: Creating a fictional place within an actual city? I am writing a thriller novel set in St. Louis a lot of the important scenes occur at a university. I am familiar with the city because I

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I get that way myself sometimes. I think we all do. I once used a building throughout the whole book, only to discover that my character lived on the tenth floor and most of the tale took place on the ninth and tenth floors of a build that was only eight stories high. I considered tossing the entire book and starting on something new. But then I decided if anybody noticed, they could email me and I would explain how the top two floors fell off in a tornado a few years ago. I could even feign surprise that he hadn't heard about it on the news.

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In say, a historical novel, you insert fictitious characters into real life events. A similar dynamic is at work here; you can insert fictitious "settings" into real life places.

St. Louis is a "place," and a real life one at that. Nevertheless, it will have numerous amenities, restaurants, athletic facilities, universities, and the like.

Some of these kinds of amenities will be "settings" for your novel. Your characters will be fictitious. You need to create the best settings for your characters. You could use "real" ones, but if you don't know them well enough, they will not be the best. So create fictitious ones that you know well because your characters deserve the best. Just make sure that these settings are typical of St. Louis; unless you are dealing with a transplanted New York deli, don't have it serve bagels, New York style.

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I'd say who cares beyond the University students and staff. Most fictions fudge it somehow. I would say it matters if and only if the building in question is instantly recognizable to a general audience. I was once writing a scene that had a chase sequence through the White House grounds and I had a floor of the building in the window next to my word processor, but that's my exception and I only did it because its so Iconic if I got it wrong, someone would point it out. I'm a stickler for details too, but I've found even with fictional places, the location in my head will look nothing like the one in the film.

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I'd replace the existing university myself it gives you a solid location but you can set your own rules.

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My opinion is that it's better not to invent new things unless you need them for your story.

For a thriller genre, as I understand, it is important to be anchored in reality, and the more real places and names you use, the better.

Look at Dan Brown, for example. He takes the most prominent landmarks and adds a layer of fiction to them. And he takes a lot of liberty to "redesign" existing buildings and whole cities that it would create a better story. And, in my opinion, this works. Some people, who are familiar with settings, may scoff: "Of course there is no secret passage there!". But most readers would be more like: "Oh my gosh, there is a secret passage there!"

If Dan Brown invented fictional Louvre, or fictional Vatican for his books, that would have been a completely different stories. I daresay those books might not be selling at all. But by carefully mixing facts and fiction, he achieved a major success.

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