Setting: Canada vs. USA

[SteevO]

Hello everyone. I'm outlining my story, and I have a couple of questions about setting. I'm from the east coast of Canada, and have been here my whole life. I have been to Toronto a lot( Canada's biggest city), but honestly have very little knowledge of the USA. Other than watching tv shows.
Anyhow my question is, if I choose a Canadian city, will it hurt my chances being picked up by a U.S. agent, or deter a big U.S. publisher from being interested in my novel? Would you guys recommend me creating my own city? Neither Canadian or US?
I guess I'm thinking of the old adage "write what you know", and writing from a US city is something I definitely don't know
What do you guys think?
Cheers,
SteevO

[dios4vida]

I say write what you're comfortable with. It won't really matter if you set the story in Canada or the US, as long as your story is compelling and draws the reader in. If you try too hard to place it somewhere you're not familiar with, it'll come across as contrived. But taking all of your knowledge of Canada, you can really bring that setting to life.

The only thing I can see that would deter a US publisher would be if the story was region-specific and Americans wouldn't easily connect with the plot/characters. Write a universally understood story about struggles and failures and successes and it won't matter where it's set.

My last bit of advice would be to not worry too much about agents or publishers at this point. Your job right now is to write the best, most amazing, compelling, thrilling novel you can. The business of publishing can wait until you're polishing the manuscript up. Writing, the creative flexing of your brain, can really be hindered if you worry too much about the business side of it. I'd really suggest to write what's in your heart right now and worry about the rest later.

(See? I told you we don't bite. )

[SteevO]

Thanks again Brenda, you were right, no bite!

Great advice.....I definitely won't be writing about life in Nunavik, northern Quebec, or deep in the heart of the prairies!
SteevO

[polymath]

This question of suitability of Canadian literature for U.S. markets came up recently in my writing community. Margaret Atwood is the Grande Dame of the Canadian literature scene. She identified a dominant creative slant of Canadian literature as writing about victimization. Since then, several decades ago, Canadian writers have moved away from reporting the insuperable struggles of victims and more toward self-realized and self-actualized struggles.

Where that fits into answering your question is Canada's legislatures have supported native writers' growth and limited title imports. In the 1980s Canada imported three-quarters of the books published in Canada. The ratio is now about 50/50. As a result, more Canadian titles are making their way into the U.S. and Britain. In part, maybe large part, because the works are more suited to U.S. and British readers' sensibilities as well as Canadians.

On point in the regional and global marketplaces lately has been titles that write about persons in places that are both exotic and familiar. Writing about the other is in favor as well, not so otherness strange that the characters are inaccessible, but familiar strangers with familiar struggles and exotic resolution and coping strategies and processes. An example, E. Annie Proulx' The Shipping News is set in Canada's eastern maritime provinces, people in place and writing about the other, also, about victimization but tending toward self-actualization and self-realization plot drivers. Though she's not Canadian, she shares a good deal of heritage with eastern Canadians.

[MattLarkin]

As Brenda said, I don't think it'll hurt your chances unless the story is so specialized that other people can't relate. Human emotions are more-or-less universal, and stories are usually about people and their emotions. A story that is so overspecialized it won't appeal outside of one area will be hard to sell to any publisher, because it will be hard to sell enough copies to justify the expense with such a limited range.

[SteevO]

Thanks for all the replies everyone. I guess what I'm afraid of is, someone from the giant market in the US, picking up my book and reading that a murder took place in Halifax-on the east coast of Canada, and basically thinkng, "no thanks.."

[CharleeVale]

I've honestly never heard of anybody rejecting a contemp book solely on setting. I mean, maybe if you picked the book up and it said 'this book is set in the bowels of hell.'

But I think most people like myself, associate halifax with the L.M. Montgomery books, which only makes it more appealing.

CV

[dios4vida]

Thanks for all the replies everyone. I guess what I'm afraid of is, someone from the giant market in the US, picking up my book and reading that a murder took place in Halifax-on the east coast of Canada, and basically thinkng, "no thanks.."

You could put this fear into just about any aspect of any author's writing, though. For us, the still-aspiring, it sounds perfectly plausible. But...

What if J.K. Rowling had said "what if the wizarding school is in Britain, and they say "no thanks..."
What if Dan Brown had said "what if the murder is in the Louvre, and they say "no thanks..."
What if Arthur Golden had said "what if the protagonist is a geisa, and they say "no thanks..."

All of these are set overseas from the US and yet they're American - and international - bestsellers.

Don't be afraid. If your story takes place in Canada, then make it the best Canadian story you can. That goes for us, too. If our story is set in America, it'd better be the best America we can make it. Because believe it or not, we have the same issues. What if we set our story in New York City and they say "no thanks?" Or Tinytown, Kansas? Or southwest Arizona, or anywhere else.

Setting isn't typically a make-or-break deal. Like we've said before, just make your story appeal to humans and your market should be okay no matter where you set your story.

Now take a breath, Steevo. It's okay. Really. Just start writing. Don't worry so much about markets and publishers and get the darn thing written. Trust me, you'll have plenty of things to fret over with the writing itself before you ever have to worry about marketing.

Repeat after me: it will be okay. Just write. It will be okay.

[SteevO]

It will be okay. Just write. It will be okay. Thanks Brenda, and thanks to all who've written replies!

[Sanderling]

From a fellow Canadian here... I was actually contemplating the same question not that long ago, as I started into my most recent WIP. I really waffled about where to set it, but did, in the end, go with what my gut had said: Toronto. I'm currently closer to Ottawa these days, but I spent several years in Toronto, and grew up in the GTA, so that's the Big City I know best. And now that I'm writing I'm glad I did, because when I need to think of a destination or location, the names and city layout come easily to me; I think the story will reflect that.

I just finished reading John Green's The Fault In Our Stars. It's set in Indianapolis, which is an unusual choice for a city (writers often gravitate to the big-name cities - New York, LA, Miami). I found it interesting to note, after I'd finished, that he himself lives in Indianapolis.

As for Canada, I was surprised when I picked up bestselling author Kelley Armstrong's latest novel, The Gathering, and saw it was set in rural Vancouver Island. She's from Sudbury, it turns out. Bestselling author Robert J Sawyer set his YA trilogy WWW in Waterloo (he's from Mississauga). Award-winning author Tim Wynne-Jones' latest book, Blink & Caution, is set in Toronto (he's from near Ottawa).

I think probably the main thing to remember with setting is that your readers might be less familiar with your Canadian city than they would be with the big US ones. Everyone knows Times Square and Central Park and Staten Island, even if they haven't been there, but not everyone knows Nathan Phillips Square and High Park and the Toronto Islands. Just make sure you give the reader a context for the action, since they won't be able to fill it in from their own knowledge.

More important than the setting is the culture - if your culture feels familiar to the reader, it doesn't matter where the story is set, they'll still be able to relate. And since Canadian culture is, for the most part, very similar to American culture, you should be okay.

[SteevO]

Thanks for your reply Sanderling. I'm looking forward to using my own city as the setting vs. an unknown place.
Cheers
SteevO

[Sommer Leigh]

Just write! The location doesn't matter to the public so much as it matters to the story. If the location of the story is the RIGHT location for the story, you're golden.

In 2011 I read two debut YA dystopian books set partially in Canada. I never thought "No way, I'm not reading about these weird Canadians!" Many YA Australian writers are making a name for themselves in the US too and their stories are set in Australian. Many YA books are set in Europe.

Like someone mentioned earlier, the only thing you have to be careful of is if your story requires local knowledge of a place to really enjoy the story, then you're going to have to write the story so that all readers feel like they are from that place, regardless of where they are really from.

Good luck! Keep us posted!

[SteevO]

You've all been very helpful, so thanks! I have another. RE: setting- Say I want to use Toronto, and say, a specific area. Even a specific coffee shop/bookstore. For example, "Harold's Books and Coffee". Am I able to use that store in my novel? Is there issues using their name, and maybe being sued for using it? Do you know what I mean? Are there issues with trademarks etc...?
Cheers
SteevO

[polymath]

Nominal uses of trademarks falls under the Fair Use doctrine for trademarks in the U.S. I'm not versed in Canadian intellectual property law. Though the Berne Convention suggests the principles are now international.

"Using Another’s Trademark
The Lanham Act permits a non-owner of a registered trademark to make “fair use” or “nominative use” of a trademark under certain circumstances without obtaining permission from the mark’s owner. The fair use and nominative use defenses are to help ensure that trademark owners do not prohibit the use of their marks when they are used for the purpose of description or identification. Fair use or nominative use may be recognized in those instances where a reader of a given work is clearly able to understand that the use of the trademark does not suggest sponsorship or association with the trademark owner’s product or services and therefore is not being used in a manner to confuse the reader" (Rich).

Read the full essay for greater insight into trademark law, but by no means an adequate substitute for professional legal representation:
http://www.publaw.com/article/fair-use-of-trademarks

Rich, Lloyd L. "Fair Use of Trademarks." Publishing Law Center. Web. 15 Feb. 2012.

[MattLarkin]

I would guess they'd be unlikely to complain either way, unless the story makes them look bad. If it makes it look like a place to hang out, then it's free publicity. If it makes it look like a dump, well, I wouldn't be very happy if I was the owner (and I sure wouldn't want to stock your book).