Techniques to avoid having to mention place names?

[jsmiam]

How about counties? Jackson county. There are 24 of them in the US. Washington county is the most common name, 31 of them. But there was a B movie about Jackson county jail, none about Washington county jail. Clearly Jackson county wins. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_most_common_U.S._county_names

If it’s rural or somehow known for something, it’s as good as a city, particularly from the perspective of people from those parts. But even if not, once I was in a conversation with someone in a bar in New York City as a tourist, and (I had to look it up to figure out the name) the person made sure I knew that they were indeed from nearby Westchester county, and NOT from the city. It mattered to them that I knew. So even in a big city, being from a particular county might mean something to some.

It’s a US centric answer, so maybe district, region, province, parish, territory instead of you wanted something else? Just a few thoughts.

 

[Voboy]

I mean, really, this is all quite easy to do. Just look at Stranger Things: Indiana exists, but it contains neither a Roane County nor a Hawkins. "The city" is near enough that it can be driven to, but it's not necessarily Indianapolis.

People do just fine suspending their disbelief, OP. It's not a big deal.

The only times I've been obsessive about the accuracy of things like this is when I've written stories set in 11th/12th-century England. For those tales, I spent a great deal of time with Domesday, OS maps, Streetview, and whatever other sources I could find to make sure there was as much accuracy as I could muster. There are tiny quadrants of England that I've researched so exhaustively that way, that I really don't doubt I could, if plopped down in the middle of the area today, know exactly which direction I need to walk to get to whichever old Domesday town I felt like visiting.

Like @MelissaBaby, I very much enjoy doing that kind of research; it's not a chore for me.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

One advantage I will add to using real places is that some readers really like it. I got this comment on a story:

I enjoyed your story. The location was surprising as that is my home area. I was born and raised in Auburn Indiana many years ago. I will be pulling into the Hampton Inn in Auburn in about 11 days.

Full Disclosure, I've never been anywhere near there, just internet research and the power of Street View.

I get very similar comments from readers nostalgic about the real places I place into my stories. It doesn't matter where I choose, someone always has a comment about the location, from Southern California to Lake Como in Italy.

 

[SimonDoom]

There's nothing wrong with inventing a fictional city name. Authors do that all the time. If you feel a reference to a city name is absolutely necessary, that's what I'd suggest you do.

The alternative is just to find a way not to refer to a city name at all. Most of my stories do not take place in named locations. It's easy to do it that way.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

There's nothing wrong with inventing a fictional city name. Authors do that all the time. If you feel a reference to a city name is absolutely necessary, that's what I'd suggest you do.

Even after all of the versions of the story, I can't find a Stepford anywhere. There may be one, but I haven't found it.

The alternative is just to find a way not to refer to a city name at all. Most of my stories do not take place in named locations. It's easy to do it that way.

That's what I did.

 

[000zing]

Can't see what the motive would be in deliberately casting a tale away from reality.

Bizarre.

 

[SimonDoom]

Can't see what the motive would be in deliberately casting a tale away from reality.

Bizarre.

All fiction does this. That's why they call it fiction. It's made up. Stories make up locations all the time, and they always have. Why does this seem bizarre?

 

[CalBishForNow]

When I can't or don't want to ignore the location entirely, I've handled it in two different ways.

1. I've set stories in real places I have little or no connection to thanks to profuse Googling. I stayed in a memorably squalid hotel last year and set a story there. A sequel was set about two hour's drive away for plot reasons, so I got out Google Maps and spent a lot of time on the Wikipedia pages and local newspaper's website for towns in that area.
2. I've set stories in the region where I live and then deliberately change details. A story called for a specific neighborhood layout. I found it on Google Maps, about a mile from where some friends of mine live. Before finishing the story, I swapped "street" for "drive" and vice versa. For another story, I started with real directions, and then picked a street name that started with the following letter and increased the bus route number by 2. If anyone in my area ever reads my stories, they might seem familiar, but they definitely don't identify specific real people or places.

 

[Britva415]

Can't see what the motive would be in deliberately casting a tale away from reality.

Bizarre.

What kinds of fiction have you written?

This isn’t a zinger based on your profile having zero Literotica stories attached to it. For all I know you have written lots of fiction. I’m just curious about your subject matter (if any) and what it is about your work (if any) such that you have never had occasion to feel tempted to consider using a fictional place name.

Because… it’s clearly a pretty common experience among writers.

And from the reader’s side: What have you read? Do you reject books as “bizarre” when fictional places are employed? I’m not even talking about fantasy or sci-fi or explicitly “unreal” stories. What about contemporary fiction set in the ostensibly real world, does that seem bizarre when a place turns out to be realistic-seeming-but-fictional?

 

[Voboy]

Can't see what the motive would be in deliberately casting a tale away from reality.

Bizarre.

There's a difference between "reality" and "verisimilitude."

I don't even try for the former, and I never have. The latter is quite a bit more satisfying to me, both to read and to write.

 

[YmaOHyd]

Do you reject books as “bizarre” when fictional places are employed?

Yes and: How deep does that go? Does it stop at the level of Pittsburgh? Like, making up a fake Pittsburgh is too much, but making up a fake neighborhood in Pittsburgh is okay? Or is the expectation that Daniel and Katherine have dinner at Texas de Brazil, 240 W Station Square Dr ste d-1, Pittsburgh, PA, which is down the street from the Sheraton on the Three Rivers Heritage Trail?

The places in my stories so far have been based on real places. The cabin in What's Left of Me, I can draw a map of that place and where it sits on the grounds. But that company, the school, the bars and gyms -- those are all fake, because it'd be weird as hell I think to have those two characters patronizing real non-generic places.

 

[Britva415]

is the expectation that Daniel and Katherine have dinner at Texas de Brazil, 240 W Station Square Dr ste d-1, Pittsburgh, PA, which is down the street from the Sheraton on the Three Rivers Heritage Trail?

Yes, and they cannot sit at table 7, because that’s the one the servers use for their sidework and keeping the coffee cream and the butter pats iced.

 

[old_prof]

Yes and: How deep does that go? Does it stop at the level of Pittsburgh? Like, making up a fake Pittsburgh is too much, but making up a fake neighborhood in Pittsburgh is okay? Or is the expectation that Daniel and Katherine have dinner at Texas de Brazil, 240 W Station Square Dr ste d-1, Pittsburgh, PA, which is down the street from the Sheraton on the Three Rivers Heritage Trail?

The places in my stories so far have been based on real places. The cabin in What's Left of Me, I can draw a map of that place and where it sits on the grounds. But that company, the school, the bars and gyms -- those are all fake, because it'd be weird as hell I think to have those two characters patronizing real non-generic places.

I just almost used the Texas De Brazil restaurant in my WIP. I ended dropping the details of that dinner. They just ate a restaurant near the bottom of the funicular.

 

[Writer61]

There's a difference between "reality" and "verisimilitude."

I don't even try for the former, and I never have. The latter is quite a bit more satisfying to me, both to read and to write.

Indeed. By definition, a work of fiction can never be completely real.

The aim should be to make the story credible within the context that the author creates.

 

[Britva415]

Let's say the dialogue calls for something like:

"...and after high school, I left [place] and moved here."

"Oh, did you grow up in [place]? That's where my sister-in-law is from!"

How do I avoid having to fill in something specific for [place] (either by making up some fake city name, or worse, choosing a real one and thus locking the story in geographically).

If you don’t like any of the ways of filling in [place], then the technique you’re looking for is writing the dialogue slightly differently so that there isn’t a must-fill blank for a place name there.

One idea is to not directly quote the dialogue and to instead narrate a description or brief synopsis of the conversation, whereupon they find out they’re from the same place without having to quote someone stating the place’s name.

Another idea is to figure out a different kind of conversation. One which would reveal the same fact (they must be from the same place), but based on some other detail than the place’s name.

Another is to question whether they even have to be from the same place at all.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

Another idea is to figure out a different kind of conversation. One which would reveal the same fact (they must be from the same place), but based on some other detail than the place’s name.

"Oh, you went to Mueller Industrial High School? So did I! We must have been what, five years apart? Did you have Mrs. Munchkin for Economics?"

--Annie

 

[Writer61]

I still don't really understand the OP's reason for wanting the location to be anonymous.

The city itself doesn't matter, just that they're from the same one

If it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter.

thus locking the story in geographically

Why does this matter?

 

[Kumquatqueen]

In such a situation, I might have my MC say something like "I'm from Ohio too! I'm from - " I named my hometown, which no-one from out of state has ever heard of.

My characters tend to be from a city, or somewhere near a named city, or a small place between two cities or in a county... And live somewhere I know well enough to describe a plausible street.

 

[RetroFan]

I tend to write stories set in real places but will make up fictional places from time to time.

For example I invented a Connecticut town called 'Pine Tree Cove' for my science fiction story 'Cindy's Close Encounter', however characters do make reference to Hartford and visit New York City at the end.

In my Australian stories I am probably guilty of referencing the landmarks and scenery a bit too much, but only because they help me set the scene. For example in my stories set in Sydney, the Harbour Bridge and Opera House will inevitably appear.

 

[Writer61]

For example in my stories set in Sydney, the Harbour Bridge and Opera House will inevitably appear.

Well, they are hard to miss when you are in Sydney. If you want to evoke the place for an international audience, what else is there?

EDIT: throw in Uluru, some kangaroos, a koala, and Crocodile Dundee, and you have exhausted most people's image of the country.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I use well known nicknames for cities, City of Angels, El Pueblo, La-La Land, Shakey Town, The Big Orange, all for LA. For New York City, Gotham, The Big Apple, The City That Never Sleeps, Empire City, the Boroughs. Denver, Emerald City, Mile High, 5280, Gateway to the Rockies, Wall Street of the West, Queen City, D-Town, or Little D. For Chicago, Chiberia, Chi Town, Second City (created in the 50s as second fiddle to New York City), Windy City, City by the Lake (Lakeside in an as yet unpublished story), City of Big Shoulders or just Big Shoulders, Paris on the Prairie, and Mud Coast.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

How about counties? Jackson county. There are 24 of them in the US. Washington county is the most common name, 31 of them. But there was a B movie about Jackson county jail, none about Washington county jail. Clearly Jackson county wins.

Are any as famous ... or should I say as infamous as McNairy County?

 

[MillieDynamite]

Well, not if you're a relative of Buford Pusser!

Are any as famous ... or should I say as infamous as McNairy County?

 

[Writer61]

I use well known nicknames for cities, City of Angels, El Pueblo, La-La Land, Shakey Town, The Big Orange, all for LA. For New York City, Gotham, The Big Apple, The City That Never Sleeps, Empire City, the Boroughs. Denver, Emerald City, Mile High, 5280, Gateway to the Rockies, Wall Street of the West, Queen City, D-Town, or Little D. For Chicago, Chiberia, Chi Town, Second City (created in the 50s as second fiddle to New York City), Windy City, City by the Lake (Lakeside in an as yet unpublished story), City of Big Shoulders or just Big Shoulders, Paris on the Prairie, and Mud Coast.

If they are well known, then they do not meet the OP's wish to avoid "locking in geographically."

 

[YmaOHyd]

I think that, if it's going to be a plot point that characters come from the same place, not naming the place is just gonna hang a lampshade on it.