The Challenge of Writing About Real Places That You've Never Been

One of the conveniences of writing fantasy or science fiction that takes place on a distant world, or in another realm is that you don't have to check to make sure you have your facts right. The city of Danaerish Falls isn't a real place, after all, so you can input whatever rules, laws, people, and taverns you want into it. The Astronomer's Navy is based on Gallius IV, and it's your moon, so you can basically do what you want with its ecosystem, its settlements, and its animal life.

When your story is set in a real place, though, you need to double-check what you're including. Because from street names and addresses to demographics, laws, and history, there will be people who will know you made a mistake. And if you think dealing with a typo that survived four rounds of edits is embarrassing, just wait until you find out that you screwed up something that a local is going to call you on.

Trust me, it's something I've been dealing with a lot.

For those who haven't read Marked Territory yet (though you really should!) it follows Leo as he sticks his whiskers into some happenings on the south side of the Bronx. The novel is a back-alley noir mystery, and while our cast is made up entirely of NYC's street beasts, the city itself is still a character. And it was one that I tried really hard to get right.

Since I've never been to New York City, I figured I'd share a few of the strategies I used to try to minimize my mistakes in this endeavor.

 

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First Things First, Do Your Research

Not everyone is within a short drive of a major city, after all.

It seems obvious, but I don't just mean just look up the basics. Instead, allow yourself to go full tourist! Print out maps, read about history, make note of important times and dates, and if it's applicable to your story, look up laws that will or won't come into play. If you happen to know people who've been to the location you're trying to capture, grill them about the experience. If they've got home movies they shot, dig through them if they'll let you.

Google street view is going to be your best friend on this one if you need to know what a particular location looks like. Also, make sure you clock a few hours on YouTube. Seeing a place in motion, and taking in what people are wearing, what the weather is, what sort of colors are on-display, and even something as basic as what sort of vendors you see on the street can add organic details to the background. In particular take note of regional franchises, local slang, and other things that can give away that you're not from around here.

Ever seen Inglorious Basterds? That scene where the undercover British operative gives himself away by holding up the wrong three fingers while pretending to be German is exactly the sort of thing you don't want to do with your book.

Second, Keep Things Vague Whenever You Can

The more lies you tell, the better the chance you'll get caught.

All storytellers lie, but the more complicated the lie you're telling the more difficult it can be to keep everything straight. So when you're telling your story try to keep things short, sweet, and to the point. Don't focus on trying to mention specific times and locations as if you're reciting off a list to convince a jury that you were in a particular place on a particular night. Instead, keep things vague when you can, and only give specifics when you have to.

For example, if a scene in your story takes place in a section of Central Park, you're going to have to talk about the specifics of that location. Look at pictures, figure out the name of that corner, and try to get the clearest possible view so that it's almost like you're capturing it on film. But if your characters are walking down the street, or driving to meet a contact? That's not the time for excessive detail. Mention cardinal directions, a highway name if you really need to (you usually don't), and how long something is taking, but don't break up your narrative flow to put a list of directions in your novel just to prove you looked it up. Your readers will trust that the characters took the proper turns to arrive at their destination.

Authenticity in location isn't just names and locations... it's a feeling. It's the smell, the taste, the texture, and the sounds of a place. Imagining a feeling for a place you've never been is tough, but when you're researching pay attention to those background details. If you're on the ocean, mention the tang of salt in the air, or a constant breeze from the water. Talk about the chatter of the crowd, or the heat baking off the concrete. If there's an iconic aspect, such as carriage rides or bell ringers in Santa costumes, mention those details. Those background things are going to flavor a scene much more convincingly than telling your readers it takes place on Clark Street, or in the upstairs ballroom of the Ritz Carlton.

Third, Don't Be Afraid To Make Stuff Up

Just pull it out of thin air... they can't stop you!

At a glance, this one seems to go against the first step. After all, isn't the whole purpose of doing your research so that you know what's going on in a given location, and to allow you to describe it accurately without needing to make stuff up?

Yes. But sometimes it just makes your story more interesting (or less problematic) to invent new facets of a real location. And if you followed the second step, then you should have fewer issues with this one.

We see this all the time in cop dramas and private detective stories. Writers invent a criminal syndicate, a motorcycle gang, a security firm, a high-priced investment firm, a favorite corner bar, and a hundred other details for these stories, and readers never bat an eye. Sometimes writers do this because there is no real-world organization, group, or location that can fill the role they need for a story to work. Sometimes it's because it lets writers skate around problematic depictions of real people. Sometimes it's because they don't want to risk tying scenes or stories to particular real-world businesses. And sometimes it's just for convenience sake.

All of these are valid reasons you should occasionally just go with your gut, and make it up.

People asked Chuck Palahniuk for years where they could find their local fight club... there were none, he made them up. It was one of the important building blocks of his story, but he didn't track down real world basement cage matches, because there was no such thing. He created the bars they took place in, and invented the dilapidated old house so much of the plot revolved around. There was no real Project Mayhem, either. So the next time you find yourself researching brands of sidewalk hot dog vendors in a particular town, or trying to find an exact restaurant that serves French cuisine in the neighborhood you're setting your third chapter in, you can probably make it up as long as you keep the details vague about where it's exactly located... particularly if your setting is in a big city where it's easy to lose track of all the little details.

And if you spin these particular lies well enough, you'll have readers desperate to know what place you based them off of, because they want to go check it out for themselves.

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That's all for this week's Craft of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my cat noir novel Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

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