| I'm headed to New Orleans today for a weekend getaway with the hubs. Of course, me being me, I've scheduled some book research into our itinerary in between gambling, eating way too much and, of course, the alcoholz. While I was researching places to stake out, I got thinking about other cities I'd like to set books in. My last book was in L.A. and San Francisco. The one I'm writing will be in New York. The next one is probably, you guessed it--New Orleans. So this lead me to wonder about cities and urban fantasy. Some authors have nichified cities. Vickie Petterssen has Las Vegas. Jim Butcher has Chicago. Often, the city itself serves as a character in these series. But even if an author doesn't use the same city repeatedly, you better bet choosing a city for a setting is a major consideration. What cities would you like to see show up in the genre and why? |
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There are several. First off, I think Las Vegas is the perfect city for vampires, demons and other UF characters.
Now my list:
San Antonio - great city with lots of culture
Miami - hot city, with lots of nightlife
Tom has it right - San Antonio is a great place. So's Austin - perhaps why I set my books in the Hill Country. (not so urban, but definitely contemporary)
In another vein (pun intended), I'd love to see a small midwest town as a vampire setting. You know, the kind of town where Eddie Haskell is more than just the somewhat creepy kid next door.
Surprised you didn't mention Mr. Strout's NYC. :)
My first novel was set in Miami, decided that it was nice, but I didn't like it. I had a couple in Chicago, but then I found I prefer small towns. Places with interesting people but still relatively tiny compared to the big ones. Like Iowa City. :)
I love Still Life With Crows for its setting (and Penderdast, but for different reasons).
I tend to put my characters in (oft-unnamed) upstate NY cities, since that's where I've spent a good portion of my life.
There's some inherent conflict within the upstate cities, where they aren't NYC but aren't dairy country, that I always thinks makes a good background.
Then again, I can't sell anything, so maybe I'm projecting a bit much.
Or Mr. Mark's Seattle. Or Jackie's Hellified Manhattan. Or...it goes on and on, DMoon.
I'm with Maria, I'm liking the small town settings. Michele Bardley's Broken Heart, OK, really did it for me.
I love Savannah, GA...perfect city for a scary book. Rachel Caine created a small college town in Texas for her YA series, I love the setting. For some reason, it reminds me of my college town Urbana, Illinois.
My current work-on-submission, a vampire novel, is set in a small Tennessee town. So, maria lima, it's not quite midwest, but it's pretty damn close.
My WIP is set in a small Kentucky town similar to where I grew up and I have future UF projects planned for Louisville and Nashville, both place I am very familiar with. Both cities are rich in culture and history, but you almost never see novels about them.
I agree with Leesmiley. My book *shameless plug alert*(due Feb 09 from Juno, called VICIOUS CIRCLE) is set in a suburb of Cleveland which, you guessed it, I grew up near there. I feel that when you're writing such fantastic creatures (witches werewolves vamps and more) the more you can ground it in realism the better. That illustrious and aggregate "THEY" that says everything we must take as gospel says 'write what you know' and setting the story some where I am familiar with is just a natural way to do that in at least one area.
That said, I like to research other places, for reference of 'visits' if nothing else. Fodors books and videos aren't just for rainy days...okay so I'm geeky that way. I need better hobbies. Ideas? WHat do you guys do for research when the city ISN'T one you're familiar with. Do you always travel there? If not what do you do?
Anne Rice already pwned New Orleans, but since she decided to only write about Jesus from now on, you can steal it =)
I just came back from Prague and Budapest...they were really beautiful places.