel. But to most others, it is! Badlands and cowboys and smoky bars, oh my!

I grew up in a suburban So Cal beach town, a setting so familiar and mundane to me, I never even considered it for a setting until book 3. I plan on changing it just enough. In my other books, my most important Central America spots are real places thinly veiled. My small town in Wyoming is invented, though based on places my extended family lived. That's why fiction writing is so wonderful -- even if you're writing about your own town, you can pick out the best details, warp the others, and discard the rest. There's your setting!

Some of my books are set in a specific place-- one's in Victoria, BC; one's in Ontario and then in the Bahamas; and another takes place on a boat in the waters off Port Hardy (Vancouver Island). But I also have a couple of novels, including my new one (spring 2009!) in which the town and state are not identified-- could be Canada or US. I think either option can work fine.

Don't stress. Have some moody weather, a few nondescript houses, badabing badaboom, setting.

In what country does the story take place?

Are there personality traits of the characters that favor (or are characteristic) of any specific place (for example, regions of America)?

Are their weather patterns that do or can influence the story?

Are their physical landmarks that are necessary or would be nice to include in the story (for example, ocean, mountains, rivers, lakes, farmland, industrial area).

All of the above will define a country and a region of that country.

Does the story take place in an urban, suburban, or rural setting?

If city-based, how big is the city?

So, now you have interesting personality traits that are area-specific, potential weather implications for the story, regional pecularities, as well as the type of community. Now, you could pick a real commmunity or design a fictional community but base it on a real one from your narrowed list. Don't forget season (and the types of changes associated--what time of year will the story take place?).

Even with this skeleton framework, you have literary ammunition for developinng setting in your scenes.

NeuroFizz said better what I was about to post.

All I will add is you don't necessarily have to explain the location to the readers. You aren't required to say it's a small town in New England, or a suburb of Atlanta, or near Denver. Whether you explicitly mention that depends on the needs of your story.

The important thing is for YOU to know where it is. That helps you include specific details (such as the things Neuro listed) that aren't blandly generic, but are realistic and consistent.

Unless it's essential to the story, sometimes you can leave out the name of the state or town and your reader may think it's closer to home than it actually is.

I do have a story I'm working on where the MC lives in Virginia, goes to Nevada (city not specified), then goes to Phoenix, Arizona, travels across the Grand Canyon, goes to a place called the Valley, then goes back to Virginia. Wheew! Whirlwind! But, hey, that's what I was going for!

Don't stress too much about it. Continue to write your story. All things can be fixed in editing.

Good luck and happy writing!

I think it's helpful to know where your story is set, because the setting can add a lot to the story. It can help create unique situations that could only happen in X place, and you might not think of them if you set the story in Generictown, USA.

I write fantasy, so I look at setting probably differently than a "real world" writer. The name of a place isn't that important. What's important are the details of the georgraphy, climate, culture, etc. Those things color what characters do and how the world works, which affect how the story unfolds.

I imagine writing in the real world would be similar. If your protag lives in upstate Michigan, then their slang, morals, cultural and plotical views are likely diferent from someone living in Alabama or California. Motivations might be different. Values could be different. Social norms vary. These things can affect plot, so a story could change depending on where it's set. Small town Wisconsin will react to a murder differently than downtown Manhattan.

Unless it's critical to the events of the story (don't a story about a Broadway theater in Nowhere, Minnesota), I say relax. I wouldn't create a state, but I make up town or city names all the time, if not simply omit them altogether. It's hardly ever relevant to the story itself, I find. Besides using common sense (I like Danthia's advice - small town culture is very different from big city culture, but that's just logical and shouldn't be a problem), most often you don't need to stress about it.