If your story is set in a realistic setting, where do you set it? The location of the story invokes a different feel. For example, you'd expect a scary story to be set in a small, isolated town. My story involves werewolves and I wanted to set it in a big city but have it near someplace where the werewolves could run in a forest like setting, perhaps near a national park. In my book the characters will inevitable travel, but I need a place to set them up and I want to have them in a city where realistically werewolves would want to reside. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Didn't you just answer your own question? Or are you looking for real-life cities with forest/huge parks nearby?
If you want real places, the first thing that came to my mind after reading this is: New York City Oregon Washington State
Basically I'm looking for a decent sized city that is within driving distance of a large forested area because my character lives in a city but she is a werewolf in a pack so they need to space to run without feeling confined by the urban life. But the city also has to be affordable because my main characters have odd jobs such as mechanics, waitresses, etc. but live together. The city would also have to have a decent sized black population because my main character is black.
Sounds like numerous places in Washington State, Oregon, upstate New York, New Jersey and Idaho etc. I would Google one of these places like this: "Oregon + forest" once you find one look at the surrounding cities and pick one. You can use Google street view to get a grasp on the city and use the forests website (they should have one if it is a state park) to see what it looks like.
