I am writing a story where a girl has a few flings with marines. I am not using a real location, its going to be a made up town in a real state. But I am unsure whether I should make up a military instillation or if I should use the one close by to the imaginary town..help?
My opinion is an "all or nothing" approach to this situation. Unless you are trying something artsy, I'd say either do all real locales, or made up ones.
It doesn't matter if you used Morehead City, NC. and Camp Lajeune or Bowling Green, Va and A.P. Hill even DC...provided it's real to the reader. A quick google search of the Marines will give a listing of where they have bases, then just base your story around that. Lejeune is one of the biggest Marine bases on the east coast, by the way.
Heres the thing about that....I am basing it loosely on my teenage years..and I grew up in Jacksonville Nc. Camp Lejeune is where these things originally happened.
I'm thinking that a made up town next to a real base my carry some undercurrents that some readers may think you're trying to tell a real story in a fictional setting. I'd go with either both being real, or both being fictional. The nice thing about fiction, is that you won't have readers saying, "No, I've been there, that is actually on 2nd and Montazuma, not 1st and Okinawa
if you're including real events in your novel, you'd better be sure your nether parts are well covered legally, to keep you from being sued by any of the participants... sounds to me like an appointment with a literary attorney is in order here...
I know exactly what you mean. But I am not actually being factual about the events that happen or any people or places. Its hard to explain. Everyone who will be a player in the book, names and locations changed off course, i have already told about my intentions and that I am embellishing and flat out lying for a majority portion of the book. If/When I finish writing it, Ill be have the manuscript read by people around me and if it seems to be exploitative or whatever, I would consult whomever I needed. But I am no where near that point yet.
