With a great deal of fiction taking place in the contemporary world, it’s only natural that many settings choices are located in urban areas. After all, in our modern world, most of our time is spent in the nerve centers of society, either for work, education, or play. It makes sense that our fiction should mirror real life.
Using an urban setting comes with its own special challenge—the decision whether to go with a real-life location or to build one from the imagination. Choosing a real-life location can help the writer center herself in the character’s world more firmly, especially if the place she has chosen is one she knows intimately.
Naming a specific city or mentioning a well-known landmark also gives readers an immediate sense of place and allows authors to infuse their descriptions with a level of realism that may otherwise be difficult to achieve. Being able to draw on one’s memories to re-create the sights, smells, sounds, tastes, and textures will lead to effective showing, and authenticity will shine through as personalization and fiction collide. Readers familiar with the area will also be drawn in as that feeling of shared experience with the character kicks in more fully, making it easier to identify with the protagonist and care about his or her desires.
Some genres, such as political thrillers, often feature real locations both to convey immediacy and reinforce the idea that the story events could potentially happen in the real world, grabbing readers on a gut level. But there are some drawbacks to choosing a real place. Readers may love to read about somewhere they have visited or even lived, but in order for this to work, the writer must know that location down to its bones. If an author gets some of the details wrong, readers will notice and be pulled out of the story. Some may even grow upset at the author’s lack of research.
Another drawback of using a real setting concerns something authors have no control over: locations change over time. Businesses come and go, and buildings are leased, redesigned, or torn down. Neighborhoods can be revamped or even wiped off the map to make room for an overpass or freeway. So even if one does make sure the descriptions of a particular setting are current at the time of the story’s writing, those locations may not stay that way. As well, readers won’t always know about such changes themselves. People who lived in the area ten years ago may still picture it as it used to be and can become disoriented when the description doesn’t align with their memories. Readers can also bring their own biases into a story. If your character frequents a favorite real-world deli where a reader happened to once get terrible service, the differing opinions can drive an emotional wedge between himself and the character.
Because of the potential potholes that can develop when describing a real-world setting, some choose to fashion an entirely fictional urban location instead. Building a world from scratch means readers will have no personal attachments to it, there will be no biases to contend with, and you can build the setting exactly as you picture it. The downside is that fictional worlds require more elbow grease to successfully render the author’s mental picture into a tangible place that readers can easily visualize. Locations (including cities or countries that are not part of the real world) will prompt readers to wonder what else may be different—the way governments are run, how society functions, gender roles that come into play, and a host of other details. Writers choosing this route need to plan their worlds down to the smallest detail to make them feel as rich and believable as the real one.
When it comes to contemporary settings, often the easiest solution is to meet in the middle by choosing a mixture of both real and imaginary. Selecting a real country or well-known city lays the foundation for how everything works and what readers can expect. Then, by creating a fictional space within the larger setting (a neighborhood, a town, a street, etc.), authors can weave in whatever urban elements best fit the story rather than being hemmed in by actual landmarks and possible reader bias.
Regardless of whether your setting is real or imagined, it is important to include some constants from the everyday so readers can relate to the characters and what they face in their fictional worlds. Even if a setting is something completely new and special, details rooted in the familiar will help orient readers. Small things, such as a man with a cart hawking unheard-of but fragrant kabobs, are still reminiscent of a real-world Polish-sausage street vendor who salts the air with drool-worthy aromas. Likewise, the routines of children heading off to school, of parents meeting up to socialize, and of authority figures patrolling the streets all mirror a reader’s everyday experiences, no matter how fantastical the setting you’re introducing them to. Adding known elements to a new place can lead to a reader’s trust in the author when it becomes clear that the necessary details for even the most unfamiliar of urban locations will be shared.