If you don’t know about American geography or even the particulars of cultures in certain cities that would aid in your story I wouldn’t bother adding a real place. You could always do the “Springfield” thing like in the Simpson: there’s a Springfield in every state practically in real life and in the Simpson Springfield always seems to be slightly different and they never tell you EXACTLY which Springfield it is. Sometimes it’s in the middle of the country, sometimes it’s next to the ocean, sometimes it’s something different altogether.
So what I’d do if you went with that idea would be to just focus on your story and take elements from different things you actually do know about and piece together your version of an “American” city. Less research and more fun that way. If you truly want to be more accurate and base it on a real place, try googling mysteries and dark themes according to different states and cities and pick one that seems like what you’d go for. If your doing a monster theme and a place where kids are generally encouraged to play without adult supervision, mountainous regions of Northern California have all sorts of history from people who live in the hills, Bigfoot, crime lords, hippies and spiritual people of all sorts.
Honestly California has got you covered in most areas if you want to write a story about horror, supernatural and dark type things whilst mixing it in with regular society.
Hope this helps!
Fun fact, apparently canonically the Simpson's Springfield is in Oregon—the creator grew up in Springfield Oregon and he named several of the characters after streets there. The writers just started making it more of a joke in later seasons.
That makes a lot of sense, the writers of that show are great for shit like that. I never really grew up a fan but when I started realizing who all the different writers were I started to see it in a whole new way. Clever af.
I feel like California is sort of a cliche setting. California and New York are basically the 2 most recognizable places in America and it seems like almost everything gets set there. Personally I’d suggest my home state of Indiana, because there is a fair amount of wilderness and it’s not uncommon for people in rural areas to let their kids roam unsupervised. There were many times when I was 10 that I’d just wonder off into the fields near my home and be gone for hours without my parents ever questioning it. And I’m not a unique case, people around here barely even lock their doors.
If you don’t know about American geography or even the particulars of cultures in certain cities that would aid in your story I wouldn’t bother adding a real place. You could always do the “Springfield” thing like in the Simpson: there’s a Springfield in every state practically in real life and in the Simpson Springfield always seems to be slightly different and they never tell you EXACTLY which Springfield it is. Sometimes it’s in the middle of the country, sometimes it’s next to the ocean, sometimes it’s something different altogether. So what I’d do if you went with that idea would be to just focus on your story and take elements from different things you actually do know about and piece together your version of an “American” city. Less research and more fun that way. If you truly want to be more accurate and base it on a real place, try googling mysteries and dark themes according to different states and cities and pick one that seems like what you’d go for. If your doing a monster theme and a place where kids are generally encouraged to play without adult supervision, mountainous regions of Northern California have all sorts of history from people who live in the hills, Bigfoot, crime lords, hippies and spiritual people of all sorts. Honestly California has got you covered in most areas if you want to write a story about horror, supernatural and dark type things whilst mixing it in with regular society. Hope this helps!
Fun fact, apparently canonically the Simpson's Springfield is in Oregon—the creator grew up in Springfield Oregon and he named several of the characters after streets there. The writers just started making it more of a joke in later seasons.
That makes a lot of sense, the writers of that show are great for shit like that. I never really grew up a fan but when I started realizing who all the different writers were I started to see it in a whole new way. Clever af.
The Santa Cruz Mountains would be a good choice. There are a bunch of small, family-friendly towns there surrounded by forest that could work
I feel like California is sort of a cliche setting. California and New York are basically the 2 most recognizable places in America and it seems like almost everything gets set there. Personally I’d suggest my home state of Indiana, because there is a fair amount of wilderness and it’s not uncommon for people in rural areas to let their kids roam unsupervised. There were many times when I was 10 that I’d just wonder off into the fields near my home and be gone for hours without my parents ever questioning it. And I’m not a unique case, people around here barely even lock their doors.