Can you base a story on somewhere you've never been?

[cornell]

ok say i want to write a story...short or a novel. I live in Boston and i've only been to Florida and San Diego. I originally come from Ireland and i haven't had the oportunity to travel much of the country. So say I want to base this story in a small town in texas. Is this out of the question seeing as i've never been there. I mean how could i describe the landscape, the smell and colors of a place i've never actually visited? Is there a way around this?
I could base it in massachusetts but it would'nt really fit the srory.

[CACTUSWENDY]

:Sun:....I'm not sure how old you are....but if you have seen many movies or read many books about the wild west...I live in Arizona....they pretty much hit the nail on the head. With the net and shows about nature of places all over the world....you shouldn't have any problem making someone believe you know your area....I think i could write a book in the setting of Africa and I have never been there. You might have to do a little research. But that is just my opinion. You are a writer....make me believe it......(wink)..It will be interesting what others say.......:Jump:

[triceretops]

Just do the proper research and you can make us believe you were there.

Triceratops

[johnnycannuk]

ok say i want to write a story...short or a novel. I live in Boston and i've only been to Florida and San Diego. I originally come from Ireland and i haven't had the oportunity to travel much of the country. So say I want to base this story in a small town in texas. Is this out of the question seeing as i've never been there. I mean how could i describe the landscape, the smell and colors of a place i've never actually visited? Is there a way around this?
I could base it in massachusetts but it would'nt really fit the srory.

Like Tricertops says, with enough research, you can make us believe you've been there. Remember, you don't really want to convince people your story is real, but that it is believable.

For instance, my current WIP is a story initially set in Sudan -- a place I have never been. But I will bet 99.9% of my audience has never been there either. I just need to do research to make it real enough so they can believe what I am descibing is real. In other words, to suspend their disbelief.

Remember, I'm pretty sure Micheal Crighton has never been to an island with dinosaurs, or back in time to medieval France (ugh what a bad book that was - Timeline) or inside an underground biomedical lab. But When you read his books you might believe it.

With enough research, describing places you've never been is easy. Especially now with the internet, since you can find pictures, videos and possibly even live web cams of almost any place on earth (and off!). Add a little non-fiction reading and you should be set.

Mike

[Mistook]

I was up against this same problem when I decided to set one of my chapters in an upper west side neighborhood in Manhattan. I'm glad I did my research, because I found out that the whole chase scene I'd concocted just couldn't happen in that part of NYC.

I had people climbing up fire escapes and running through alleys, climbing through windows, etc. I found out that there are no alleys to speak of on the UWS... there's just no space between buildings, and where there is a rare breezeway, it's usually gated off and locked. Windows mostly have bars. Fire escapes are almost impossible to access from the street.

However, after talking to a few native New Yorkers, I found out that nobody in that town really knows every last corner of the city. So I decided to invent a fictional "neighborhood" in Manhattan and place it somewhere vague. This way I can patch together what I know of New York, and what I need for the story.

I also decided, just for kicks, to have some of the action take place on a street called, "Sesame". ;)

[Betty W01]

Yes, you sure can. I once wrote a book (it was accepted for publication, but the house was bought out by another before I signed my contract and the new company wasn't interested in it.) In it, the first chapter was set in Annapolis on Induction Day for incoming midshipmen. I shared it with several on-line buddies who had been a part of I-Day with their sons and daughters and I had done such a good job of researching it that they all said that it was as if I'd been standing next to them that day. I only had to change one small detail!

[maestrowork]

Of course, that's what research is all about. My WIP is set in Asia, parts of it I've never been to, not to mention the time period. It's a challenge to get the facts right, but boy, it's fun.

[BradyH1861]

I think you certainly can set something in a place you've never been. Also, there are a few Texans on the board. I can't speak for them, but if you have any specific questions, I'd be happy to answer them. Depending on what type of story you are writing, I could suggest a few books that, in my opinion, will get you into the mindset of Texans.

Brady H.

[SRHowen]

Simple: Write what you know or what you can learn about.

I've never been 2000 years in the past--but that's when my story takes place. The towns in the modern age in the story I have been to and one I grew up near.

The different BB's are a good place to find people from different areas of the country--sheesh, there's a mess of us here from Texas. Town I live in has 25,000 people.
Shawn

[jdkiggins]

Cornell,

I agree with those who said do some research in order to help make it believable. On the other hand, if it's fiction, the imagination allows you to run with the scenes, settings, and characters. Write what you are comfortable writing. Not everyone, everywhere knows exactly what every town or state or country looks, feels, or smells like.

Just one warning, make sure the plants, trees and shrubs you may say are blooiming, actually grow and bloom in the area you're writing about. A writer friend of mine, who has sold more than 56 fiction and nonfiction books, told me that after his latest book had sold 75,000 copies, he had a reader write to him yelling at him because the bush he mentioned in his book didn't bloom when he said it did. There's always that one reader out there that will try to argue a point, even in fiction. :)

So go for it. Write on.

Joanne

[Vomaxx]

The vast majority of your readers will never have been to a small town in Texas, either, so they will hardly be in a position to quibble about what you say. The only drawback that I can see is that, should your book sell very well, you might get some complaints from a few Texans if you're very much off the mark.

[Jamesaritchie]

The vast majority of your readers will never have been to a small town in Texas, either, so they will hardly be in a position to quibble about what you say. The only drawback that I can see is that, should your book sell very well, you might get some complaints from a few Texans if you're very much off the mark.

Some readers will always know when you get somethign wrong, and if a reader knows you can bet a reviewer will know. That's the danger. Get it wrong, and it will almost certainly show up in a review, and then everyone will know.

[Greenwolf103]

I did this with my first book. I wrote a story set in an actual town in an actual state. My cousin worked for a tourism company at the time and sent me a box of pamphlets all about the state and varying cities. I researched the heck out of this place -- not just the city but the state because some characters travel across the state at one point. I talked to a lot of people who have been in that town (one guy only said "it's really nice" -- ARGH!! :Headbang: ) and even read the newspapers. Sure my story was fictional but because this was an actual town in an actual state, I tried every effort to get it right. And of course I used the Internet, too! :)

Hopefully ONE of these days I will finally get to visit Metaline Falls, Washington. *sigh*

[fallenangelwriter]

In Sprague DeCamp's Science Fiction handbook, revised, he says that after writing a book set in south africa, a place to which he had never been, he read a review by an african saying it was obvious the author had spent some time in "this sunny land of ours"

[oswann]

Some readers will always know when you get somethign wrong, and if a reader knows you can bet a reviewer will know. That's the danger. Get it wrong, and it will almost certainly show up in a review, and then everyone will know.


Like the damn DaVinci Code. I just finished reading it (in French but the mistakes are the same as in English I'm sure) where one guy before blacking out hears sounds that remind him of the waves rolling in on the Cote D'Azur. Cool right? Except the sea in the south of France is a milk pond and the last wave to roll in resulted from the earthquake in Algeria and even that wave was about a foot high. Made the research seem just that little bit flakier.

Still sold a bunch of books though.


Damn.


Os.

[aadams73]

Like the damn DaVinci Code. I just finished reading it (in French but the mistakes are the same as in English I'm sure) where one guy before blacking out hears sounds that remind him of the waves rolling in on the Cote D'Azur. Cool right? Except the sea in the south of France is a milk pond and the last wave to roll in resulted from the earthquake in Algeria and even that wave was about a foot high. Made the research seem just that little bit flakier.

Os.

Mauve Binchy's most recent novel set in Greece suffers from the same problems. The whole book lost credibility for me after the 3rd error or so and dragged me out of the story.

If you're going to write about a location you've never been to, research, then run it by a native if at all possible.

[SheliaRudesill]

I agree that research can make your story realistic.

Part of my next novel is set in New Orleans. I've never been there, so my husband and I decided to go. Then, on the day we were to leave, a hurricane closed the town down and our flight was cancelled. When we were about to reschedule my husband's father died and we used our tickets to go to his funeral. So, we got on the net, went to the library, even rented every movie we could find that took place in NO. I even emailed the chamber of commerce and asked some questions and they were extremely happy to assist me. Now, the scene is written and I was careful not to make alot of things up about the place. I actually feel as if I've been there. But before my words are set in stone I want a few people who have been there to read it and see if I'm close to the truth of the place.

[Jamesaritchie]

If I can't visit a place, I do all the usual research, but I also make sure I talk to several people who live in the area. I can the tourist board, if there is one. I prepare a list of questions, and then call bartenders, shop owners, police stations, and even dial a few random phone numbers.

People love to talk, and if you give them half a chance they'll tell you all sorts of things only a native would know.

[Sassenach]

wrote Outlander without ever having been to Scotland--but she did extensive research.

It can definitely be done.

[katdad]

You must research, of course. And with the internet, it's a lot easier. You can also check the "liberry" and the used bookshops for travel guides. These are an excellent source for insight into either the actual place you're writing about, or at least places similar to it.

My mystery novels are based in modern Houston, and like many private detective books, they give the reader a tour of real streets and locales. Consider for example Robert Parker's "Spenser" and his Boston.

I use street maps and find actual routes to and fro around the city, and at times I use real restaurants and bars and such, but only if the description is positive or neutral.

For "bad" places, I make them up, cobbled together from real places I've known, selecting a detail here and a motif there, forming a new place that's realistic but still ficticious. For example, I wanted a township near Houston that's wide open -- corrupt from the top down, officials and cops and all, on the take and venal. Rather than slander a real town, I took a look at my area map. The industrialized satellite cities of Deer Park and Pasadena are contiguous. So I simply squeezed a small imaginary town between them, Mid City Texas, where anything goes.

A caution about writing about places you've never been -- don't rely on anecdote or other fiction for your sources too strongly. Likewise for "everyone knows" such and such.

If you were to write about Texas, for example, and put someone wearing fancy cowboy boots and a Stetson in downtown Houston, he'd in fact be stared at like Joe Buck in Midnight Cowboy. (with the possible exception of today -- this is opening day for the huge Houston rodeo, and they had the parade downtown). But seeing someone all tricked out in cowboy gear most times in Houston might elicit "Hey, I didn't know the circus was in town."

And even in the "outback" you'll never find someone in "rhinestone" gear unless it's a party or something. REAL cowboys (and there are plenty of them in Texas) wear boots, but they are plain bullhide and not usually shined, and they'll have on Levis or Wranglers, a workshirt, and they'll leave their hat in the pickup truck, thank you.

You won't find Houstonians saying "Yep" or "Pardner" or "Y'all" much, either, unless they're joking around.

Of course this is from a big city, 4th largest in the US. Downtown is stunning, and we have a world class opera, a major ranked symphony, and there are about 30 (not kidding) playhouses and theaters full time. We have four opera companies ("real" opera, not counting the musical theater, of which there are a half dozen at least), about a dozen ballet troupes, and many many classical venues.

So you can't impose "cowboy Texas" into Houston with impunity. Nor can you fit cookie-cutter images of Dallas or Fort Worth into Houston. The three cities are nothing alike. Likewise San Antonio, Austin, El Paso, and so on.

I'm not ranting about Texas or Houston just because I live here. All I'm saying is that you cannot rely on anecdotal evidence or "common knowledge". Instead you must obtain authentic research into the area.

If I were to attempt to write about Boston, I'd be silly to have everyone saying "Ayuh" and being fixated on the Red Sox (maybe not now, perhaps). And not everyone likes lobster.

Of course, you can create your own places, too. My WIP horror novel is set in a ficticious Texas Gulf Coast shrimping town. It doesn't exist but I've been to plenty of similar towns and so I'm using that as my structure. Some of the events occur on shrimp boats, so I got several books on shrimping and studied them, and I took photos and asked some shrimpers for permission to see their boats up close.

I can also say that what I learned first-hand wasn't too much different from my library research into shrimping. And I've found that to be true for most venues. There exist plenty of good resources for research.

Just don't assume things you can't prove by your independent research. However, that being said, it's okay to create a fictional venue, just so it's plausible.

By the way, any of you Boston folks -- I LOVE Boston. It's by far the friendliest city in the East I've visited. Had a ball at Quincy Market (sorry, "Quinzy Mahkut") and Bull & Finch (the "Cheers" bar), pigged out at Union Oyster House and Legal Seafood in Cambridge. God do I love oysters on the half-shell and lobster!

[novelator]

Read the local newspapers. They won't give you the whole picture, but you add what you glean there to your more standard research and you may have a more accurate picture. If you're really astute, after several weeks of reading the papers, plus a little bit of study on a street map, you might be able to figure which areas of town you'd want to visit for dinner versus others where you might get your throat cut for a quarter.

Just my two cents.

Mari

[BlueTexas]

I'm a transplant to small town Texas. Like someone said above, in a place as large as Texas, you need to know your area. West Texas vastly different from, say, Austin, not only in climate and terrain, but the whole attitude of the place. If you have questions, I'll answer what I can :)

My only caution about writing about Texas without having been here: Texans have more pride in being Texan than I previously thought was humanly possible. Texas used to be a Republic separate from the US. Texans have not forgotten this fact! Texas history is taught from grade school up--not as a part of a history class, but its own class. Texans can quote Sam Houston. Davy Crockett is not just some guy in a funny hat here.

The Yellow Rose of Texas isn't just a song here, it's like an anthem to some people, who still have real animosity toward the Mexican Army. Nope, not kidding. I saw the recent movie The Alamo in a theater, and there were people yelling at Santa Anna--really yelling, and a woman behind me was noting out loud all the mistakes the movie made in the history, and no one was telling her to shush.

[Writing Again]

I'd have sworn I posted this on this thread this morning.

Anyway check out Robert Ludlum's techniques, he is the master of writing about places he has never been and events he could never have seen.

[aadams73]

I'm a transplant to small town Texas. Like someone said above, in a place as large as Texas, you need to know your area. West Texas vastly different from, say, Austin, not only in climate and terrain, but the whole attitude of the place. If you have questions, I'll answer what I can :)


Boy I tell ya! I moved to San Antonio from Australia six years ago and Texans are something else! Texans will tell you that Texas is "God's Country" and they mean it. They really really mean it.

That said, I'm always willing and happy to answer any research questions that anyone has about Australia, Greece, New Zealand or Texas. I've lived in all those places extensively. :)

[BlueTexas]

Boy I tell ya! I moved to San Antonio from Australia six years ago and Texans are something else! Texans will tell you that Texas is "God's Country" and they mean it. They really really mean it.

That said, I'm always willing and happy to answer any research questions that anyone has about Australia, Greece, New Zealand or Texas. I've lived in all those places extensively. :)

And I thought I had to deal with culture shock! I've decided that Texans are a whole other breed, and no 'outsider' (I was once told the only way a non-born Texan could claim the title was by giving birth to a Texan!) will ever truly understand how deep the pride goes.

I've lived in Virginia, New York, Tennessee, Maryland, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maryland, Georgia, Nebraska and Texas. I also used to travel for a living, and spent time in Ohio, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, Florida and Kansas.

If anyone has questions, I'll answer what I can.

[katdad]

Boy I tell ya! I moved to San Antonio from Australia six years ago and Texans are something else! Texans will tell you that Texas is "God's Country" and they mean it. They really really mean it.

Very interesting. In my 3rd novel, in progress, I am introducing a new character who'll be around for a long time thru the mystery series.

His name hasn't yet been decided (right now it's Trevor Burgess) but he's also an Aussie transplant. He is a former SAS member, fought and was wounded in the Gulf War, and met an American nurse during his recuperation. They married, she returned to Texas, he with her.

He's now a US citizen and an undercover agent for the Texas Rangers. He's infiltrated a gang of white supremacists, and my protagonist private eye follows him from the meeting, to glean info from this "racist Aussie" (my PI character is drawn into these supremacists because he's tracking down a blackmailer.

My PI picks a fight and promptly gets his butt kicked by the ex-SAS guy. They become fast friends.

So not all the Aussies are "bloody pommies" -- ha ha.

===========

Regarding Texas, it's considered acceptable to admit "I wasn't born in Texas but I got here as quick as I could."

Texans are indeed unique. Very proud of their heritage. They regard the Alamo as sacred ground. And it may well be.

I've lived in Texas from 1972 till the 80s, when I took a second tour of the San Francisco area. I moved back to Tx in 1991, and I'm very happy here.

I hate snow.

[three seven]

I love snow.

But to answer the question, I find it very difficult to use settings I'm not familiar with; research can tell me every little fact and detail about a place, but not what it feels like to be there. Every place feels different, and you can't capture it by looking at pictures.
I'd also be very uncomfortable just making stuff up to fill in the blanks, because I want to know that, whether the reader's aware of it or not, I've got it right. If I don't believe the story I'm writing, I lose interest in writing it.
That's just me though.

[montanagal]

I totally agree with the "sure you can" answers. Heck, I'm writing about Mesoamerica, in 100 b.c. I'd love to visit and see the places they're digging up, but that's a few thousand $$ I don't have right now.

On the same token, I read a very good warning about screenwriting - don't write about Los Angeles unless you live there!

Depending on what you write and who your audience is, there may be many readers/viewers who know your location better than you. All the visitors pamphlets in the world won't tell you that Street A doesn't run into Street 15 the way you need it to for your protag's escape. So, make sure your unvisited location isn't one of the best known places in the area, and that the information you need isn't going to be part of that black hole that requires a personal view.

Saying that, in another book I'm outlining, I either have to visit Angel's Camp, CA, or change the location to somewhere I've actually lived.

Good luck!

[three seven]

I agree - many times I've planned a route meticulously, only to find that there's a row of bollards at the end of this road, and you can't turn right into that one. As a reader, that kind of oversight really puts me off.

I think you're fairly safe though, Montanagal - there's a fairly slim chance of any nitpicky 100bc Mesoamericans reading your book!

[Denis Castellan]

I haven't read it (yet ?) but I've heard that The Da Vinci Code is full of mistakes concerning Paris. Like seeing the characters turn left into a street that just doesn't cross the one they were on, or make a 3 hours ride in less than 45 minutes.

That also happened in a french film (Taxi) set in Marseille. Some people just laughed at that, while others felt laughed at.

[SRHowen]

I totally agree with the "sure you can" answers. Heck, I'm writing about Mesoamerica, in 100 b.c. I'd love to visit and see the places they're digging up, but that's a few thousand $$ I don't have right now.

Me, North America about the same time period. No way to visit that unless someone has a time mechine I don't know about.

Shawn

[katdad]

I find it very difficult to use settings I'm not familiar with

Understood. But we all make stuff up -- after all, that's the point of fiction.

Look at the famous car chase in Bullitt. Everyone who knew SanFran laughed at the way they magically turned a corner and found themselves halfway across town. They went from North Beach to, I think, Pacific Heights in 5 seconds. Yet the movie was a huge success and the car chase is considered one of the best ever filmed.

In my Houston-based novels, I have deliberately concealed where my private detective actually lives. To reach his home, you go north on Heights Boulevard -- okay so far -- then you turn east, then north 1/2 block. But I never say where you turn.

All I'm saying is that you don't need to rewrite Badeker's guide. Just make a reasonably intelligent effort to gain the info you need from books and the internet, and blur over the rest.

If you don't know whether a particular street is one-way and you might describe the people driving down it the wrong direction, just say "We cut over a couple of blocks and headed south." That's what I do. And so long as the general background is accurate, the details can be washed over.

Believe me, nobody will care if there are some teeny items in the wrong place, so long as you tell a good story, and make a good faith effort to project verisimilitude.

But if, as you say, you're uncomfortable with that, then you've answered your own question. And so, don't write about a place you can't verify all the details about.

[Denis Castellan]

Look at the famous car chase in Bullitt. Everyone who knew SanFran laughed at the way they magically turned a corner and found themselves halfway across town. They went from North Beach to, I think, Pacific Heights in 5 seconds. Yet the movie was a huge success and the car chase is considered one of the best ever filmed.
Not to mention the green VW that appears something like 5 times in that scene.

[three seven]

Understood. But we all make stuff up -- after all, that's the point of fiction.
Nicely taken out of context! http://www.geocities.com/thingumybobwotsit/tongue2.gif

[maestrowork]

Serious, if a reader stops reading your gripping, well-told story just because he thinks: "Wait a minute, there isn't a mailbox between Virgin Records and Starbucks in Santa Monica, CA..." he's probably not your target reader anyway. Obviously, if you say there's a volcano in the middle of Santa Monica, you'd better go back and do some research. You do need to get the general facts straight.

I can't tell you how many movies set in New York have made-up locations. And it's a well known city with 10 million residence... but if you're saying "I'm hopping on a downtown train from Times Square to Harlem" then you do need to get your facts straight.

Don't sweat the small stuff or made-up places... sweat the big stuff like characters or plot.

[JanaLanier]

Remember the scene in the Graduate where Dustin Hoffman is driving to Berkeley -- and they show his car going the wrong way across the Bay bridge? ("You're going the wrong way!")

I hate it when writers or filmmakers get stuff wrong. But if the book or movie is good enough, I usually forgive them.

I agree with Ray, though, it's best to concentrate on the big stuff -- having a believable character is more important than having someone drive the correct way across a bridge.

[James D. Macdonald]

Not to mention the green VW that appears something like 5 times in that scene.

And the sheer number of hubcaps the car loses.

Rule: When the reader starts nit-picking your story, the pace of the story isn't fast enough.

[Julian Black]

When writing stories set in modern-day places, I use travel guidebooks, especially the Rough Guides. The greatest thing about them is that the authors assume you know nothing about that particular city or country beforehand, and will include lots of information about local social customs, how to get around, the climate and topography, holidays, etc.

One story I'm working on has a couple of scenes set in London. I've never been there, but I at least know which parts of the City I can plausibly set those scenes in. I can then do further research on the Internet--looking for photos (webcams are great), reading newspapers, and lurking in online communities, for example.

I also rely heavily on maps, especially when figuring out the distances and relationships between places. Coming from the US, particularly the West, I'm used to long distances between--and even within--cities. The one time I did visit Europe, I couldn't get over how short those distances were. Thinking of London when I am accustomed to places like Los Angeles could mean making some embarrassing mistakes.

I still use travel guidebooks and current maps to a certain extent when writing about the past. Some aspects of the landscape don't change--the distances between places are still the same; mountain ranges, valleys, and plains are still there. I find I can still get some sense of the past landscape, even by looking at the present, before moving on to more specialized sources.

Reading fiction, travel writing, and memoirs about a place is also part of my research. For some places, it is difficult to find sources, but it's not impossible. If I were to write about small-town Texas, I'd probably start with Larry McMurtry, and branch out from there. Dayton Duncan, in his book Out West, discusses Loving County, Texas, which is one of the least-densely populated counties in the US, so if you're looking at West Texas, that may be a good place to start. Doing library subject and keyword searches will no doubt turn up tons of potential sources.

I'm trained as a historian; I write about places I've never been all the time. It can be done convincingly--lots of authors manage to do it--but it all hinges on doing your research, first.

[three seven]

And the sheer number of hubcaps the car loses.

Rule: When the reader starts nit-picking your story, the pace of the story isn't fast enough.

Very true - and in Bullitt's case the nitpicking didn't start until long after everyone had seen it for the fifth time. The fact that after 37 years people actually cheer when the fifth hubcap comes off is a clear indication that bad continuity does not detract from greatness!

[James D. Macdonald]

Once you've done the research on a place, leave 90% of it in your notebook. Only put in your manuscript the material that moves the story forward.

[Jamesaritchie]

I love snow.

But to answer the question, I find it very difficult to use settings I'm not familiar with; research can tell me every little fact and detail about a place, but not what it feels like to be there. Every place feels different, and you can't capture it by looking at pictures.
I'd also be very uncomfortable just making stuff up to fill in the blanks, because I want to know that, whether the reader's aware of it or not, I've got it right. If I don't believe the story I'm writing, I lose interest in writing it.
That's just me though.

The "feel" of a place is more important to me than the multitude of small details I'll probably never use anyway. This is one reason I always talk to people who live there, and I ask questions that usually will give me the feel of a place.

I remember someone once telling me that good writing gets rid of the "between" places. This means the locations that are important are the ones you write about, and it's usually best to just skip everything between those locations. Just to use a local example, if I'm writing about travelling from New Castle, Indiana to a mall in Muncie, the best way to do so is just to write something like, "I left New Castle just after noon and turned off McGalliard into the Muncie Mall parking lot forty minutes later."

Not describing the journey means you keep the pace of the story going, and you don't make mistakes in whatever lies between the two locations.

[Sunny7L]

I think thorough research is the key to any story being believable, even totally fictional creations. If it doesn't seem possible readers likely won't buy it.

For specific places you'll have to learn about the area but unless you're planning to produce a city guide I don't see why you have to be too specific. Simply knowing the area is enough, that includes geography and history, culture, etc.

I've decided to include the Amazon Rain Forest in part of a story I'm working on but I've definitely never been there (unfortunately). It's taking a lot of research on weather, culture and especially details about plants, animals and conditions in the forest.

I think talking to people who've been to or live in the location is the most helpful, if you want to be exact.

Being a Texan, and having been around the nation a bit, I can say that Texas is much like other parts of the country.

Just FYI: Few Texans, that I've encountered, speak with the stereotypical southern drawl, but then I'm from the Dallas-Fort Worth area. But, that's just one element of a story set in Texas that might have some Texans doubting the veracity of the story, if everyone in your story, set in lets say Dallas, speaks with a country accent.

[MarkEsq]

I have kind of avoided this thread, afraid I'd hear people chant "write what you know, write what you know." I am delighted to have been sorely mistaken. Which means, of course, I agree with those who believe that if you have imagination and the willingness to do some research you can pull it off.
Incidentally, I am a Brit who has relocated to Texas. My novel is set in a small Texas town also, I don't know why but there is a universal appeal in such a setting.
And even though I live in Dallas, I hear plenty of people say y'all. :)

[SRHowen]

Sack instead of bag, and everything is a Coke--Pepsi, Mt Dew--they come in and say where's your 2 lt Cokes. I point to it. The 2 lt bottles of COKE. Not that Coke, Mt Dew.

And to me sack still sounds funny.

Shawn

[Jamesaritchie]

I think thorough research is the key to any story being believable, even totally fictional creations. If it doesn't seem possible readers likely won't buy it.

For specific places you'll have to learn about the area but unless you're planning to produce a city guide I don't see why you have to be too specific. Simply knowing the area is enough, that includes geography and history, culture, etc.

I've decided to include the Amazon Rain Forest in part of a story I'm working on but I've definitely never been there (unfortunately). It's taking a lot of research on weather, culture and especially details about plants, animals and conditions in the forest.

I think talking to people who've been to or live in the location is the most helpful, if you want to be exact.

Being a Texan, and having been around the nation a bit, I can say that Texas is much like other parts of the country.

Just FYI: Few Texans, that I've encountered, speak with the stereotypical southern drawl, but then I'm from the Dallas-Fort Worth area. But, that's just one element of a story set in Texas that might have some Texans doubting the veracity of the story, if everyone in your story, set in lets say Dallas, speaks with a country accent.


Are you sure you just don't hear the accent because it's where you're from? We have a lot of family in Dallas, and when they come visiting. and bring friends and spouses, all we hear is one loud Texas drawl. It doesn;t sound country to me, just long and drawn out and, well, Texasy.

I'd swear I have no accent, but whenever I travel around the country people ask me where in the world I'm from because of my accent.

[Jamesaritchie]

I have kind of avoided this thread, afraid I'd hear people chant "write what you know, write what you know." I am delighted to have been sorely mistaken. Which means, of course, I agree with those who believe that if you have imagination and the willingness to do some research you can pull it off.
Incidentally, I am a Brit who has relocated to Texas. My novel is set in a small Texas town also, I don't know why but there is a universal appeal in such a setting.
And even though I live in Dallas, I hear plenty of people say y'all. :)

Well, I think "write what you know" is extremely good advice. It adds verisimilitude, and separates the writer from imitators. I believe writers should always do their best to write what they know.

But when there's something you don't know, you learn it, and then you are writing what you know.

I believe you can almost always tell when a writer knows what he's writing about, and when he's faking it.

[BlueTexas]

Are you sure you just don't hear the accent because it's where you're from? We have a lot of family in Dallas, and when they come visiting. and bring friends and spouses, all we hear is one loud Texas drawl. It doesn;t sound country to me, just long and drawn out and, well, Texasy.

I'd swear I have no accent, but whenever I travel around the country people ask me where in the world I'm from because of my accent.

Think hard on this one before you disagree--I could swear that I do not have an accent, but when a friend from Connecticut calls, they are surprised at my southern accent, and I really notice their clipped words. It matters not a bit that I used to sound just like them. What I now consider an accent, after living in Texas for five years, is a slur of words that I can understand but my visiting friends can't. It's the same slur that I couldn't understand when I first moved here. I think everywhere has an accent, we just stop noticing. Ask anyone who listens to someone from Rhode Island describe a parked car for the first time...all part of the charm.

[Sunny7L]

Are you sure you just don't hear the accent because it's where you're from? We have a lot of family in Dallas, and when they come visiting. and bring friends and spouses, all we hear is one loud Texas drawl. It doesn;t sound country to me, just long and drawn out and, well, Texasy.

I'd swear I have no accent, but whenever I travel around the country people ask me where in the world I'm from because of my accent.

I'm sure it's not just me. I've been around a little and where I've been it's been virtually indistinguishable, from Chicago to Atlanta to New Orleans. I'm also basing my assumption on the way most people speak on television -- most people in Texas speak exactly the same as them.

Now, there are definitely people who do speak with a drawl, that's not simply a stereotype. But, they are generally from smaller towns, just on the outskirts of the major cities.

So, if your family from Dallas actually lives in Euless or Garland, or some other small town, then they likely do have that accent. Some people from the inner city also speak "slow," but most people in the suburbs speak normally.

[SRHowen]

LOL

here I am told I have a weird accent, and people make fun of the way I say a local town's name. Killeen TX

OK

I say, just the Killeen newspaper?

This one jerk always says--clean, what's clean, can't you talk?

I am saying Kil LEAN -- same as I hear them say it.

Yet, they hear clean.

Sheesh.

Shawn

[Writing Again]

I have what must be the strangest accent of all -- People in the North are sure it is southern while the South it is DamnYankee (That is one word in some places).

I bummed around everywhere and anywhere from the time I was 12 until I was 32: Where I first learned a word or heard a phrase is the way I speak that word or phrase. So I will say one word with a Rhode Island accent and the word next to it with a Texas accent and the following one with a Georgia accent. Some words like wash and worsh I'm inconsistent with while others I never know how I'm going to say it until I've opened my mouth -- Like Worcestershire sauce.

[SRHowen]

I can relate to that. Moved all over as a kid, but for the most part I have a Wisconsin accent. But I tend to pick up the accents of people around me to some extent mixing it in.

And we don't notice our own accents, only those of others. I do notice when someone from up north speaks--I recognize their accent.

When I first started at 7-11 here, I had a hard time with some things. Cigs are the worst. I don't smoke to start with, so all the names and brands were an oddity. On top of that, to this day I hear Camel Wides instead of Camel Lights--now how strange is that?

(Some I know is due to my own hearing loss--but not all)

Shawn

[NicoleJLeBoeuf]

This is a lovely fun thread. Dovetails nicely with my neuroses this morning, working on a novel set in Seattle. In one chapter, the main character has to walk from Terry-Lander Hall to Gasworks Park where Stuff Is Going To Happen. Now, I lived there for two and a half years. I worked in the Terry Hall cafeteria. I've taken many a full-moon walk down to Gasworks. And now it seems I didn't pay nearly enough attention at the time because I'm constantly going, "how did that go again?"

Now, I know I don't need or want to include details like how much parking lot is between the dorms and the bike path, or exactly how quickly the water deepens at the shore. But I get neurotic about these things, like I said.

Chalk it up to my tendency to procrastinate via research. ;)

I have another novel in first-draft form that's set in Boulder, where I live. Just set a story there too, and I'm constantly taking walks along various scene settings to make sure that I've got the feel right. Then I promptly ignore everything I just checked. Does Rayback's actually have a junkyard dog? I couldn't swear to it, but I put one in the novel. Is there really a big purple house at the end of Wildwood Lane? Hell no. The house is completely imaginary. But there really is a Wildwood Lane. The story hinges on that name, after all.

I think my long walks again merely appease the procrastination demons more than they help my fact checking. But afterwards I feel more comfortable writing the relevant scenes, so, I guess it works.

I've another story set in a made-up town on a highway junction outside Mobile, Alabama. I've driven through Mobile, but I've never actually been there. I'm using a very light hand with dialect in certain characters, because the only models I really have are relatives from rural southern Louisiana and gas station clerks along the drive from New Orleans to Atlanta.

I just installed some neat software that appeases my research neuroses delightfully: Keyhole LT (http://www.keyhole.com/?promo=app-en-us) (7-day free trial; after that I'll have to subscribe for my satellite fix). It's no substitute for having been, but it helps me avoid making big bonehead mistakes when here-to-there details are unavoidable. Plus it's super cool.

[Jamesaritchie]

I'm sure it's not just me. I've been around a little and where I've been it's been virtually indistinguishable, from Chicago to Atlanta to New Orleans. I'm also basing my assumption on the way most people speak on television -- most people in Texas speak exactly the same as them.

Now, there are definitely people who do speak with a drawl, that's not simply a stereotype. But, they are generally from smaller towns, just on the outskirts of the major cities.

So, if your family from Dallas actually lives in Euless or Garland, or some other small town, then they likely do have that accent. Some people from the inner city also speak "slow," but most people in the suburbs speak normally.

Part of my family is from DeSoto, which isn't exactly out in the country, but the rest are Dallas suburbanites. And believe me, to our northern ears, they have one heck of an accent. It isn't that fake accent you hear from some actors who pretend to be from Texas, but it's an extremely strong accent, nonetheless.

I don't think there is a "normal" when it comes to accents. I think of people from Indiana as speaking normally, and to my ears we sound the same way those on TV sound. But we don't sound that way to anyone else around the country.

Even up here, the accents rage widely. When we drive to Michigan to see our son, only three hundred miles from here, everyone up there asks what part of the south we're from. When we travel south, everyone asks what part of the north we're from because they can't place our accent. But to my ears, we have no accent at all.

I can pick out an Atlanta accent from a mile away, and natives of New Orleans sound like they're from another country to my northern ears.

I suppose my favorite accent is North Carolina. I swear I can't drive through that state without falling in love at least twice. A pretty girl from North Carolina can ask me if I want fries with my hamburger, and what I hear is "I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you."

I don't think you can go by how most people on TV speak. Actors and many newscasters spend months with voice coaches in an effort to remove any trace of an accent from their voices. But don't you hear Dan Rather's accent? Even after all his years as a newscaster, I can still tell he's from Texas before he gets three words out, and his accent isn't nearly as strong now as it used to be.

I think the only city I've ever been in where I can't pick out a distinct accent is Miami, Florida. I suspect it's because so many retirees move there that I hear fifty accents in the course of a day.

[Jamesaritchie]

But I tend to pick up the accents of people around me to some extent mixing it in.




Shawn

I do the same thing, and it drives my wife crazy. When we vist family in South Carolina or Texas, I start speaking with the same accent they have in just a couple of days, and I don't even realize I'm doing it until my wife slaps me on the back of the head and tells me to stop.

The accent always last a few days after we return home, and my friends get quite a kick out of it. But I just don't hear myself doing it unless I record my voice and play it back.

[tjwriter]

I don't think there is a "normal" when it comes to accents. I think of people from Indiana as speaking normally, and to my ears we sound the same way those on TV sound. But we don't sound that way to anyone else around the country.


I live in Southern Indiana, and when I go to other parts of the country I notice my own accent in comparison to the way others speak. People sometimes mistake it for a Kentucky accent. The odd part is that when my family would make the 45 minute drive down to Kentucky to visit my relatives, my cousin and her friends would tease me about my accent. I guess it really varies.

[SRHowen]

I do the same thing, and it drives my wife crazy. When we vist family in South Carolina or Texas, I start speaking with the same accent they have in just a couple of days, and I don't even realize I'm doing it until my wife slaps me on the back of the head and tells me to stop.

The accent always last a few days after we return home, and my friends get quite a kick out of it. But I just don't hear myself doing it unless I record my voice and play it back.

LOL

My hubby does the same thing, he'll say--do you hear yourself? It is also a good thing, we get all sorts of accents here, world wise as well--near Ft Hood. I have people at work say--SHAWN, I can't understand a thing this guy is saying, can you wait on him?

I can almost always tell what country they are from and by the second sentence understand them. As to the above, the customer most often gives the fool who shouted out their inability to understand the person a killing look.

Ones that get me are from TN. And who speak very very softly (I am losing my hearing) The voice churned in a grinder with marbles in their mouth accent. YIKES. Takes a day or two of listening to them before I get it and then to the horror of my husband I start to talk the same way.

Shawn

[Jamesaritchie]

I live in Southern Indiana, and when I go to other parts of the country I notice my own accent in comparison to the way others speak. People sometimes mistake it for a Kentucky accent. The odd part is that when my family would make the 45 minute drive down to Kentucky to visit my relatives, my cousin and her friends would tease me about my accent. I guess it really varies.

Yep, I'm from central Indiana, and many seem to think it's a Kentucky accent. I always assumed this was because I spent a couple of years in Kentucky while growing up, but I guess it's not just me.

[Denis Castellan]

This is not a direct answer to the main question, but if anyone needs some information about France or french stuff, I'll be glad to help (well, try to, at least :)).

[SRHowen]

LOL--in another thread I mentioned my last vaccation place as B-i-t-c-h France. I don't think I was believed.

Shawn

[oswann]

This is not a direct answer to the main question, but if anyone needs some information about France or french stuff, I'll be glad to help (well, try to, at least :)).


How come if I call the police and order a pizza at the same time in Paris, the pizza comes first?


Os

[Denis Castellan]

How come if I call the police and order a pizza at the same time in Paris, the pizza comes first?Just call the police and tell them to bring the pizza :

- You'll get both at the same time
- You just saved a phone call

[oswann]

Good thinking.

Os.

[katdad]

I've never been there, but I at least know which parts of the City I can plausibly set those scenes in.
An interesting side point -- When Bram Stoker wrote Dracula, he relied upon the current 1887 Baedeker's [sp?] pocket travel guide to get his streets right. Several years ago, I found that exact edition in an old bookstore, so it's a valued keepsake now.

I'm trained as a historian

"Eeek! Help!" she shouted. "Can no one save us?"

"Don't worry, Ma'am," he exclaimed. "I'll protect you. After all, I'm a trained historian!"

(sorry - couldn't resist)

[katdad]

I'm using a very light hand with dialect in certain characters

This comment is not directed to you, please understand.

I'd recommend that people be very cautious when writing in dialect. It's one thing to say "Her southern drawl was as thick as the gravy on the chicken fried steak she served me." but it's another thing to try to reproduce that dialect in print.

If you put in the occasional "Y'all" or "Youse" (or even "Youns" from Pittsburgh PA -- excuse me, "Picksbugh" as they call it) that's fine, but to attempt to simulate an accent in print is quite difficult, and can easily break the reader's attention.

It should be used very sparingly, like pequin peppers.

[Thekherham]

Two points: When you write a science fiction story set on other planets, of course you've never been there. It's part of your imagination. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't do your research.


I wrote a prsent-day novel set on good old planet Earth, but I used fictitious settings: a city, and several smaller towns. I drew maps, in order to be consistent as to location of streets, shops, schools, and other places.

[Denis Castellan]

If you intended to write a story about a particular town...

- that will be completely destroyed at the end (bomb or fire...)
and/or
- whose inhabitants are all without exception complete weirdos or aliens...

would you use a real location or would you make one from scratch ?

[BlueTexas]

If you intended to write a story about a particular town...

- that will be completely destroyed at the end (bomb or fire...)
and/or
- whose inhabitants are all without exception complete weirdos or aliens...

would you use a real location or would you make one from scratch ?

I'd use a real town. West Memphis, Arkansas, in fact. I didn't like it there. Not one little bit. Honestly, I think they were aliens...:)

[Julian Black]

"Eeek! Help!" she shouted. "Can no one save us?"

"Don't worry, Ma'am," he exclaimed. "I'll protect you. After all, I'm a trained historian!"

(sorry - couldn't resist)

[laughs]

Hey, I'm even housebroken, too!

Being a historian has its advantages--I'm very good at doing research, and I can fit the plot and characters within larger historical developments.

I'm still trying to shake off some bad academic habits; I have to keep reminding myself that I am writing a work of fiction about pirates, not a materialist critique of British imperialism in the Americas. However, I'm slowly but surely overcoming my compulsion to cite references. Someday, I will recover from academia...

[Jamesaritchie]

This comment is not directed to you, please understand.

I'd recommend that people be very cautious when writing in dialect. It's one thing to say "Her southern drawl was as thick as the gravy on the chicken fried steak she served me." but it's another thing to try to reproduce that dialect in print.

If you put in the occasional "Y'all" or "Youse" (or even "Youns" from Pittsburgh PA -- excuse me, "Picksbugh" as they call it) that's fine, but to attempt to simulate an accent in print is quite difficult, and can easily break the reader's attention.

It should be used very sparingly, like pequin peppers.

One way to help with location is to simply know what things are called. Where I'm from you don't go to a restaurant and order "chicken fried steak." It won't be on the menu. Instead, you order "country fried steak." It's the same thing, just called by a different name.

[NicoleJLeBoeuf]

This comment is not directed to you, please understand.No worries! And you make a very good point. My first draft is full of awful clunkers committed in the name of dialect, clunkers which I hope to smooth out mostly by getting rid of everything but a word here or there, just enough to get the reader "hearing" the characters right.

[writersliving]

I don't think you could. it don't matter the age you are. It where you been I can only been my stories on the south and newyork. because those places I went. but I can't base it california. It won't seem right. the young people will be like the the young newyorkers. then the young people in california. mostly I can give a good story on the young people in newyork, because I was one and still am in my 20's so that will be my best bet.

[NicoleJLeBoeuf]

Speaking of dialect, I just came across this post at the blog storytelling (http://www.tiedtothetracks.com/storytelling/archives/000601.htm). The moral is pretty common, granted...

The lesson here is simple: don't play with spelling unless you have a really good reason. Playing with spelling will almost always work as a trivialization of the character, and that's never good. If it's important to portray dialect, do that in other ways....but you should click the link and see how she proves her point. It's delightful.

[James D. Macdonald]

One way to help with location is to simply know what things are called.

Spider/griddle/fry pan/frying pan

Poke/sack/bag

And so endlessly on. As writers we know language right down at the most closely-grained level. Every word choice is a deliberate word choice.

American dialect survey (http://cfprod01.imt.uwm.edu/Dept/FLL/linguistics/dialect/)

[Jamesaritchie]

Spider/griddle/fry pan/frying pan

Poke/sack/bag

And so endlessly on. As writers we know language right down at the most closely-grained level. Every word choice is a deliberate word choice.

American dialect survey (http://cfprod01.imt.uwm.edu/Dept/FLL/linguistics/dialect/)

Wow, it's been a time since I've heard "spider" used this way. A good example.

I spent a good bit of time during my teens in the hills of Kentucky. One of the first things I notied was no one said "Can I carry that for you?" Instead, it was always "Can I pack that for you?"

To "pack" something has a very different meaning where I come from.

[montanagal]

This is not a direct answer to the main question, but if anyone needs some information about France or french stuff, I'll be glad to help (well, try to, at least :)).

Got a question for you. There's a script I finished a few years ago and I let it sit because I have NO idea if it's even plausible. Nothing i've found in libraries or online have told me that it is. Are there any cities in France with tunnels running under them, such as would have been placed by Vikings or others rather anciently? I'm specifically interested in Bordeaux, Poitiers or other 100 Yrs War locations.

Thanks!

[paprikapink]

Yes, but nobody knows about them. :) I think that means it's up to you.

Clearly I'm no historian, but...

Seriously, that place is so old. We were there this summer and we visited an old abbaye in Tournou where just in 2001 or so they were trying to restore the nearly 1,000-year-old floor and they found a different floor underneath it that was hundreds of years older. You never know what might be under a rock in Europe.

We visited a winery in Beaune, which is in Burgundy, that had cellars underground, way underground, that covered 4 hectares and contained at least 4 million bottles of wine. It would not have surprised me one tiny bit to have accidentally wandered down the wrong tunnel and found myself in a Norman' crypt or the next town or something. Especially after I'd tasted about 20 different wines.....

[aruna]

Not much I can add to what the others have said; a few points, though:

If writing about a foreign country, double check for the more immaterial details. I remember reading a book called "Mrs de Winter", which is the sequel of "Rebecca". In this book, the MC has lived in France for many years, and there she learned to drive. She has just returned from France to England, and goes for her first drive. I can't remember what it was that set her off, but suddenly, during that drive, she starts racing through the countryside, skidding round corners - like in a car chase.

Now, anyone who has any experience with driving in England and France will tell you that, the first time you change from one country to the other, it's agony. You're not only on the wrong side of the road; the gear stick, is on the wrong side of the car. You've got to drive really slowly and concentrate for the first hour or so. No way you can go racing around the countryside skidding around corners.

I've written about many places I haven't been to myself - if I don't know, I just mnake up the scenery and make sure it's consistent through research. There is a limit, though. I placed three novels mostly in India, a country I've lived in. By the time the fourth novel came around, I found that my experience of India was exhausted. I could not write a whole novel based there, with the character growing up among Indians. I just did not know enough about family life, local customs, the language, etc. I just knew that Indians would call me up on that story, so I abandoned it.

[Torgo]

Kafka wrote Amerika without ever leaving Europe - that turned out pretty well...

[Bufty]

Loved this thread.

On the subject of local dialect, I couldn't resist posting this excerpt from a soon-to-hit-the-world novel from a 'publisher' well covered in another thread.

A wonderful example of the true skill of delivering exquisitely expressed phonetic dialogue.


She slowly opened the creaking rickety door and carefully peeped down the hall. The mirror was there and so was her father, fast asleep. She gently closed the door. “Okay sis, he’s sleep”
“Ya sho Sophia? Cuz yuh know he’d tie fia’ ta ah bahines ef he knowed what we’s bout ta do.”
“Shhhh! Be quite! Look na’, awe yuh gone hep me awe not?”
“Yeah, yeah, ah’ma hep yuh.”
“Cuz, yuh know its dah’ onlyest’ way ah’m gone be able ta’ do dis raht?”
“Yeah, ah know. Awe yuh sho’ yous want ta do dis Sophia?”
“Yeah, ah’m sho’ Hattie.”
“Ah’m gone miss yuh Sophia.”
“Ah know. Ah’m gone miss yuh too sis.” The two girls embraced each other and Sophia began to gather her things. “Where’s Willay gone mee’cha”?
“He’s down dah’ road uh piece.”

Only teeny-weeny, itty-bitty drawback is I don't understand a word of this h**** s***.:Shrug:

[aruna]

There's a German author, called Karl May. Long dead. He wrote mostly Westerns.
Here's a bit about his books on an amazon review:

"Though he is virtually unknown to the English-speaking world, May is possibly the most-read German author of all time: his books have sold an estimated 100m copies to date. The Germans have a saying: "We know Goethe, but we read Karl May".


He also wrote books set in the Middle East - Kurdistan, Afghanistan etc.
These are LONG books - 500 pages, in fine print.


And yet - Karl May never left Germany.

My son discovered Karl May when he was 10. He devoured all of those books in no time. He just loved them. I used to think he wasnt reading them properly, as he read them so quickly, all 70 of them. Later on I discovered he's a natural speed reader.

[danielmc]

Fascinating question, one which i deliberated over before starting my just finished first novel. My book starts in Michigan, then crosses to south West France, then over to Israel before heading back to New York via Rhodes (a Greek Island) I'm English, and live in England by the way.
I've spent time in Michigan and NY as a teenager wandering the world. I took my GF on holiday in May to France, looking at exactly where the book is set, (the languedoc and the cote vermeille), and a month ago i took my GF and little girl to Rhodes for a holiday. And spent a lovely evening in Rhodes town, which led me to re write the scene and change the town from a placid pretty castle by a beach, to a major, bustling, mad as hell port that it is.


I think a simple rule would be; If you can visit the place you intend writing about, do it, make it a busman's holiday, a way to experience something new. If not, (due to different time periods or prohibited cost) make it up, and do a damned good job on the research. With the internet as it is, there is no excuse for poor novel locale research.

Though beware, there is an awful lot of bull*hit, just a matter of trawling through it! Best place to start is the webpage of each country / town / city. Then the chamber of commerce for each town, which will give you the businesses etc., then the tourist info. etc etc.
For large maps i always use http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/ and for city wide maps i use Multimap, or some other site usually linked on the town's webpage, where, if you are lucky, you may find webcams's of the town.

Online encyclopedias are invaluable too, as are Government related sites. (Call me anal but my protagonists had to travel incognito from France to Israel, and not wanting to fly them in a supersonic secret plane, i had to 'sail' them, so i found a port near to where the action in France takes place, then found info on a EU site as to what type of ships / boats sailed from that port. So instead of a bland ferry / cruise ship i had a 1985 built 8 man wet fish stern trawler, of which there are 56 in the port!)

Luckily, my WIP is a memoir and is set where i live right now, so little to no research needed.

Good luck, have fun with it, but dont get caught up in it and allow it to stop you writing the book!

[Peggy]

I've set my work in progress in Berkeley, where I've actually lived. I started out with a setting that was a completely fictional town that was based on Berkeley, but I got bogged down trying to think of a fictional equivalent of, say, the botanical gardens, when the real version was what I was picturing in my minds eye. I am adding some fictional, but plausible, settings around town as well.

I personally get a special pleasure in reading books that use places I am familiar with as their setting, as long as they get their facts straight.

[Julie Worth]

ok say i want to write a story...short or a novel. I live in Boston and i've only been to Florida and San Diego. I originally come from Ireland and i haven't had the oportunity to travel much of the country. So say I want to base this story in a small town in texas. Is this out of the question seeing as i've never been there. I mean how could i describe the landscape, the smell and colors of a place i've never actually visited? Is there a way around this?
I could base it in massachusetts but it would'nt really fit the srory.

I've never been to west Texas, but I've placed two novels there. You can discover the flora and fauna on Google, and cover yourself by making up the town and not being too specific about location. I've written about places I know, and places I don't know, and I find the latter to be easier. It's weird.