Use Real Town Names?

Word Jedi · Nov 15, 2009

Is there a rule of thumb on this?

Is it okay to use the real names of cities and towns?

I have found the perfect setting here in Northern New Jersey for my novel, or at least part of my novel, and was wondering if I can use the real town name(s).

icerose · Nov 15, 2009

Real towns are used all the time. Think of how many movies involve the big cities like New York, Miami, San Fransico.

As long as you aren't making it a bad thing, especially in small towns, then you should be fine.

Twilight used a real town.

jodiodi · Nov 15, 2009

I use major large towns where people would recognize the name, but I usually set my stories in a fictional town. I use the real cities as reference points.

Ex: My female main character in one piece starts off in Atlanta in a vaguely identified neighborhood. When she goes home to south Georgia, it's a fictional town.

Lost World · Nov 15, 2009

Best to use a phony name for a small town. If you use a real one and one of your characters has some bad traits he might be mistaken for an actual person, which could certainly cause trouble.

Word Jedi · Nov 15, 2009

Lost World said:
Best to use a phony name for a small town. If you use a real one and one of your characters has some bad traits he might be mistaken for an actual person, which could certainly cause trouble.

This is exactly what will happen in the story. A bunch of ghost hunters decide to investigate an abandoned mining tunnel and they unleash a gateway to hell by mistake. The town is engulfed in evil and, well, it's time to make up a name, that's all.

Thanks, folks!

Libbie · Nov 15, 2009

You should see what Twilight did for Forks. It's a real place, just not nearly as charming or interesting as Meyer made it out to be. Now it's even less interesting, because every second shop along its one-stoplight main drag is selling nothing but Twilight merchandise.

Using real towns is just fine.

The Lonely One · Nov 15, 2009

Using real town names is completely fine. The dilemma you face is whether or not things are geographically and historically accurate, as you might get a call from the local historical society chairman bitching you out over the placement of a road or a made up restaurant. By all means, use real towns and make up restaurants. But do it intentionally so when you get that call you can have something to bitch back about. KNOW the town if you're using a real one. Then manipulate it to the will of your story.

Clair Dickson · Nov 15, 2009

Lost World said:
Best to use a phony name for a small town. If you use a real one and one of your characters has some bad traits he might be mistaken for an actual person, which could certainly cause trouble.

Unless the character really does match up with someone in that small town, I don't think this is much of concern, really. The allegedly slighted person would have to prove a great many things-- that the author knew of this person, that there's reason to think the fictional character was based off the real person, that the intention was to malign as opposed to being merely a fictional tale.

Both Hell and Paradise, Michigan (both small towns) have been featured as the main location in separate crime stories. You know, which bad people killing and doing other bad things. (And honestly, you don't get towns much smaller than Hell or Paradise!)

The only caution I would use, is that if you're using a small town, don't just swipe the name and make it all up. If you've never been there, I think it'd be better to make up a fake name. Otherwise, what's the point of using the name, if the town is all made up? The name is attached to the locale-- including major roads, hang outs, and quirks.

Hittman · Nov 15, 2009

Using a real town makes life easier, as long as you know the town well. It also makes it more real for the readers familiar with the place.

Word Jedi · Nov 15, 2009

Hittman said:
Using a real town makes life easier, as long as you know the town well. It also makes it more real for the readers familiar with the place.

I live in the town I'm using.

maestrowork · Nov 15, 2009

Read.

Do you find real places/towns/cities/countries in the stuff you read?

I think you'll know the answer, then.

IReidandWrite · Nov 15, 2009

I used Washington D.C.

Then again, my novel is not only thirty years into the future, but also in an alternate reality.

Which means, if I was born in that alternate reality, I would be an old lady.

Rhoda Nightingale · Nov 15, 2009

I use both. I've used London, Las Vegas, Poughkeepsie, Salisbury Plain, and a handful of fictional coastal cities and alternate reality villages.

Topaz044 · Nov 15, 2009

Stephen King does it all the time. Maine has suffered a lot of hardship over the years.

LuckyH · Nov 16, 2009

I’ve always used real places for my fiction, usually cities that I know. Inevitably, even though I’ve changed the names, real people can sometimes recognise themselves from my description of the fictional character.

It hasn’t happened often, but I’ve lost a close friend because of it. He recognised himself and wasn’t impressed, even though my description was truthful. I hadn’t intended the consequences when I wrote the character, it never entered my head.

But how can you guard against something like that? If you follow the old adage ‘write what you know’ in its strictest sense, it can happen that you sometimes offend people without meaning to. Isn’t that better than hiding behind a completely false landscape, pussyfooting around like some politically correct, demented appeaser?

I’m still sorry my former pal doesn’t speak to me any more. And, for a certain book, I wouldn‘t dream of attending a book signing in a part of London. And I avoid a certain part of Glasgow, just in case.

PeterL · Nov 16, 2009

There's nothing wrong woith using real town names, street names, etc. If you set a story in a real place, make sure that the street layout is similar to the real one. It is annoying to read about a real place with wrong directions. As long as you don't use the actual location of someone's house, then no one will complain. Actual businesses can also be used and locations given, as long as there is nothing derogatory.

JeanneTGC · Nov 16, 2009

I use both real and fictional locations, many times in the same book. When I have a fictional town "stand in" for a real place it's usually because I want to move things around (I like my courthouses and airports where *I* want them, thank you, not where those city planners put them) and you can't do that with a real town.

But it's called fiction for a reason, so even if you're using a real town, it's not a problem to say "Los Angeles stinks" and worry about the civic leaders getting their knickers in a twist over it.

Word Jedi · Nov 16, 2009

As posted in my research thread, I did some reading today about the town I live in, and found that a church about a mile from where I live was used as a triage during the Revolutionary War. George Washington visited the troops, too.
This has added an entirely new plot element to my story. This might also require a fictional name for the town in my story, because the inciting incident takes place in another town not far from where I live.
I used to get frustrated when things like this happened in the past, but now I'm thrilled.
Very awesome.

Hittman · Nov 16, 2009

I’ve always used real places for my fiction, usually cities that I know. Inevitably, even though I’ve changed the names, real people can sometimes recognise themselves from my description of the fictional character.

It hasn’t happened often, but I’ve lost a close friend because of it. He recognised himself and wasn’t impressed, even though my description was truthful. I hadn’t intended the consequences when I wrote the character, it never entered my head.

This sounds like a potential lawsuit.

My WIP happens in Saratoga, which I'm very familiar with, and the characters go to real places in the town. However, there are two fictional bars where some of the action takes place. One is a real dive, a mix of a couple of real places, where some nasty people do nasty things. The other is an upscale place where one of the main characters works. In the first case I didn't want to insult a real place, in the second I didn't want someone when the same name as the character to say "That's me! Lawyer time!"

Both places are the kinds of bars you'd find in that part of town, though, so it should ring true.

maestrowork · Nov 16, 2009

To me, bars, restaurants, etc. -- just make up a name. It's okay. But if it's a city or landmark, there's no reason not to use it unless you're going to say something really bad about them (e.g. "The McDonalds Big Mac gave me E.Coli" or "the owner of Bill Smith's Auto is an asshole.")

The more obscure the place is, the less important it is to give it a real name since most of your readers won't get the reference anyway. But if your story is set in Boston, make it Boston instead of Bosstown, MA.

Jamesaritchie · Nov 17, 2009

Don't worry about it. Real town names are perfectly fine, large city or tiny hamlet. If you work proves popular, in fact, the small town will benefit one heck of a lot more than would a large city. Readers actually love travelling to places in stories they read, and when they travel, they spend money.

I've used my hometown, Millville, Indiana, population 100, and "famous" as the birthplace of Wilbur Wright, who was actually born a mile outside of town, many, many times.

You can't write about a town this small without using the names of the real businesses, all three of them, a grain mill that dominates the landscape, a small general store, and a small service fire department, because they make teh town what it is.

Innumerable other writers have done the same.

If you do choose to use a fake town, I strongly suggest just changing all teh names of a real town. Towns are where they are for a reason, and when no town is located on a given site, there's a reason for this, as well.

LetaSwearengin · Nov 18, 2009

One of my scripts is set in the small Kansas town that my maternal family lived in at one time. Of course the population as of 2000 was sixty, yes that's 6-0.

Khimera9 · Nov 18, 2009

You can definately use town and city names, but in my opinion I don't like using them. It makes you kinda have to follow the rules and layout of the city/town to make it more believable and it just kills me.

Jamesaritchie · Nov 19, 2009

Khimera9 said:
You can definately use town and city names, but in my opinion I don't like using them. It makes you kinda have to follow the rules and layout of the city/town to make it more believable and it just kills me.

You shuold probably use teh layout and rules of a real town, even when you create your own fake town. As I said in another post, real towns are where they are for a solid reason, and layout and rules are also there for a reason. Even fake towns had better have a reason, usuall a geographical reason, for their existance, and even fake towns should have a layout and rules just like a real town.

DavidZahir · Nov 19, 2009

Here's a thought...

Model your town on a real one, and give it the name of some other town from far away. Case in point -- Half Moon Bay is a seaside suburb in the San Francisco Bay Area. You could write a story set there but change the name of the town to Whitby, which is a seaside city in Yorkshire, England.

Use Real Town Names?

Word Jedi

icerose

Lost in School Work

jodiodi

Reflections of Reality

Lost World

He'll NEVER fit in!

Word Jedi

Libbie

Worst song played on ugliest guitar

The Lonely One

Why is a raven like a writing desk?

Clair Dickson

A dark core to every cloud

Hittman

Word Jedi

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

IReidandWrite

Rhoda Nightingale

Vampire Junkie

Topaz044

Resident Zombie

LuckyH

Oh, really?

PeterL

JeanneTGC

I am Catwoman...and Gini Koch

Word Jedi

Hittman

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

Jamesaritchie

LetaSwearengin

This ain't my first rodeo.

Khimera9

Jamesaritchie

DavidZahir

Malkavian Primogen

Use Real Town Names?

Lost in School Work

Reflections of Reality

He'll NEVER fit in!

Worst song played on ugliest guitar

Why is a raven like a writing desk?

A dark core to every cloud

Fear the Death Ray

Vampire Junkie

Resident Zombie

Oh, really?

I *am* Catwoman...and Gini Koch

Fear the Death Ray

This ain't my first rodeo.

Malkavian Primogen

I am Catwoman...and Gini Koch