forum Places in the US

Started May 06, 2020 by Vanessa Riendeau

tune

I am writing a story where the characters are travelling so I need to some ideas of places of where they could go.

Well, if you want a big city, New York is a good place. If you're looking for smaller-ish cities, I've been to most of the big cities in New York State

if you want to break it down into states, just look up whether a state is democratic or republican. democratic states tend to be more urban, and have more laws against weapons, while they also have poorer communities and higher population density. republicans states have fewer laws against guns, as well as more farming communities and richer people. almost everywhere in america is mostly white, but there are many more asians, afro-americans, and well, basically people from everywhere as you get closer to large cities.

I thank you for the advice.

That's not completely true. Republican states are not made up of richer communities. In fact, there are big income disparities, even in small, more rural, communities. In fact, I think you could argue that more democratic-dominated states are "richer" because the cost of living is higher and thus people may have slightly higher income. However, that's not really fair to say either.
So I can help you some with the southeast US. Mostly Georgia because that's where I'm from.
Georgia:

• Atlanta: Biggest city in GA, spreads over a large area, and very dense in population. Definitely a more culturally diverse city. Lots of attractions, cool restaurants, and other similar things. Very tall buildings (doesn't compare to NYC of course, but there are skyscrapers).
• Savannah: Oldest city in GA, very historical place, coastal, tourist destination. Big city, but not huge city, no skyscrapers or anything. They do lots of tours in the area, from historical/civil war related stuff, to horse-drawn carriage tours, and ghost tours. Supposedly a very haunted city. Downtown has lots of city squares and parks. The city is a majority black, but there's a lot of housing segregation. Also oak trees. Everywhere. Great culture scene as far as music, theatre, and food.
• Athens: Cute little college town. Lots of cool places to eat, neat downtown area. Big international port.
  -Macon: A little more run down than it used to be. Heavily segregated- I daresay even more than Savannah. High homeless population, rough schools. Many people born there would probably leave the area if possible because it kind of sucks. However, it has its fair share of neat parks, shops, and restaurants, and there is a portion of the area that's bordering on being like a college town.

Florida:

• Jacksonville: Big city, tall buildings. Very urbanized and not all that pretty tbh. I haven't been recently or for very long.
• Orlando: Inland city, rather urbanized but not huge. Probably better known for theme parks in the area, like Disneyworld and Universal among others.
• Another note: Florida is really bizarre to come into from the states north of it. There is a clear change in the architecture of many places, and also palm trees everywhere. It's also a popular state for retired folks to go live in.

South Carolina:

• Charleston: I've never actually been, but I've been nearby. Pretty similar to Savannah, GA, from what I'm told.
• Myrtle Beach: Big tourist destination. Mainly known for beaches, but there are lots of touristy things in the area, like shows, restaurants, etc.

North Carolina:
Asheville: Pretty, historical town in a mountainous area on the Blue Ridge range. If I remember correctly, they had a really neat downtown area.

That's all I feel like typing for now, but I'm open to more questions.

Oklahoma City might be a good place to stop-its about 40 square miles, but has a small town feel, so if your character is running into nice people, OKC might be a good place for it.
Also, Bricktown in OKC has a really fun feel.
If u decide to use OKC, I'd be happy to tell you more about it!

I say NYC is overused to shit, which is why I'm excited whenever Boston is the main setting (even if it gets utterly destroyed in Godzilla: King of the Monsters). Besides, there's SO MUCH SHIT in Boston, not to mention the various boroughs and neighborhoods that surround it.

I say NYC is overused to shit, which is why I'm excited whenever Boston is the main setting (even if it gets utterly destroyed in Godzilla: King of the Monsters). Besides, there's SO MUCH SHIT in Boston, not to mention the various boroughs and neighborhoods that surround it.

I live in NYC and it is not a great place to visit, don’t use it.

even if the state itself is heavily republican, bigger cities/college towns tend to be liberal. take Alabama, for example. an extremely republican state in the Deep South, but Alabama State's town voted blue. Texas, as republican as it is, is shifting centrist because of cities like Dallas and Houston. big, educated, wealthy.

I like to spend some time on google maps in my chosen setting. local Facebook groups might be an interesting sourcing too

Midwestern cities like Chicago and Cincinnati are popular locations that are less overused than something like NYC and can be good to write in as well.