Fictional location
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Fictional locations are places that exist only in
They may also be used for technical reasons in actual reality for use in the development of specifications, such as the fictional country of
Fictional locations vary greatly in their size. Very small places like a single room are kept out of the umbrella of fictional locations by convention, as are most single buildings.
A fictional location can be the size of a university (
In a larger scale, occasionally the term
Locating a story
Within narrative prose, providing a believable location can be greatly enhanced by the provision of maps and other illustrations.
In an online article on writing Dawn Arkin writes about the importance of location to the author's art:
Setting has become a very important part of most novels. Creating a fictional location has many advantages for the writer. You get to name the town, streets, businesses, schools, etc. Everything inside your town is under your control.
— Dawn Arkin, What Should Your Story's Setting Be?, EzineArticles, 7 September 2006
Maps are an immediate necessity for some works, as they do not take place on Earth. Writers need working maps to keep straight at a glance whether the castle is north or south of the river, and how long it takes to get between valleys. This can be very helpful in preventing snags when dealing directly with fictional geography.
Authors are as forgetful and absent-minded as the lesser breeds of humankind, and a simple precaution like taking a moment to sketch out a map helps prevent such errors and inconsistencies (upon which eagle-eyed readers are bound to swoop with gleeful cries, thereafter sitting down to write nasty letters to the poor author).
—Imaginary Worlds: the Art of Fantasy, New York: Ballantine Books, 1973
Sometimes an actual geographic corner is used as a model for "getting it right", and identifying these can become a game for readers. Authors may turn an island into a continent or vice versa, rotate orientation, or combine two similar locales to get the best (for the story) of both.
See also
- Fictitious telephone number
- Fictional universe
- List of fictional locations
- List of mythological places
- phantom island
- Category:Fictional locations
Footnotes
- ^ Elsa Neal. "Mapping a fictional location". Fiction Writing Site. Retrieved 2007-01-05.
References
- ISBN 0-345-27399-0—includes science fiction and mainstream maps, as well as maps imagined only for their own sake, lacking any literary connection.
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