Setting a story in a different country/culture

[Andreina]

Do you have problems when a story is set in a country you are not familiar with?
Do you feel the author should add extra explanations?

I want to set my new story in a European country not many will be familiar at all with. I'm worried that this might be a problem for you guys (I mean the readers in general), because I'm usually writing rather romantic, sweet, love-dove stories where the sex itself isnt necessarily the most important story-line.



i think i just confused myself now.

 

[Octavian]

Setting a story in an unfamiliar country

Why do you think this might be a problem, Andreina?

I do not see why being unfamiliar with a story's location should lessen the enjoyment. If a story is good it matters not where it is set.

Octavian

 

[Svenskaflicka]

I once heard a fellow writer say that it doesn't matter if you lie through your teeth, as long as you make it sound convincing.

And the best way to sound convincing, is to write with confidence, as if you believed in it yourself.

Hey, who's gonna check and tell on you?

Just write it convincingly, and everyone will swallow it and look happy.

 

[MathGirl]

Suggestion

If your story is set in, say, Germany, it might be best if the characters are NOT named Kathleen O'Reilly and Manuel Gomez.

 

[Octavian]

Vy not!

Vy should such peoples not in Germany be?
Ve haff many different peoples here. Vot is den matter wen someone is called Kathleen?
Und letzlich es ist nicht true ve haff no sense of humour.

Octavian
Doing his best to spread peace and harmony throughout der Welt.

 

[MathGirl]

[/B]

Dear Andreina,

See what happens when you ask a perfectly reasonable question on here? Your thread falls victim to a bunch of wise-ass lunatics. It never fails.

Diana Banana, One of the Bunch

 

[Andreina]

Re: Suggestion

If your story is set in, say, Germany, it might be best if the characters are NOT named Kathleen O'Reilly and Manuel Gomez.

jesus fucking christ.... it will most DEFINATLEY not be set in germany.

 

[SexyChele]

Re: Re: Setting a story in a different country/culture

Dear Andreina,

See what happens when you ask a perfectly reasonable question on here? Your thread falls victim to a bunch of wise-ass lunatics. It never fails.

Diana Banana, One of the Bunch

Hmmm..don't know how much of a wise-ass I am, but at times I certainly do belong in the looney bin!



And besides, Kathleen O'Reilly, of County Cork, Ireland, and Manual Gomez of Barcelona could be vacationing in Germany and meet for a romantic interlude, yes? Stranger things have occurred, surely?

Okay, so now maybe I am being a bit of a wise-ass! Sorry!

 

[Andreina]

...and Kathleen sucks Manuel's Weisswurst after he romantically draped sauerkraut around her breasts.

 

[Svenskaflicka]

Suck my knockwurst, baby!

 

[MathGirl]

Epidermis

Suck my knockwurst, baby!

Dear Svenska,
You have a knockwurst? How special!

It seems that the ladies here are showing a lot of skin in their avathingies, these days. Do you think we should do the same, Svenska? I have a couple of ... tasteful nudies I could possibly compress to make an avathingie. How about you?

Diane the Potentially Undraped

 

[Svenskaflicka]

You just want to see my knockwurst, don't ya?

Seriously. I think that pic of you in a bikin was very beautiful. Me, I never show myself nude on the net - it's way too dangerous. Just look at BlackSnake's amateur pic-thread!

 

[MathGirl]

Just look at BlackSnake's amateur pic-thread!

Okay, I won't. Thanks. I must have missed that thread. Where is it?

 

[Svenskaflicka]

Right here!

 

[NorthwestRain]

Hi Adreina,
I think stories set in different countries than where they're being written is great. It gets the imagination flowing, adds a sense of the exotic, and brings another aspect to the tale.
Extra explanations are not necessary, you just have to feel where you are in your mind.
A story I've written was set in Japan and I received feedback from an ex-pat living there (I think he was American), who said my description of the place was so accurate he thought I must have lived there for some time.
I've never been there, but I'm sure I soon will.
Hope this helped and good luck with your story.

 

[TheEarl]

Adreina: Go for it. If you can capture the essence of that country and transport the reader there by a literary tactic more subtle than a couple of cliches, then you will add something to your story.

Read Shogun by James Clavell. Yes, I know it's a long book. Just read it and tell me you didn't find yourself in Medieval Japan.

The Earl

 

[pop_54]

Hi

Can't add much but, go for it Adreina, most folks foreign to the country won't know any different, and most folks who live there will forgive you small errors.

Oh and by the way MG a nude av of you wouldn't offend me luv, Ahem.

pops................

 

[wildsweetone]

thoughts and my opinions...

I didn't murder anyone when i wrote 'Lifeless' (at least I don't remember murdering anyone)... I think I did an okay job with the story though

I haven't been in a threesome... though I think I've managed to do a little justice to the act.

By all means use research to boost your knowledge, but really, it doesn't take much knowledge to 'fool' your readers. A little bit, goes a long way.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Andreina,

Okay, the vote is unanimous in favor of you writing the story (and with the Oxford UK results being combined with early returns from here in Dallas, it's at least 2-0 for nude AV's of MathGirl and Svenskaflicka.)

TheEarl gets the "wimp of the week" award for not voting, but he's young and did make an excellent, on-topic, suggestion that you read "Shogun" so I recommend probation instead of capital punishment. IMHO, Clavell did a remarkable job of presenting settings and events totally unfailure to most readers while keeping the story moving right into the best-seller lists and then movie rights negotiations.

Rumple Foreskin