I'm writing a modern day romance, but I'm having major issues with location. The story takes place mostly in Turkey. It's a story about a thirty two year old woman married to a public figure. She plans a vacation to Turkey, where they went on their honeymoon, but he ends up having to stay in America for some reason, (still working the details on that out). She decides to cancel the vacation, but either the airlines or something of the sort wont allow her to cancel and her husband insists she go alone, regardless that it's not only her birthday, but their fourteenth anniversary. (There are reasons behind this that would take too long to mention.) So she goes to Turkey by herself. She's at a luxury resort someplace or other. So the issue is, where? I've done research on luxury resorts all around Turkey as well as the international airlines. Also best means of transport and tons of geological research. So I know I can figure out getting to and from the resort, but I'm not sure about copyright. Lets say I use the Iksir Resort Town Hotel, which fits what I want the resort to be, can I avoid copyright in some way while using that resort? But I'd much rather create a fantasy resort that fits my story, issue is, can I just pick a spot in Turkey and slap it there, ignoring existing buildings and such? Or am I thinking way too far into this and come up with less detail about location?
Think creating your own resort is a better idea. I doubt using the name of a hotel there will get you into trouble, but it's more interesting when you use your own. Plus if you use a real one, then you have to research where exactly it lies, what it looks like from the outside and inside and whatever else you make a reference to in your book. If you do make your own hotel, you don't really need to explain EXACTLY where it is. You could just state the area or resort it's in. Hope this helps
I think some of the places I've read about exist. I also think some of them don't. However, I've never checked whether they existed or not. The objective is to make the reader feel the place as real. If you can do that with a completely imaginary place, there's no reason to use a real one. However, basing the imaginary one in you own real experiences will help you create that feeling of reality. So, using real places is essentially just a tool. Its cost is the lost freedom so use it only if needed.
It's not like you need to say it's on "Such and such street". You can just say that she goes to the resort, and then talk about her going to other places. There probably won't be too many people using it as a travel guide for Turkey.
I read this somewhere but I can't seem to find it again. But I read that in the book The Stand Stephen King pretty much made up Boulder, Colorado. He kept the name, the state, and location but everything else was fictional. Though perhaps this was a different city from a different book that I am thinking of. While maybe not the best author to take example of but he has also pretty much recreated Maine itself. Most of his stories takes place in that area but the towns and cities are fictional. Feel free to make up whatever you need for a fictional city/resort/whatever. Your a fiction writer, take advantage of it. If you want Cuba to be the 51st State in the US for no apparent reason then go ahead. Well maybe. I dunno.
That's nothing to what Dan Browne did to Paris Lots of my favourite novels take place in real places, but invent hotels and sometimes take liberty with the geography; Sally Vickers Mr. Golightly's Holiday even has a note at the end outlining some of those liberties. A real sense of place is something that lots of people like about novels. We recently read Rosie: Note to Self in a bookgroup, and the only person who liked it was the person who had lived in the area in which it was set and who liked the descriptions of the place.
Well that is not really an issue. Dan Brown uses real locations all the time. I believe D.J McHale, and Stephanie Myer do so too, so it shouldn't be an issue
I have lived in Greece, I bet it is similar to Turkey. The beach resorts tend to be similar, just look over a few and pick and choose the highlights you want in your resort. Find a name similar to the real ones. I know people that look for mistakes when they know the area. If you include a real place they will expect the neighborhood to be described as it is. Just a hint, you might include how crazy traffic is. It was crazy in Greece, so I bet it is in Turkey too.
using real locations, hotels, and such is not a copyright issue in any way... and it's done all the time... you only have to be careful not to malign the hotel/whatever in any way and thus put yourself at risk for being sued... you can also use a real country/city/town and make up all the rest... that, too, is done all the time...
