Hi there, I was wondering if it's suitable to use real addresses when writing. My character has to text his friend and give him the full address where a party is going to be held. It's unlikley to make him talk in a generic way, let's say Asby & Sacramento corner... as his mate would never find the right place. I guess there are thousands of tricks to avoid full address but I can't think of any. :redface:
It's fine to use addresses though I'm not quite sure what you mean by "suitable." Are you worried about people getting mad for using their addresses or do you just not want to use them? If you want, you can avoid addresses if you need to. I have seen similar cases when writers handle scenarios with money. Let's say a character pays for lunch. It could be written as follows: In this case, the amount of money isn't involved at all. Similarly, you can find creative ways to not use addresses. I can think of a few ways of getting around the issue, but I'll you think about it and come up with your own creative solution. If you really want, you can PM me and I'll discuss my ideas with you. There could be a problem depending on the point of view. Something like this might be harder to pull off when using a first person point of view because the reader can see what's going on inside the character's head.
I can't think of any possible reason not to, then again I'm not really thinking very hard right now. Personally, however, I often use the city I was raised in (Sacramento, Ca) as the place where the story resides. I'm always talking about specific spots that you only really know if you're from here. If nothing else it allows me to better describe the area and gives any locals a bit of the old warm and fuzzies. Sorry, I think I'm rambling. I don't think it matters if you use real addresses, but then again I don't know for sure. Maybe there is an unwritten rule or it is written down somewhere and no one have given me the pamphlet yet.
Yes, I'm wondering if I say for example: she lives in 3456 Telegraph Ave. If the real people who live there could think it's a problem... I think for the same reason telephone numbers always begin with 555...
I don't think they would have a problem. Many numbers and street names are repeated in addresses, so I don't see it as a problem.
Why would you need to use a real address, when there are real sounding addresses? What is the advantage to using a real address as opposed to a made up one? Many writers use real neighborhoods, but rarely specific addresses that really exist, especially a residential address. It would be simple enough in a town, if you're using a real town or city, to use a street that exists, but say it only runs 2300s to 4800s, you could use someting in the 1800s. Or even an address inbetween. Say a 2348 exists, and the next house was 2352, then use 2350 for the street address. While there may be very chance of a down side to the situation, what if readers do for example show up at a certain address, thinking the house listed is a 'party place'? Why invite potential reprecussions when it isn't necessary? Just my two cents. Terry
Couldn't you just say... "After Bob texted Jay the address of the party, he headed there himself." It's a possibility among the many others... If you insist, mix and match. If you know someone who's house number is 1298, and another someone who lives on Stealer Street, take the number + the street name...? Another possibility among the many others
it's not a good idea to use real addresses, unless they're of known businesses, or restaurants and such that you're referring to... for private residences, you could be annoying the people who actually live there, if you do that... and it's so easy to not do it, so why would you?... if all you feel you have to use the real street name, just use a number that doesn't exist on it [a much lower or higher one], to be on the safe side...
Why use real address to begin with? You could easily make something up. If I found my address in some book I was reading I would be a little annoyed. Especially if crazed fans thought it would be fun to show up. Just make up addresses and maybe check if they actualy exist. or you could throw in some random letter. 14b08 Cherry Street
In The Producers they used the real address of one of the executives on the movie. I doubt he still lives there, so I don't see a problem with it. Even if you make one up, it could exist and you just don't know it.
I don't know how easy it is to check on addresses (if they exist) in other countries, but in the USA, using the USPS website it is fairly easy. Terry
I usually just make up addresses when I write stuff. I will usually scope out an area that I am planning on describing, much like the way I read Mayer did for Twilight, and then I check out the neighborhood I plan to use. I make up street names and numbers for that neighborhood. I google everything to make sure I'm not using someone's actual physical address, as we know fans can be a bit unpredictable in these cases, should it turn out to be a best seller. As you can only hope.
it depends, i don;t knwo how things are in the US but in England many cities have roads of the same name so the address could be any one of these, after all if you are texting a friend an address they will probably already know what citi it is in and i can't think of a single city i have visited which hasn't had a road called church street house names or particular buildings are a re bit more problematic, and even naming cities can cause issues, look at the example of the crazed teenage girls who mobbed the principal of Forks high school just becuase stephanie meyer used that as the setting for the dire pile of dirge that is twilight
