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imaginary
emilycross
pronetoidiocy
Novel-Goddess
daeonica
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daeonica
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daeonica


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Age : 33
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PostSubject: Settings...   Settings... EmptySun Feb 15, 2009 9:05 am

All stories have to be set somewhere. And most of the time, authors have specific reasons for choosing the places where there story happens.

Where is your story set?

Why did you choose that/those place/s?

Is it somewhere you've been in RL? If yes, how much did that play a part in you choosing to set it there? If not, do you think that is/could be a problem for you trying to write about it?

I'd also be interested to learn more about the settings for specific things in people's stories, for example, setting it in City X, and having a lot of the story take place in The Train Station, or whatever. Or, why did you choose to have a particular confrontation in that place?

I'd love to hear your answers for some of these questions. Very Happy
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Novel-Goddess
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Novel-Goddess


Female
Number of posts : 505
Age : 30
Location : Everywhere.
Job/hobbies : I write stuff.
Humor : My entire life is one of those "you had to be there" jokes.
Registration date : 2009-02-07

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PostSubject: Re: Settings...   Settings... EmptySun Feb 15, 2009 9:46 am

Well, let's see...The Surface of the Deep, for the most part, takes place on another planet. While my characters are on Earth, however, they are in the town that I currently live in. This is for two reasons:
1) I know this city and can make it believable.
2) I wanted my main characters to have Southern values before they went off and got caught up in a war. It was important.

The Enigma is set in a city that I based off of Gainesville, Florida (AKA my hometown). It just...worked. I wanted a city in central Florida that was big enough for my main character and that was busy. Gainesville was my natural choice, but I didn't want it to *be* Gainesville.
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pronetoidiocy
Outlining the plot



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Number of posts : 45
Age : 33
Location : California
Registration date : 2009-02-06

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PostSubject: Re: Settings...   Settings... EmptyMon Feb 16, 2009 12:53 pm

I know that mine is set somewhere in California. Two reasons: I needed it to be relatively hot in the spring months so that people would be suspicious about why my character would be wearing long sleeves every day, and two, because that's where I live and there's so much I can do with a place if I'm familiar with it.
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emilycross
The Boss of the Board
emilycross


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PostSubject: Re: Settings...   Settings... EmptyMon Feb 16, 2009 2:13 pm

Where is your story set?

Well at the moment it is in a fictional world, specifically a small kingdom called Ascacia, the story will probably go beyond that kingdom.

Why did you choose that/those place/s?

Well my novel is a fantasy so i decided to build a fictional world, the capital of ascacia (like the vatican in a way - its almost like a citystate) is based on Mont Saint-Michel - when i say it in a french travel book - it totally struck me as the perfect model for pilgrimage city.

Is it somewhere you've been in RL? If yes, how much did that play a part in you choosing to set it there? If not, do you think that is/could be a problem for you trying to write about it?

I've never been to Mont Saint Michel, and i think the fact that i'm only using it as a loose reference won't be a problem - although this leaves me with a load of world building to do for all three of my kingdoms and the overall world. I bought a book by Orsan Scott Card about writing fantasy which i may get round to reading - i'm hoping for some tips.


but i know terry prachet;s advice is 'where does the food come from' - if you can have a good answer for that - then you've built a world!
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imaginary
Typing the first word
imaginary


Female
Number of posts : 143
Age : 31
Location : lost in my imaginary world...
Job/hobbies : Writing, playing guitar, reading, drawing, listening to music
Registration date : 2009-02-06

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PostSubject: Re: Settings...   Settings... EmptyMon Feb 16, 2009 4:40 pm

Where is your story set?
My story, The Forest of Guadhashia, is set, obviously, in a forest. Specifically, in a forest in a land called Guadhashia, which is my own imaginary world.

Why did you choose that/those place/s?
Well, since I needed a king in the story, and I didn't want to have to be restricted to a real one, I made one up, along with country and forest.

Is it somewhere you've been in RL? If yes, how much did that play a part in you choosing to set it there? If not, do you think that is/could be a problem for you trying to write about it?
Although I haven't actually been to Guadhashia, I base it very much after Oregon. I've spent a lot of time in Oregon in the middle of a national forest area, that has gigantic trees and lots of wildlife, which has given me inspiration for the details. And I suppose I just had to write a story that revolved around my favorite place in the world!
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Sammi-Fallon
Brainstorming for Ideas
Sammi-Fallon


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PostSubject: Re: Settings...   Settings... EmptyMon Feb 16, 2009 6:41 pm

I normally try to have a setting thats different each time. Places I have never been, or would like to go to. Usually out west, sometimes closer to home. Recently, I have picked a random town on a map of Louisiana. Deridder, anyone ever herd of that place? The name sounds pretty cool. XD
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ReNu
Lois Lane has nothing on ReNu
ReNu


Female
Number of posts : 382
Location : Between the pages of a good book
Job/hobbies : Working journalist, aspiring novelist, history buff, collector of vintage fountain pens and war medals.
Registration date : 2009-02-08

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PostSubject: Re: Settings...   Settings... EmptyMon Feb 16, 2009 9:34 pm

Where is your story set?
It is set in two different countries. Both are fictitious, but based so closely to real countries that everyone will know Embarassed

Why did you choose that/those place/s?
My novel is set amidst a terror war, and obviously I can't go about naming real countries. I'm too young to die.

Is it somewhere you've been in RL? If yes, how much did that play a part in you choosing to set it there? If not, do you think that is/could be a problem for you trying to write about it?
Yes, everything is based on countries and places I am familiar with. That's just the way I write. The only exception is, the characters move underground after a while, and I've never lived there.
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sdficklin
Outlining the plot
sdficklin


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PostSubject: Re: Settings...   Settings... EmptyWed Feb 18, 2009 2:17 pm

I like to write about real places, unless i'm in my fairie world. I took a trip this year to a small island in washington--so beautiful-- so i could use it in my novel. I'd written it before i saw it, but once i did, i re-wrote most of it. It added a lot of tactile sensation to the story!
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sdficklin
Outlining the plot
sdficklin


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Number of posts : 47
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PostSubject: Re: Settings...   Settings... EmptyWed Feb 18, 2009 2:17 pm

I like to write about real places, unless i'm in my fairie world. I took a trip this year to a small island in washington--so beautiful-- so i could use it in my novel. I'd written it before i saw it, but once i did, i re-wrote most of it. It added a lot of tactile sensation to the story!
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Cass
Brainstorming for Ideas



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Location : Emerald City - Seattle, WA
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Registration date : 2009-02-21

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PostSubject: Re: Settings...   Settings... EmptyMon Feb 23, 2009 9:44 pm

Where is your story set?
Cranberry Coast - Washington State(yes it's a real stretch of highway and beaches where they raise Ocean Spray Cranberries)

Why did you choose that/those place/s?
It is a place my mother-in-law had been trying to take me and my daughters for years.

Is it somewhere you've been in RL?
Yes

If yes, how much did that play a part in you choosing to set it there?
Finally went last October and found it to be truly a magical place.

I'd also be interested to learn more about the settings for specific things in people's stories, for example, setting it in City X, and having a lot of the story take place in The Train Station, or whatever. Or, why did you choose to have a particular confrontation in that place?

One particular part I am including in my story has to do with a lighthouse that was used as a doorway to another place. (You know that lighthouses are doorways right? study ) Well, this Lighthouse was destroyed many years ago during a bad storm caused by an evil being, so now the doorway is thought to be closed.

In real life, the lighthouse did exist (until December 1941) when during a bad storm, it fell into the sea.
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Novel-Goddess
Editor of the Board
Novel-Goddess


Female
Number of posts : 505
Age : 30
Location : Everywhere.
Job/hobbies : I write stuff.
Humor : My entire life is one of those "you had to be there" jokes.
Registration date : 2009-02-07

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PostSubject: Re: Settings...   Settings... EmptySun May 24, 2009 9:39 pm

I actually just posted about settings over at the WC Blog, if anybody wants to go check it out:

http://thewriterschronicle.blogspot.com/2009/05/right-time-right-place.html

It's mainly dealing with the issue of specifying places and times, but I think it's pretty interesting.

I like to have pictures for all of my settings, which gets kind of problematic when you stop to think about the fact that most of them are made up. A few times I've had to hit up my friend Josh to draw things for me, or rely on photoshop and/or searches on PhotoBucket or DeviantArt.

So do you guys always have to have pictures, or do you just like to have them for reference? Or do you not bother with them, prefering to go with what's in your head?
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daeonica
Editor of the Board
daeonica


Female
Number of posts : 369
Age : 33
Location : Scotland
Job/hobbies : on my gap year!
Registration date : 2009-02-07

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PostSubject: Re: Settings...   Settings... EmptyMon May 25, 2009 6:12 am

For setting, I don't bother with pictures. One of the reasons I chose to set my novel in Newcastle-upon-Tyne was because I wanted a city I was familiar with. I have a fairly detailed description of some of the cafe's my MC visits, and the market, because they are specific ones - the market is somewhere I've spent a lot of time. That means I know what they look like, so I don't need to have pictures.
For the made up places I also have a pretty good idea in my head of what they look like, but I'll admit that for somethings, I have to go back and find where I fist mentioned them, to see how I described it, and what it's supposed to look/feel like.
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emilycross
The Boss of the Board
emilycross


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Number of posts : 1170
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PostSubject: Re: Settings...   Settings... EmptyMon Apr 05, 2010 8:04 am

Ok I need some help from all the lovely WC here!! Smile

Now I'm currently writing my WIP and keeping it all rough and vague. I don't think setting is essential for the story- my wish would be to keep it general enough that it could be UK/US or whatever.

Now that's my wish, i was wondering what do you think?

I'm hoping that if i referred to police as police and school as school (rather than highschool/secondary school) I'd get away with it?

But then i know setting is important but I think a WIP set in Ireland is waaaay too limiting for myself and the market. I could set it in UK, but I don't know?

In my head, the setting is based on a number of places in Ireland, but my hope would be that there is nothing too out there that would signal 'oh this is in ireland'??

like i don't say "here comes the guards" I'd say "here comes the police"??
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