Fictional City vs Real City?

So there has been an idea I have been working on for a while, and now I need to figure out the location. Initially what I wrote so far takes on a fictional city...but then I realized; what if I have the setting be a real city? It certainly has an advantage of being easier to visualize.

The plot lines I have in the story most involves around a former special force operator going around the city as a vigilante, and a designer drug maker and associated gang. And there's also other criminals and supernatural phenomena going on.

Is there any particular city that would be suited as a real life City of Adventure, which is what I'm going for? The bigger and populated, the better. It doesn't necessarily has to be an American one, either.

Or would it be better to just stick with fictional city?

edited 22nd Oct '14 4:41:39 PM by dRoy

I'd go with a fictional city, if for no other reason than it is easier to write. I struggle myself with locations and geography of real cities when I'm trying to write a story based in "our" world. So I try to make it deliberately vague as to "where" in those realistic cities things are happening...and, in my opinion, it takes away from the story, makes it weaker.

But if you can study up on a real city that suits the needs of your story and can find out the locations and ins and outs of that place, then I'd recommend doing it. It's difficult, but it will be worth it.

Depending on how the story proceeds, a fictional city is also great to avoid offending anyone.

The story does involve a lot of crimes, so maybe, yeah.

Plus, with a fictional city, you can model it after many real life cities if you want to make something unique.

...Huh, how come I never thought of this? Neat!

Glad you liked the idea!

Both options have their advantages. Choosing a real life city gives you a ready template to build on. You don't really even need to know the city in question that well; writers take artistic liberties with this kind of stuff all the time... even Stephen King rearranged the streets of New York a little even though he has actually lived there. It might also be fun to experiment on how the supernatural affects the city in question.

In the end, however, choosing to create a fully fictional city will offer you more artistic freedom, and since you're working with fantastic elements your readers won't probably even mind too much. With this option you don't need to do as much research, but in turn you need to create everything you'd otherwise have to research.

I would go with the fictional city, since I love the freedom, but it's a personal preference really. Since you're working with supernatural elements, I wouldn't be too worried about offending anyone no matter how crime-ridden your city will end up being.

edited 22nd Oct '14 8:02:18 PM by Paradisesnake

That said, the challenge then becomes where/how to squeeze the fictional city into the real world's geography. For instance when your characters travel to another location and/or if you want to specify a state.

I always go for "real city" in my own work, as I enjoy the research, but if you want it to be more flexible, fictional city works fine. If you want, you can also go into detail about its history, a la Springfield, making it a point of interest in and of itself. This might help since you mentioned the story has a lot of supernatural elements, and you could write those into it. (e.g.: It was founded by an immortal who's still serving on the city council, the red light district was once a haven for succubi, etc.)

You can also go for a real city with the Serial Numbers Filed Off, but with street names or obscure local places intact. That's what I'm doing in my comic.

edited 23rd Oct '14 8:04:53 AM by Wheezy

I've been trying to find a way to write the history of a coastal village as it becomes a port city, but it's difficult because history isn't made by great people doing great things but by the small decisions ordinary guys make every day. So, while it's easy to say "a plague ravaged the village", it's not always so easy to go from that to "the fishermen started living in their boats and ever since have been distrusted by their neighbors on land, forcing them to form the boat-town where they now live". A fictional city may give you ultimate freedom, but basing it on a real city will make the job much easier.

Given the choice I almost always go with fictional cities because it gives me the freedom to have it exactly how I want it. I can create the history I want and can diverge from reality at any point in the story. To avoid being unrealistic I just model the city very closely off a number of real places.

The only exception to this is when I want the story to feel like part of our world in which case I pick a real city.