Using real locations and imaginary people

Well… are you trying to parody them or use them as models for your characters? Also, is there any reason why you have to use the real village and can't make one up to stand in?

Hublocker said:

My current WIP (adventure/thriller type story) is set in a real geographic area with detailed descriptions of at least one real village and other locations.

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My mysteries are set in Montana with details of real places and landmarks, like Highway 2 and Glacier Park.

I may invent a farm or a house or even a small community for events. My characters are aren't based on real people but are conglomerations of Montanans.

I see nothing wrong with going through real towns and real places to tell a fictional story.

I can't say for sure that no-one would be upset, but as long as you're not portraying the villagers in your book in a stereotypical or negative manner. And there will always be some people who see themselves in characters created by people they know, but some things are unavoidable - I'm assuming you are personally familiar with the village and some of the people in it because of how you're worried they'll think you've modelled characters on them, and haven't just picked it out from a map.

I don't personally like using real places, or being too specific as to where my imaginary towns and villages are located, but there's no problem with doing it, so long as, once again, you don't portray it in a way that could be offensive or hurtful.

I use real locales, to the point of employing Google Street View to boost my descriptive juices. BUT, I never use a real house or building or street address to set a story action; that's all fictive. OTH, if I wrote a gory tale of mass murder and cannibalism in a tiny village, that's a case where I'd make up the whole thing.

I destroy all sorts of real places in my apocalypse series, and I use real neighborhoods (google maps) and specific houses for reference. I don't mention the exact addresses, and I change up the details of all the things that don't matter. Mostly I'm just vague when I need to be. I'll mention "a neighborhood off [whatever main street in town]" but not talk about the exact street. The chances that someone would read my book and think "OMG THAT'S MY HOUSE BURNING DOWN!" is pretty slim, I figure. I talk about real landmarks and don't see any reason not to.

As already mentioned, it shouldn't be a problem unless you are suggesting something untrue or insulting the local community somehow.

Not helpful, probably, but:

In the Hollywood segments of House of Leaves, Mark Z Danielewski used a real neighborhood, real street names, everything except the exact address of the apartment building he described, which (based on the info he DID provide), was by an odd coincidence pretty much the apartment building I was living in, or one within the same half-block. The apartment in the book shared the same position in the building as the one I lived in.

I have never met Mark Z Danielewski and I'm not one to get nightmares, but reading a book that was more or less about my own apartment was an interesting experience, to say the least.

Hublocker said:

My current WIP (adventure/thriller type story) is set in a real geographic area with detailed descriptions of at least one real village and other locations.

How can I do this and not have the resident so that the residents don't feel that I am either parodying them or using them as models for my characters?

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In one of your other threads, you ask about basing a character in this (?) WiP on a real person, disguised by minimal changes. So there's the potential here for a bit of a mess if you're not careful.

I have a similar quandry. My WIP is set in a real city in northern louisiana. One bad guy dies when he drives off a real road,flips his car and lands upside down in a real marsh.(killing himself and two non bad guy passengers)other aspects of the story exploit the kind of seedy side every city has.
but ive still been wondering if i should change the names.

Pony. said:

ive still been wondering if i should change the names.

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ALways change the names of real people. Places, not so much.

I've notice some readers say they can identify better to real places, buildings, and streets. In a few of my stories, I have made up characters but they are in real towns and I name streets. I do leave specifics like addresses out of the story. In one manuscript, everything is made up except for the rivalry between inventors of which the story is based. When everything is pretend, I think the most important thing is to make your characters relatable in some way. I often take characteristics of people I know and shake them up with another persons. Some folks might be suspicious, but could never prove it! Um, except my daughter and her ex-boyfriend. They totally know two characters are absolutely them! Couldn't help myself

I've read tons of novels set in real places. Shouldn't be a problem at all.

auroranibley said:

Not helpful, probably, but:

In the Hollywood segments of House of Leaves, Mark Z Danielewski used a real neighborhood, real street names, everything except the exact address of the apartment building he described, which (based on the info he DID provide), was by an odd coincidence pretty much the apartment building I was living in, or one within the same half-block. The apartment in the book shared the same position in the building as the one I lived in.

I have never met Mark Z Danielewski and I'm not one to get nightmares, but reading a book that was more or less about my own apartment was an interesting experience, to say the least.

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This is one of the coolest things I've ever heard! I'd go crazy (in a good way) if this happened to me!

Oh, it was amazing. But HoL is also one of the most terrifying things I've ever read. So it was a nightmare book about my own apartment.

I'd read it again in a second.

auroranibley said:

Oh, it was amazing. But HoL is also one of the most terrifying things I've ever read. So it was a nightmare book about my own apartment.

I'd read it again in a second.

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My step-mum's mother lived on the actual thirteenth floor of the actual portal-to-the-Sumerian-netherworld apartment building from Ghostbusters.