Almost everything I write takes place in and around my hometown of Tacoma, Washington. Part of that is the familiarity. Part of that is laziness. When it comes to writers, I like the ones who have made their cities part of their mythos. George Pelecanos has DC. James Ellroy has 20th Century Los Angeles. But then again, there's guys like Don Winslow who use locations all over the place. The tricky part is making sure to evoke the area in a way that makes sense to outsiders and rewards locals. I remember my friend Joshua Swainston in Tacoma Pill Junkies put a red light at an intersection that doesn't have one and it took me right out of the story for a moment. I think he changed it in subsequent editions.
> I remember my friend Joshua Swainston in Tacoma Pill Junkies put a red light at an intersection that doesn't have one and it took me right out of the story for a moment.
I tend to make up fictional versions of the city I grew up in so I can take liberties like this. I grew up in Tucson, but rarely do I actually say Tucson in my stories for this exact reason. Also Tucson is as foreign as some fictional town to most people so it's pretty easy to just go with the fictionalized city.
Almost everything I write takes place in and around my hometown of Tacoma, Washington. Part of that is the familiarity. Part of that is laziness. When it comes to writers, I like the ones who have made their cities part of their mythos. George Pelecanos has DC. James Ellroy has 20th Century Los Angeles. But then again, there's guys like Don Winslow who use locations all over the place. The tricky part is making sure to evoke the area in a way that makes sense to outsiders and rewards locals. I remember my friend Joshua Swainston in Tacoma Pill Junkies put a red light at an intersection that doesn't have one and it took me right out of the story for a moment. I think he changed it in subsequent editions.
> I remember my friend Joshua Swainston in Tacoma Pill Junkies put a red light at an intersection that doesn't have one and it took me right out of the story for a moment.
I tend to make up fictional versions of the city I grew up in so I can take liberties like this. I grew up in Tucson, but rarely do I actually say Tucson in my stories for this exact reason. Also Tucson is as foreign as some fictional town to most people so it's pretty easy to just go with the fictionalized city.