OH MY GOD!!! Setting issues... So so indecisive.

[Heaven Hieghts]

OKAY! I have a great story line, wonderful characters and.... no setting... Well I do, I just need to choose from the many choices I have presented myself with... My my, Im driving myself mad... The setting will, of course, influence the characters occupation and the way they dress. There clothing choice is rather important to me because I draw my characters and I am currently trying to finish a full-body character portrait of Lain Constantine, the main character. The story line is about Lain being confronted with surreal events that correspond with an experiment conducted by a naive scientist. The scientist apparently "stole" something quite significant from what I will refer to as the universe for the sake of limiting spoilers. Apon "stealing" this "thing" a lot of scary, so to speak, things start to happen which is obviously the surreal events that Lain is experiencing. A long the way, the foil, Lonlan Josef Fuze, is there as Lain's supposed guardian I guess you would say, as he has been told to do by some alternate being.

So here is a list of each setting and how it effects the character's occupation.

1. Mining ship in absolute space. Lonlan and Lain are both engineers.

2. An alternate universe, sort of like the sort of setting in which Final Fantasy takes place in. This would be in a desert-ish sort of area in a country named Audia. Lain is a high ranking general that is on a visit to Audia from her country of Currouse to discuss military movement. Lonlan's occupation is undecided.

3. A contemporary setting of Seattle, Washington. Lain's occupation in this setting is not spoken much of thus is not too significant. Lonlan would be involved the experiment, though how has not been determined.

SO! I would like the opinion of those lovely NSGers out there and be light with the critisism please and thank you.

[Holy Cheese and Shoes]

Everyone has their own preferences for what they like to read about, so I'm probably biased...

But 1) would strike me as the best setting to build tension in, as your characters would be isolated, not able to call on anyone for help (or at least, get help quickly)

3) Seems like a good setting if you are going to use surreality, because there will already be an expectation of what is normal and what is not in the reader's mind. Surreal events in a fantasy or sci-fi universe are probably more of a challenge because the reader has to grasp the mechanics of that universe before being able to discern the real and surreal in it.

[Heaven Hieghts]

I was thinking three because I know most about it. Im from Seattle so I could write about it quite easily. My character would be farely isolated but in a mental sense, plus when everything warps into that surreality she would be farely isolated. Yeah, Im thinking 3. Ill save the other settings for other story lines.

[Kagetora]

Seattle because that's the area I live in

[Heaven Hieghts]

Go Seattle! Best City in the world!


Yep, its gonna be Seattle. The first scene will be in the Crumpet Shop at the Pike Place Market!

[Zapher and Om]

I would think that the third choice would be the best location for this as it has set expectations and if you come from Seattle it would be playing to a personal strength. One of the strong suits of this location is the lack of any need to really think of and define the "universe" itself because it already exists and it would be simpler to add irony and twists to the tale. The downsides being of course, the lack of control over what happens and the tendency such stories have to fall into convention and cliche.

I would tend to avoid choices one and two though as many stories set as sci-fi/fantasy in alternate universes and starships tend to fall into even more predictable plots. In bookstores now 8 out of ten sci-ci/fantasy books will have a plot similar to the archetypical stories of Star Wars, Lord of the Rings or Star Trek.

[Heaven Hieghts]

Aye, three it is. I have decided to cut Lonlan Josef Fuze out and add a new character, Gossamer, an "other". Gossamer is kind of like Lain's obsessive stalker and it is always following her around though she doesnt know it. And I have decided to change the first scene, and it wont be a scene really, just Lain's monolog about understanding the true meaning of the word "martyr". I have also decided to change it from thrid person to first, a lot harder to write in but i think it would be better that why.