My friend and I are collaborating on a project, serial fiction. The city is going to play an integral part, take on it's own character like any real city does. When it hits the page, the reader needs to be enveloped in that world and needs to believe the characters interact there.
We decided on a fictional city for the freedoms it allows us. It's an American city in the present day. It's situated on a lake. I'm going to loosely base a lot of the landscaping, people, businesses, etc off of Boston, Philly and NYC, since that's what I know (the other writer lives in NYC, has lived with me in Boston).
I'm a big fan of doing things in the field. Getting your nose out of the book and out of wikipedia. In my previous life, I had to go to pretty much every area of Boston you can imagine. I know where there's a good place to set your car on fire, I know what the insides of the worst projects look like, I know what a doctor's condo looks like, I know where the methodone clinic is, where the Globe is printed, where the godawful tourists congregate, etc. Seeing all of this first hand should help immensely.
That said, I'm thinking a little weekend trip to a great lake community might help. Maybe go to Niagra Falls for 48 hours of writing and debauchery. Take photos, take notes, that kind of thing.
How do some of you go about world building? My goal is a hybrid of life experience and research. Is there anything you like to do when you visit places? Any writing exercises you find helpful?
Any and all insight is much appreciated.
You mentioned it already, but if there's a specific place I want to write about, especially in and around the LA area, I'll take my camera and go to town. Being a bit of a shutterbug, I find just looking through the viewfinder eliminates irrelevancies, and I hone in on those details and specifics that will provide that extra identity/singularity quotient we're all after as writers. It's not just a landscape of a bridge over a river; it's the hieroglyphical grafitti on the ledges (how dud the taggers get out there?). It's not a street scene photo; it's the Wholefood's grocery bags a homeless guy uses to carry his redemable bottles in. With photography, your subconcious poet takes over. I sometimes don't even see the soul of the image till the next day when I bring the images up on the computer. Anyway, hope that helps some.
No, that helps a lot. Just thinking of things like you mentioned (the taggers, the bags) is the kind of thought process and detail to keep in mind. That's an understated and probably underlooked approach as opposed to the bridge over the river.
I write about areas where I've lived, but change the names. Lately everything is based around Grigsby's Bluff, which is the original name of the town of Port Neches-Groves where I grew up. I mention surrounding towns, such as Groves, Port Arthur, Nederland, Beaumont, but if you looked at map, Grigsby's Bluff would encompass all of Port Neches and Nederland, taking up the same space. So yeah, it's real, but it's not, which gives me a little leeway with streets, landmarks, and all that shit. Fortunately I live in an area that has lakes, rivers, woods, plains and the ocean all within driving distance.
For the Munich scenes in the original version of Blood Junkies, I did a ton of research, studying street names and aerial photos. Definitely WAY more research than actually ended up on the page.
A lot of times I use a fictional city, with no name, but base certain places (bars, restaurants, etc...) on cities I've been to. I may take a bar from Indianapolis, a hotel from Boca Raton or a riverboat from Cleveland and throw them all into one city. I do this so the reader from, L.A., or Dallas, or wherever can fill in their own details from whatever city they're from. However, in my novel The Naomi Pick-Up, I use Pittsburgh as the backdrop, but I've moved things around to fit the grittiness of the tone. There's a little diner on the corner of 9th and Liberty in the heart of the city called Sammy's. I've taken Sammy's, moved it to the south side of town and morphed it into a traditional diner (old box car shape, highly polished chrome and red vinyl booths) underneath a bridge in a gravel parking lot. And, that exact spot exits too, but it's a little ice cream shop that sits there. Living so close to the city, and having been there so many times, it's become ingrained in my mind all the nuances, all the attractions, street names and surrounding towns. I know that the south side is where all the bars are, lined up and down Carson Street. I know that Homewood and the Hill District are the ghettos. Fox Chapel is where all the richy riches live. Like yourself, I've been to all these places, probably too many times, but as I'm writing I can see them clearly in my head.
If I can't get out for pictures, or even a walk around the city, I'll pull up images on Google. But, most images of Pittsburgh are taken from Mt. Washington where a view of the whole city is fantastic. Although you can't see it, Heinz Field sits off to the left with Rivers Casino set in the foreground. To the right of the stadium and casino, where the Ohio River converges with The Allegheny to form the Monongahela River, Point State Park and its fountain reside.
Love my city. Pittsburgher till I die...
Another important element to developing a 'ficticious' city that is, perhaps, based on an existing one is how dialect will impact the character's dialogue. Even though I have visited the UK, watched British TV shows and movies, I cannot say I'm an expert or even have a decent grasp of the dialect.
I ended up hiring a dialect 'coach' from Cambridge to help with a number of chapters in my novel. I wrote them out as best I could and then sent them off to him to edit. It was crazy, just the subtleties I would have missed otherwise like using 'blinds' or 'curtains' instead of 'shades' as they don't use 'shades' over there.
I did a ton of research, studying street names and aerial photos. Definitely WAY more research than actually ended up on the page.
I think this is the key. In your mind, you live there. You move around there. You see it all, not relying on cliche or something you've seen on TV. If you can have that mindset, than your place is real. That bleeds into your writing.
This is where I want to get in my land of make believe. My co-writer is making up a map. I think just having that visual will work wonders.
Really, good insight guys.
@ Moon - I'm a pennsylvanian by nature. Pottstown, PA - which is about 5 hrs from you. I've always considered Pittsburgh a different state. I know nothing about it, even if we used to pay taxes to the same commonwealth.
@MSimmons - very good point on dialect. I will put some thought into that. I think having local references and nicknames will go a long way. As far as a matter of speech, I can get away with east coast slang, talk & ideals since that's what I grew up with. Or in other words, I'd likely never write from a west coast angle because I don't know and haven't lived in that world. I'd shy away from that. Interesting that you hired a dialect coach though. That's a real dedication to getting it right.
Dialect is a good point to bring up. I have a serious problem using Pittsburgh dialect, or Pittsburghese, in my stories because no one would understand what the hell their reading. Try deciphering some of this:
I got one hunnert dollas, so I's gon dahntahn to sahside an aht to gets an arn city.
Dem Cinci Bungles are a buncha jag-offs.
How yinz doin?
I's gon to da Stillers game. Got my terble tahl an aht ready.
Redd up your room and quit bein so damn nebby.
Jeet jet? Noj'du?
Double yoi! I miss Myron Cope.
Watch aht, da roads are slippy.
I need a worsh rag cause my car needs warshed.
"I pricked my finger," I said.
"Airyago, playin' in dem jagger bushes," my mom said.
We gon to Primanees an getta chipped ham sammich.
Kennywood's open. I can see ya gutchies.
I need a tir arhn cause I blew a tire in da Gian' Iggle parkin' lot.
Da Buccos ain't had a winnin' season in almost two decades.
These are just a few examples of Pittsburghese. You could imagine writing a first person narration in this. Most of this I don't say, and frankly annoys the hell out of me.
Jeet jet? Noj'du?
I did just order a late night performance enhancing pizza.
I pricked my finger
That's how I say it, nobody up this way has called me out for it (but this is the worst dialect in the world)
(but this is the worst dialect in the world)
Agreed
Jeet jet. N j'du translates to: Did you eat yet? No, did you?
Gian Iggle is actually Giant Eagle, a grocery store in Pittsburgh. Normally, we'll just call it the Iggle.
Kennywood is an amusement park here. Somehow, the phrase 'Kennywood's open' means that your fly is down. Don't ask me how that came about.
Myron Cope was a legendary Steelers commentator who passed away in '08. 'Yoi' and 'Double Yoi' were his famous words (if you can even call them words) when The Steelers made a good play. R.I.P. Myron.
Arn City is a local beer called Iron City.
Just a few translations for you.
Don't try to explain everything, even if some of them are odd. Or at the very least have people who accept things as they are, and the reason not be common knowledge. There might be a 4 lane road that dead ends a block after a expensive bridge, two one way streets that go the same direction parallel to each other, a grocery store right in the middle of a subdivision, or a 100 other little things that in fiction would be explained but in real life would just be accepted as the way things have always been. And you'll need that if you want the city to seem 'real'.
two one way streets that go the same direction parallel to each other
So you've been to my neighborhood? It's all one way streets in the same direction.
Good point though. I think over-explaining is a problem in general. We're supposed to allow the reader to fill in the gaps, not treat them like dummies.
Think of how stupid the average person is. And half of them are stupider than that!
- George Carlin
