Is it OK to write a book and NOT name the city your character lives in?

[Guest]

Advice/Opinions please: In my novel, I have my character living "someplace warm" in the lower states (I guess). I do not mention city names or towns, but he moves to a few different places all within about 3 hours of each other. It needs to be someplace warm as he lives on the streets for a while, and I didn't want to have to worry about cold weather. I would love to just use the city I live in (where I have knowledge of locations/sights/etc.), however I am from Canada and it's just too cold here.

Is it OK to write a book and NOT name the city your character lives in? The only place I've been to in the states is Phoenix so I could MAYBE use that as my location (as I can at least imagine it), but I use places such as a train bridge and a river in some of my scenes (which I feel are important to the story) and they obviously don't really exist there. I know most of the rivers around PHX and Tucson are dried up, so it's not really credible, and there likely isn't a train bridge in a valley near a residential area. UGG lol. I just don't want readers to call me out on things that aren't believable. Or do I just call it all FICTION and not care if I add in a train bridge?

Sorry I'm rambling. But I guess my main questions are: Do I need to name my cities, and if so, is it okay to add fictional places/objects/locations into non-fictional ones? OR can I make up a fictional city in a real state? How do I get around all of this????

Thanks for any help!

[Josie]

You don't have to name it, no, or you can make one up. But you really should do some research into where you think you're basing it on. "Someplace warm" in the US means wildly different places.

If you go for somewhere near LA you have pleasantly warm beach weather, with a marine layer over the sky for large parts of the morning. If you pick Phoenix, Arizona, prepare your character to roast like a chicken in 110 degree weather.

If they're more in the south or Florida, it's humid as all hell and he'll always be drenched in sweat.

Train tracks and a river is not an uncommon sight, but I would use Google Maps and street view, pick some cities and virtually walk around to get an idea of that is something that wouldn't be seen there at all.

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[Nick]

If you’re looking for someplace warm that’s got plenty of places to move around to within about 3 hours of each other, the East Coast is probably your best bet, anywhere from North Carolina to Florida (North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida). It’s a LOT more densely populated than Arizona, where there’s only 3 major cities with populations anywhere near or over 500,000 in the whole state, that are pretty spaced out with often only tiny towns between them.

I’d also say it’s a good idea to name your location, even if your city/town name is made up (but if it’s a city, regardless of state, everyone remotely familiar with the region will know it’s made up).

[Emily]

I think you could totally make up a place and say something like "20 miles north of [insert real city name]".

Alternatively, Google Street View could be your friend as it would allow you to check out any place with an on-the-ground view.

[Cherise]

You can always make up your own small town near someplace like Phoenix. I did something similar for my first book.

I made up a small town near where I live 'cause it was going to get destroyed anyway lol.

It's like Stephen King has Castle Rock and Haven. It's not uncommon.

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[Auriel]

It's a really interesting question. So far in writing my novel, I've been avoiding naming specific real places, although I'm open to naming them, ficticiously, perhaps.

I'd be nervous about using the real names of places for a couple of reasons. Firstly, my memory of the places is from a brief visit 15 years ago. It's unlikely that I remember very accurately, although looking at photographs online helps to fill in some of the gaps. Mostly I'm going on my feelings of the place.

The more signicficant reason is that it's a fairly small place, and naming it would directly identify various real people, whose situations would be unique to those described ficticiously in the story. That, to me, is not OK. If I keep it vague, even within a larger area, then that link to individuals goes away.

[Anita]

My book is set outside of St Louis but I use fictional town names. I do mention St Louis, but no specific establishment.

[Jackson]

After a large monsoon the dry river beds in Phoenix and Tucson fill up with water. Unless your character needs to catch fish that might do for your river scene.

[Carol]

Dallas, Trinity River, lots of trains, easy to get lost in and just about any direction you take your story could fit in Dallas.

[Patsy]

I make up the names of cities and towns and place them in a state or region. Does it have to be a big town? Could it be a suburb of Atlanta, or Richmond or Santa Fe?

You can look on maps for names you like, like say, Park City or Greystone or Evansdale, Falling Water or Deerfield.

If you do use a state or a landmark, google the name to be sure there isn't an actual Falling Water in South Carolina or wherever.

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[Randy]

Fiction sprinkled in anywhere is totally fine, as long as you're not writing a non fiction book. All that being said, you've got Phoenix/LA/Vegas that kinda meet those requirements in terms of being warm and relatively close. Reno is a place a lot of homeless people like because of it's mild weather, and it has both the train tracks and the river running through the city, near both residential and business neighborhoods.

But yeah, don't be afraid of using fiction as you need it.

[Alan]

I do extensive research of the locales in my stories by downloading topographic maps, driving the streets with Street View, and going to forums and reviews like Trip Advisor.

I may not use any of it, or make changes, but feel that I have better understanding of the environment the characters are moving through.

Sometimes I am surprised by what I find.

I've got a 150-year old map showing the businesses in part of NYC; about 25% were brothels. Never used it, but still amazing.

[Maryann]

The low country for us in the US would be somewhere like South Carolina.

You don’t have to mention the state but it might capture the interest of those who have visited and then you could make a fictional city or town.

You could add elements to the town like the train bridge. It’s not required at all as the reader can use their imagination.

[Sheryl]

You could use a fictitious city in a real state. For rivers and trains, I'd suggest Georgia, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, or Louisianna. The northern ends of these states do get below freezing in the winter, and are hills- mountains.

The southern/costal parts are flatter with more farms and or swamps.

They are hot and humid in the summer, especially the southern ends.

[Monica]

You should name your city. Even if it's a fictional one. Your characters need a home. The reader will always wonder where your character resides. Do the research. It's fun to pick cities and locations where your character interacts with the cities surroundings and unique settings.

My characters have been to countries and states where I have never traveled.

I researched the city's history, and allow my character to experience it. Have fun with it.

[Patrick]

I've got a few WIPs based around the New River Valley in Virginia and West Virginia because I'm originally from there. In writing them, I mention real places, but I also create several fictitious places as well.

The iconic Mayberry, North Carolina of the Andy Griffith Show was done in a similar fashion.

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[Cortney]

Phoenician here! We have dried riverbeds and homeless do live in them. There are cities outside of Phoenix that are still considered to be Phoenix because everything is so spread out, but we are very populated! Mesa, Tempe, Peoria, Glendale, Gilbert, Surprise.

A bridge here is a strip of road that goes over a dried riverbed, so not really a bridge.

But we do have train tracks.