Editing '08 right now.  Been tweeting it under #projectmana.

WriteRoom

2282 words so far and the full prologue is up on my profile.  Read it if you like, but you will be lost:  http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/211036

I'm doing it again.  I'll be working on the second book in my series.  Look me up, I'm Cooper3.  The synopsis is on there all ready.

On top of my head, The Catcher in The Rye by J.D. Salinger

Last year this book came out (can't remember the name), something to do with a library and a bookshelf for the cover with a male silhouette at the bottom, and on iTunes it came out with a companion music soundtrack to the book.  Is this something new or are books getting the same treatment to movies with their soundtracks?  The idea came up when I was outlining my book last night.

I apologize if there's already a thread like this on here. I looked for one and didn't see one, but I suck at looking. >>;

Basically, my question is this: You've got an awesome idea for a story! Now how the heck do you figure out where to put it? What things do you need to take into consideration when trying to pick a setting for a story you'd actually like to see published?

Personally, I'm working on my novel and it sort of grew out of something less serious, originally, that was a for fun thing set around the area I'm currently attending College in, which would be one of the suburbs between Milwaukee and Chicago. I was planning on the majority of the story taking place in these suburbs, and then in Chicago itself, with one trip to Milwaukee as well.

Here's the issue, though. Now that I'm looking to make this something serious and potentially try to publish this, Chicago is sort of Jim's turf, which I never even really thought about before. Jim's teacher told him not to set his story in Kansas City because it was too close to LKH's turf. So he picked Chicago.

By that logic, should I try to set up camp elsewhere rather than on already claimed turf? Or is it okay as long as the stories are different enough? What do you guys think. Is it okay for stories to have setting overlap in a similar genre as long as they are considerably different spins on the genre? If not, what will Urban Fantasy do when all the major Urban areas are claimed, so to speak?

I figured I'd pose this question here to see if anyone else has a similar issue while I decide if I should tweak my story and move it to the Twin Cities, closer to where I was born, or not. I don't think anyone's claimed that yet.

I ran into the same problem about four months ago when I came up with a new novel idea concerning where to put it.  One of the things I learned about writing fiction is write what you know, so I applied it in all three areas and let my imagination do the work.  For my Nano novel (click on my signature link to read what I'm talking about), I wanted to set it in a mountain tourist community with a ski resort and ample distance from Area 51 when my MCs get sent there.  With that I chose Big Bear Lake, CA because (1) it has been my hometown since I was five and (2) I know how the city works in panic during the Old Fires of 2005.  Everything else for setting I have to make up and create on the whim.

I don't think there is a problem using a setting another author used.  You just have to put the feelings of the place differently and in your own words.

This is exactly what I was looking for.  The totems are their guides, sort of their alter egos, family ancestors, and spirits created from their personal experiences.  They have control over their magic and teach things that don't require it, it tends to make people wake up and like "listen to themselves".  I had an idea of a criminal inmate who turns into a Terran 10 months after the event and listening to two foot tall tarantula with Old World jewelry saying, "i am so disappointed in you.  Your ancestors have turned three times in their grave for what you have done" and eventually cure his wickedness.

But you forgot one thing: what about all the other species and cultures of the galaxy?  I have an idea of a galactic government run by a collective council, but this sort of thing does not reach the media for the next two years (Summer of 2014).