posted
When writing character back stories (whether or not they ever come up in the actual story), do you prefer your characters be from actual towns that actually exist, or made up places you can change and mold to suit your needs?
Here’s an example. For one character I’m working on, some events that happened to him at 12 or 13 years old are important to the story, so I need to work them out, and maybe even reveal them within the text. I want him to have grown up in an apartment complex near the downtown area of a large city somewhere in the United States, near enough to everything that he could walk, ride his bike, or take the bus down to the main library branch where he spends large amounts of time, and where the important things start to happen. My problem is that although my initial inclination was for that city to be Phoenix, Arizona, I don’t think that the downtown area of Phoenix is safe enough for a 12 year old to be wandering around it alone. In fact, I don’t know of any big city (except perhaps Salt Lake City) where I (or my character’s parents) would feel comfortable letting him go back and forth around by himself, nor do I know if any of the cities I have been considering actually have the large central library branch that I need.
I thought about making up a town, which I have done for other characters, but that only really works when it’s a small town; there are only so many big cities in this country, and if I make one up then not only is the reader going to realize that I did so, but I will also have to explain to them that it even is a big city, since they won’t otherwise know anything about it.
Any thoughts? Would you recommend I make up a city anyway, take a real city and just describe it as if it were the city I want even if it really isn’t (which you could more easily do if the story wasn’t set in the present day, which mine is), or keep looking for a real town that would fit? (Anybody know of such a city?)
posted
Having grown up in San Diego, and spending many a summer in Arizona (Phoenix and Mayer) and Cali (Sacramento, Grass Valley and San Diego), I feel fairly confident in saying that although his parents might not feel the most comfortalbe, that doesn't mean that he won't be doing it. There are lots of kids raised all over the place, including NYC, who seem to get along fine, even at early ages. There may be areas which are definate no-no's, but lets face it the kid will most likely do lots of stuff that the parents might never know about anyway... so, where you are placing this kid isn't going to be as much of an issue for the senario that you have set up for us. - basically, as long as his parents know where he is suppose to be, you should be fine. Maybe you can add a part about him calling in every day at a specific time. Pretty much anyone will be able to understand that.
The other thing to keep in mind is what time period is the story being placed in -- I'm not talking history here, I'm talking about how old is he, and is he 15 in our today, or was he growing up in the 80's or 90's? this will affect some of what is going on in your story - it will certainly affect the neighborhoods and what areas people who grew up there feel are safe.
The final thing to keep in mind is simply, other than you want it safe for him to be able to get to and from the library, what other issues are you planning on presenting? If the obstacles which you are implying as happening don't come along until he is much older, that should be taken into account - and certainly when that would have put him, as time changes so many things.
Phoenix is a very nice area, and I certainly wouldn't be worried about my pre-teen running around (though I would hope that their radius from home wouldn't be more than a few miles in any direction). The only real issue there is the heat. I have driven through SLC, and wasn't impressed, but most of that was simply because the freeways were being worked on and it seemed that no one in the stores along the way knew how to get back on the 80, as we detoured without good signs indicating where we were going.
The other item was the question of real vs. imaginary. I would say it is up to you. There are some authors that I have seen who do a great job with their imaginary towns (situated amongst real cities on a map) and if one knows the general area, can often feel they have been there - though obviously not. I have also seen authors who don't have a good enough feel for the area they are working with, and someone who has lived there can find all kinds of faults, including streets that don't connect (if the author was that specific) or with where the town is located, as one who actually lives there might call connecting suburbs by names other than what is on the map.
posted
Why don't you make this an urban kid? Maybe his parents don't have any choice in where they live. Maybe the parents count on the kid spending several hours at the library every day until they get home from work.
If you want this to be a middle class white kid, then I don't think a fictional city will solve your problem. I think what you need is a fictional support system. Give the kid a good reason and the means to be downtown. For example, maybe he is on a city-wide Academic Challenge team, and his team meets at the main library. The team would provide enough security that all the parents would feel safe letting their kids go on their own.
FWIW here in Cleveland we do have a lot of well-to-do people living in or near downtown. But they are generally Young, Urban Professionals. The minute they get married and have kids they flee to the suburbs and they never look back.
posted
All good comments, and I'll add one more. If your story is set in the United States now or in the near future, you shouldn't make up a big city. Go with a city that exists, and go with one you know. There's no harm in picking the city you grew up in/near. I use St. Louis all the time because I know it. You mentioned Salt Lake City. Use it, I would love to hear about the city from the point of view of someone who actually lived there. And actually living there means sooo much more than simply having visited. There's a sense of pride and loyalty about your hometown that you'll never duplicate anywhere else.
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I made up a small town in New Jersey, because I wanted the main character to live in a shore town that combined Victoriana with a strip of casinos and clubs. There are two towns that individually fit the bill at the Jersey shore -- Cape May, which is Victorian and quaint and Atlantic City. I didn't want him shuttling between the two, so I just merged them and created my own. It simply worked better logistically, and isn't so outlandish (i.e., making up a shore town in Indiana) that it wouldn't be realistic to readers.
Posts: 338 | Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
A possibility along the lines of Hildy's suggestion might be to do what Sue Grafton has done for her mystery series: take a city that already exists (Santa Barbara, California) and give it another name (so no one from Santa Barbara can say you got it wrong. After all, isn't Batman's Gotham City just a renamed New York?
Tell us the name of the city you are best acquainted with, and we can suggest an alternate name for it. (Though, if you want Salt Lake City, I'd just go with that name, if I were you. With the new light rail system, the main branch of the Salt Lake City library is very easy to get to, by the way.)
posted
I agree with Kathleen's renaming suggestion. Another question, When does the story take place? Is it a Sci-Fi story that takes place 50+ years in the future? If it does, you can change almost anything you want to. If it's for backstory, I think that you can leave the name out if you want to. You can change the details later if it ends up in the story.
Posts: 198 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
Washington D.C. used to be the murder Capitol of the nation (it might still be, for all I know) but that doesn't mean that there were no relatively safe neighborhoods in the downtown area. I have to admit that I have a higher "danger threshhold" than most humans, but the danger in large downtown areas isn't general, it tends to concentrate in particular areas. Even a few blocks away from "the bad area" there will be active neighborhood watches with close ties to the police (or other organizations in some cities).
To answer your question in a more general sense, I think that if you want to set your story in this world (or a very close parallel world), you shouldn't make up major points of reference. Part of the reason Batman lives in Gotham and Superman lives in Metropolis is because the NYC in our world doesn't have superheroes running around.
If the story simply can't be told using a "real world" setting, then don't try to force it into a real world setting.
posted
Thanks for all the comments. What I gather from what you’re all saying is that I can realistically use just about any big city for this, since they’re all going to have kids in the situation I mentioned. Someone also said that I need to be prepared to face what he is going to turn out like if I do, and not to write him as a middle class white guy.
The other day I made the decision to just dump the adult part of this story, and focus entirely on what happened to my characters as kids, since that turned out to be much more interesting then everything else anyway. I also think I’ll just go ahead and use Phoenix for the location. Also, since nothing SFish happens in this story, it’s just going to be a real world modern day type setup. I think I can get away with just describing the Phoenix public library however I need it to be, even if it isn’t actually like that (or doesn’t exist).
Now another question (maybe I should start another thread for this). I’m going to rewrite just about everything I’ve already written for this story, since it’s essentially a different story then the one I first started out with, but also because I want to try to write Kio (the character I was asking about) much more realistically this time around. Kio is three-fourths Japanese, but has lived in the Phoenix his entire life. The reason he has lived in the US his whole life is that I don’t feel entirely confident writing someone who is actually Japanese right now. It’s a crutch, I know, but I thought it would work this time around. However, I’m not going to be able to do that with my newfound realization that Kio has to be somewhat of an urban kid, which is something I have never written before. Any advice? Should I seek out Novels with similar characters, or get nonfiction stuff and try to learn enough about the topics in question to write it good? Or am I making too big a deal out of the whole thing, thinking that the mind of a Japanese boy (or a city boy) is going to be significantly different from the mind of a purely American boy in the same situation?
That way, you can base it on a city you know well, but take certain liberties (expand the library, for instance, from a closet to a warehouse). You can write freely, since no-one can contradict you, because they're not entirely sure which city you're writing about.
Unless, of course, Billy notices the Statue of Liberty or Big Ben or somesuch on the way to school. That might kinda put a hole in your ship...
posted
He's your character, so you can do as you please. Personally, I prefer lots of research, so I would seek out at least one book or movie about an urban kid. I would also set it in a real city, and research some relevant details.
FWIW I'm a fan of the Milan Jacovich mystery series by Les Roberts. All the stories are set in Cleveland, many right in my neighborhood. Roberts uses a mix of real and made-up details about Cleveland. When something good happens, like Milan meets a beautiful woman in a restaurant Roberts uses a real restaurant in a real neighborhood. When something bad happens, like Milan discovers an art gallery is smuggling drugs, he uses a fake art gallery on a ficticious street.
You could do the same thing. Pick a city that has a library adequate for your needs. Go to that city's homepage to learn a few landmarks. Learn some of the major streets on Mapquest. While you're there, you might even look at the ariel photo of the neighborhood (you did know that MapQuest could do that, didn't you?). Look for parks, playgrounds and schools in the neighborhood. These might be other useful hangouts.
quote:He's your character, so you can do as you please.
True, but I'm trying to avoid do-as-I-pleaseing myself into a really sucky novel, such as one in which the Japanese city kid feels and sounds just like a middle class white boy to the extent that readers notice something's not right.
quote:The other day I made the decision to just dump the adult part of this story, and focus entirely on what happened to my characters as kids, since that turned out to be much more interesting then everything else anyway. I also think I’ll just go ahead and use Phoenix for the location. Also, since nothing SFish happens in this story, it’s just going to be a real world modern day type setup. I think I can get away with just describing the Phoenix public library however I need it to be, even if it isn’t actually like that (or doesn’t exist).
In that case, I would suggest that you might base it on Phoenix, but name the city something that you come up with.
quote:The reason he has lived in the US his whole life is that I don’t feel entirely confident writing someone who is actually Japanese right now. It’s a crutch, I know, but I thought it would work this time around. One thing for you to keep in mind is that he does have parents, and at least one of his parents probably grew up very much in the Japanese culture, so that would be good to address to some level. [quote] However, I’m not going to be able to do that with my newfound realization that Kio has to be somewhat of an urban kid, which is something I have never written before. Any advice?
ok… what made you realize that he has to be urban? Other than what you told us already? And what would you feel comfy with?
quote: Should I seek out Novels with similar characters, or get nonfiction stuff and try to learn enough about the topics in question to write it good? Or am I making too big a deal out of the whole thing, thinking that the mind of a Japanese boy (or a city boy) is going to be significantly different from the mind of a purely American boy in the same situation?
There will definitely be differences, and probably quite a few if you are an American boy who grew up in the country. – there should be some situations for him that you would never find yourself in, just because he is ¾ Japanese – unless you are going with the idea that his parents were both born and raised in America to be Americans… but then the grandparents would have different views that he would learn about and be privy to, even if he doesn’t understand them.
Movies would be a good idea, though off the top of my head I can’t think of any that are must sees for this. Make sure that you study up on geography, and even cultural items for Phoenix (or whatever city you choose). You really should read books like “the art of war” which is about Japanese culture, even if you tone down that part of his heritage. And probably pick up a phrase book, or even look for pages on the net, which are Japanese phrases. I’m going to guess that you will know the English language well enough for your child stars.
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Wait a second here...do you actually know anything personally about a)living in Phoenix b)growing up as a Japanese kid in urban America?
If not, then why are you trying to write about this character, and what makes you think you're going to be able to do so?
P.S. Sun-Tzu's Art of War is a Chinese classic. I think that the Japanese classic would be Miyamoto Musashi's Book of Five Rings. Sun-Tzu's book is more a general work of political philosophy, Miyamoto Musashi concentrates on the swordsman's philosophy and code of the warrior. Sun-Tzu's work is clearly a work of Chinese philosophy, and has only a little that is culturally specific. Miyamoto Musashi's book is something of a seminal text expressing and influencing the ideals of Japanese culture into the modern age.
quote: Wait a second here...do you actually know anything personally about a)living in Phoenix b)growing up as a Japanese kid in urban America?
If not, then why are you trying to write about this character, and what makes you think you're going to be able to do so?
I myself grew up the middle class white boy that Kio definitely isn’t. I know nothing of growing up in the heart of a big city, nor have I ever experienced any real Japanese culture. I didn’t spend my after school hours immersed in books in the library basement; I cannot recite three hundred “walks into a bar” jokes from memory. I don’t know the correct usage of #2 drywall paint (because my parents do not own a hardware store). I don’t have a self-created barrier to achieving close social connections, and I do not fear that following my visions will disappoint my parents’ plan for my life. I am not an anthropologist. I do not dream of mountain lakes, nor do I paint pictures of old fishing boats for my bedroom walls. I of myself am nothing like this boy Akio Akabashi. Why do I write of him? Because I care! Because I know him. Because I wake up in the morning wondering whether Kio got the cash registers installed at the store or not. Because he has grasped me by the throat and will not let me go until I have told this story; his story. Because deep down inside, no matter how different we are, Kio has in him a part of me, and I a part of him. Because I created him, and his story is therefore also my story. I write because I care.
Do I think I am going to be able to write him realistically? I don’t know. The people on this forum (you included) have been a tremendous help, in both giving me advice, and (with the single exception of your last post) self confidence. Do I know anything personally about growing up as a Japanese kid un urban America? No, but OSC probably doesn’t know anything personally about growing up a starving orphan on the streets of Rotterdam in that crazy psycho futuristic world of his, but he made us all believe he did. We believed, and we cared. A lot. I haven’t cared about a character that much in any book since, not until Kio walked into my head. I care about Kio, and I want to make you care, and I think and I hope and I pray that if I learn enough and try enough and rewrite enough I’ll be able to do it. That is after all what this whole writing thing is all about, isn’t it?
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This is my own personal bias, so take it for what it is worth.
If you are going to use an existing geographical location and name it by its true name, be as correct as you can be. If you are going to make a place up, make up a name as well.
Depending on how large and well-known a city you use, if you use the name of a real city and then make up all the geography, only a few or very many people will know that you made it up. Most of them won't care. But then there are people like myself. If I am reading a story (short story or novel, it doesn't matter) and I know the city or area being written about and the writer gets the geography wrong, it drives me up a wall. Sometimes the irritation I feel is so intense that I will not continue reading.
As an example, in one of his novels - I think it was The Great and Secret Show, but I'm not sure - Clive Barker used Simi Valley, CA as a location. Well, I grew up in Simi Valley, CA, and he got the geography all wrong. I never did finish the book. I just couldn't do it.
On the other hand, I just recently finished reading Earthquake Weather, by Tim Powers. Part of this novel takes place in and around Bellflower, CA, close to where I lived for four and a half years. In fact, some of the action takes place on Rosecrans Ave., in that city. When I lived there, I lived about a block off Rosecrans and just on the other side of the river from Bellflower, and I worked at a discount store - which will remain nameless - on Rosecrans in Bellflower. So, you see, I know the area rather well. Apparently Powers did his research really well, because he got his geography (street names and where they intersect and such) close enough to correct that I could picture in my mind the area where the action was taking place.
I suppose, as I said, most readers don't care about this one way or the other about this. But there are those of us who do care, do notice, and have our enjoyment of the story affected by such accuracy or lack of it.
Yeah, I know, it's probably just my obssessive-compulsiveness showing, but it is a factor in my enjoyment of the work in question.
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