> Obviously setting is one of the elements you use to
help the reader
suspend
> disbelief.You try to convincingly portray the
locales for your story, not
> only physically, geographically, but also the spirit
of a place.What that
> requires varies with the reader..
> local readers will need more to feel that the city
has come to life.A
variety of concerns
> determine how accurately I would portray places in
the story.Lawsuit
> avoidance,protection of the innocent, narrative
necessity coupled with
> ignorance of the available reality, research undone
by fallible memory,my
own
> sense of what is unique about D.C and it's
environs.My stories are not
ones
> that could only be set in D.C. but I want the reader
to to feel that they
are
> set in D.C.The accuracy of the settings in my books
is not arbitrary, it's
the
> product of all these concerns plus others I'm not
aware of,imperfectly
acted
> upon.
Ben, I agree with you on trying to be accurate. Although I
don't know the Washington area well enough to be able to know
how correct you are, I am familiar enough to appreciate
various passages about the Beltway and some areas like
Tyson's Corner. Your books mainly centered in the suburbs
contrast nicely with George Pelecanos' mainly set in the
city.
We touched upon some of this last month when we discussed
Boston. I am a native of Boston and have been was a little
bugged at Dennis Lehane's sometime changinging the geography
of the are to suit his puposes. In his last book he invented
the fictional town of Mystic River so he can still have the
feel of Boston without having to concern himself with the
about the actual details.
Yet, I got a kick in his Darkness, Hold My Hand when Lehane
wrote accurately wrote about the neighborhood I grew up in
with not only the correct names of the streets but even that
of an actual theater and a store. Similarly, I know Mark
Sullivan enjoyed it when, in All the Old Bargains, Leo and
Sam ate at Crisfield's which is a block away from his
apartment. Mark
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