I'm writing a chick-lit book which one day, I plan on editing, and sending to agents etc. I'm mainly doing NaNo because a) it's fun, and b) I never finish what I begin, and this is a fantastic get-arse-into-gear opportunity to take part in. I can't wait!
The only thing I'm a bit unsure of is the following. Yes, it may sound silly, but with regards to the earlier post about cities - is having a made-up city in a chick-lit novel a bad thing?
My book is chick-lit though on the supernatural side. It focuses on a girl who works for the rather unexciting local newspaper where nothing much happens, and I had planned on using a made-up location for this novel rather than setting it in the usual London or other big city.
But I was told this is a no-no in chick-lit. Yes, it's my story and I can place it where I want to, but I do plan on trying to send this around next year when it's finally edited. The city and its paper play a big part in the story, so I was wondering what people's opinions are on this.
Fictional locations - good thing, or something to avoid?
And do any of you know of any existing chick-lit books where the town is made up? Just curious.
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50,990 / 50,000
Okt 29, 2007 - 19 27
I've never read a chick lit book with a made-up city... but with a supernatural element to the story, I don't see why you couldn't, for example, use a lesser-known real city for the sake of having a familiar name but being able to modify things (ie. the paper) to make it work for your story. Orrrr.... maybe modify the name of a well-known city so that it *sounds* like a real place, but anyone who puts two and two together will realize that it's not? ;)
0 / 50,000
Okt 29, 2007 - 19 44
I'd say nay, in my personal opinion.
If it's going to be some small town, or something like that then, hey, go ahead.
But I wouldn't go with a huge city, if that's what you have in mind. I find that if you use a big, well-known city like New-York, then it makes the story seem more real.
But I say if you want to use an imaginary city, then go ahead. If it's something you want to do, you'll never know if it would work until you tried.
5,072 / 50,000
Okt 29, 2007 - 20 42
Well, in my story, I never even planned to mention the place it took place in just so it can be like any city, USA. If you feel like you need to make up the city, I say go for it, but I do agree if it's a big city, it may be better to use a real place like New York.
50,695 / 50,000
Okt 30, 2007 - 05 37
I think you need to specify the setting, even if it's very vague or loosly based on an actual city.
I wrote my first book without specifying the city. It was a combo of the city I lived in and the city I grew up in, and never mention the name. But, when I gave it to my critique group to read, that was the first thing that came up. "Where is this set?" I didn't get it, because it really had nothing to do with the story, but it really bugged them not knowing. So, I ultimately picked the city I lived in, but used a lesser known neighborhood and just built it up in the story (this neighborhood is kind of hum-drum, but I gave it loft condos and cool shops, etc.) It ended up working really well.