Do you have to name the state/street/town/etc for a setting or can it be vague/left to interpretation?

I think that if you have a few different towns and roads it will be a lot easier in the end to get it over with and name them. It would be a lot less confusing that way. I don't really see a need to name the streets unless it's relevant -- after all, who really pays attention to what the exact name of the street they're on is? Well, maybe that's just me, because I don't drive or anything, ha.

Maybe for some inspiration, go for a walk and look at some of the street signs, or pull out a street directory. Those things are filled with possibilities, as long as you don't mind using something that's real. Or just pick a random word, so many towns and places have the oddest names...

As the previous poster said, if you have more that one street or town, naming them is helpful for the reader. Main Street is a good name for at least one street, others (at least in the US) are Elm, Park and Eagle. Those seem to pop up quite often in many different towns. The one with the bridge could easily be called Bridge Street. You can find the same thing with town names - Springfield, for example, is a town in a few different states.

Then you can pull the trick of never naming the town the main action takes place in, only naming the surrounding towns on an as-needed basis. That way, you can make the story take place nearly anywhere. It's something a few television shows have done quite well. I don't see why it wouldn't work in a novel as well.

I personally see nothing wrong with naming the town and the important streets. I recently read a book by Fern Michaels which took place in Winchester, Virginia, where I live. She named a few streets and even a couple local businesses. Another author, I believe Rita Mae Brown, wrote several books based in the town of Crozet, VA. My mother and a friend of hers went to Crozet and found certain locations that were exactly as described in the books.

I say, write what you feel works best in your story. If you want to name the town and the important streets, then do so. If there is a legal reason why you can't (and I can't imagine there would be), your agent/editor will point that out and request changes.

I face the same dilemma with my novel. My novel takes place in Chicago, and some of the street names are real and some are fictional. I do feel a little guilty about this, because what if someone checks my work and thinks I'm an idiot? I think it's best if I left out street names altogehter, or just use one street as a main setting and not get too bogged down with maps and directions, shortcuts and alleyways. It's a story, not Google Maps.

If I was the reader I would be satisfied with designations for the roads and I would be willing to overlook that they're not named. For example, "Southbound road", "forest road", "bridged road", etc. As a reader I find street names to be confusing if there are too many of them.

If you are setting it in a real city, such as Chicago, you are more obligated to keep most of the street names and neighborhood connections and locations of major icons in their proper place. (making up a small neighborhood /street for you primary setting would be OK - it is fiction after all - but you would need to keep your fictional geography consistently placed within the actual city)

On the other hand for a completely fictional "small town America" setting, there is no NEED to name every street- but generally the tips to writers are the more specific you can make your writing the better. (but that does not mean you need to write "walking down first avenue he passed Park Street then Washington Street then River Street before turning left on Main and going one block to turn right on Division Avenue to get to Daisy's house.)

This sounds like a world building issue. How much do you need to do before you start writing?

The answer is "enough." Which generally means more than you'll use, and that depends on the length of your story.

I'm in the process of turning a short story into a novel and so I'm having to go back and rethink my settings. Much of the short story took place at this farm. It was enough to know the living room was in the front of the farmhouse, the kitchen in the back, and the bedrooms upstairs, but as a novel, and with a lot more scenes taking place in the farmhouse, I felt the need to draw a floor-plan. Whose bedroom is where? Where is the study? How many steps from the living room to the kitchen? Etc.

While it's useful to have more background information than you end up using--when you know stuff, you write with confidence--you don't need to know every last detail. And you can't, really. For example if you're creating Smalltown USA you might sketch out a few streets, the railroad tracks, the nearest highway, what street in town the shops are located, the general location of the garage and gas station, and a few other major features. Then create some rule for street names, such as E-W streets are numbered and N-S streets are named alphabetically, or perhaps on some theme such as state names or presidents. You figure out the 3 or 4 street names you need to start writing, maybe the name of a store or 2, and fill in the rest as needed.

It isn't possible to think of every little detail in advance. To try to think up bucket loads of detail before you know what you'll need is a bit much.

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As far as using real cities, real neighborhoods, and even real streets--that's possible, but be careful. For my 2007 NaNo effort I had my main character move to real city and rent a room from some people living on a real street. What I carefully checked was that the address did not exist and would probably never exist--the street ended at a small canyon and the address I selected would have to be floating in the air above the canyon.

Have fun writing.

Scotty