On Writing : When the story asks to change the setting by Chiara Torrisi

Chiara Torrisi

When the story asks to change the setting

The blog post about locations in movies (https://www.stage32.com/blog/coffee-content-making-movie-magic-with-smar...) offers interesting food for thought, sharing a video about Why Your Favorite Movies Fake Their Locations.

It applies to novels too: even if writing doesn't have budget constraints, sometimes authors have to change something about locations to adapt them to the story. It happens often in historical fiction, but not only there.

Have you ever had to alter a real setting to improve storytelling?

Maurice Vaughan

Hi, Chiara Torrisi. I'm not sure I've had to alter a real setting to improve storytelling, but I like to make up towns and places for my scripts, and I did the same thing way back when I wrote a short story called Humpty's Revenge.

Leonardo Ramirez 2

Definitely Chiara Torrisi. I like the idea behind fictional settings so I changed the setting for "Haven of Dante" from Chicago to "Charity Vane". The idea was that the city was a character all its own that prided itself in being good but with a hidden population of the forgotten, that pride had caused the city to deceive itself into thinking it was good.

Chiara Torrisi

Oh I like the idea to turn the city into a character, @Leonardo Ramirez! And it suits perfectly your story, since Dante's poetry is full of allegories. Great idea

Chiara Torrisi

I see, Maurice Vaughan, sometimes real places just feel too limiting. I think it applies especially to stories where mood and atmosphere are fundamental, like horror and mystery.

Maurice Vaughan

You're right, Chiara Torrisi. Sometimes real places feel too limiting. Yeah, it applies especially to stories where mood and atmosphere are fundamental, like Horror and Mystery. Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Adventure too. It's also fun to come up with my own towns, places, companies, products, etc.

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