Customer Reviews

Writer's Guide to Places

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Writer's Digest comes out with a lot of helpful books, but this one isn't one of them. I'm glad the book description here explains that the book only covers the United States and Canada. In the Writer's Digest ads, it doesn't. So if you want to set a story in Venice or Cairo, you'll get no help.

A lot of the information the book does have seems more appropriate for a rather unexciting history book about the states than something that helps create a setting. I don't see myself writing anything where a character says "Virginia is the second largest seafood processor in the nation" or "The Pennsylvania Turnpike was begun in 1940 and completed in 1956." If this is the kind of information you need, it's available on the internet.

There does seem to be some helpful information about some cities that would tell you which neighborhood your character would live in if he's rich or middle class. However, after looking at information that I know a bit about, there's a lot that's wrong or out of date. For example, the book describes New York City's "Hell's Kitchen" as bombed out and full of gangs when actually it's gentrified to the point that realtors have renamed it Clinton and it's pretty upmarket. On the other hand, the book says Houston's Sharpstown is a good place to raise a family. Nope, it's dangerous to the point that people are warned not to go to the mall. It makes one wonder what one can trust in this book.

I might still use this book to help me find information elsewhere about settings. But since there are no international settings (except Canada) and the internet is going to be more current, I don't think I'll use it much.

What a good idea;a guide that lists both the chamber of commerce facts (like "the city was founded in...") and great local information (where to hang out, what the neighborhoods are like). What a shame the author has clearly never been to some of these places and that much of the information is wildly inaccurate. The Jacksonville [Florida] section for example lists Orange Park as a family oriented suburb, yet makes no mention at all of one of the main drivers of the local economy, Dog Racing at the big track on Kingsley. That's like describing Elmont, NY and not mentioning that little Triple Crown/Belmont Stakes thing. And imagine my horror on reading the Los Angeles [California] section, which tells me that my cute San Pedro home is like a third-world country! That will be news to the Mayor of LA, who also lives here, and to the literally dozens of movie and TV shoots that happen in San Pedro every year. I shudder to think of the thousands of copies of this "guide" out there being used as reference, with people assuming that the information is correct, just because it's in a book. It just goes to show you, there's no substitute for real research.

Writer's Guide to Places by Don Prues & Jack Heffron

I bought this book for obvious reasons suggested by the title. I should have read the previous buyers' reviews first!

The first thing I did when I received it was to compare the cities covered with places I've lived. For Honolulu and Oahu, for instance, no mention is made of the palaces, the Bishop Museum, the Pali, Diamond Head Park, the North Shore, Haleiwa, Sunset Beach, Sandy Beach, the Blow Hole, Mokuleiea, Valley of the Temples, Fort Shafter, Tripler Medical Center and maybe another hundred places that are all part of the very fabric of the place, even part of the air one breathes on Oahu.

I could go on for pages, but I won't. I did, however, check the other areas where I've previously lived and the same applies as the Honolulu comparison. Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Washington DC and Milwaukee are just as pathetic and outdated in their coverage.

Don't waste your money!
Lou Novacheck

What a complete waste of time. If you just have to see what this volume has to offer, save your hard earned money and get it from the library.

As other reviewers have noted, it only has info on the 50 states and a few Canadian provinces. Not only that, but after reviewing cities listed that I have lived in or spent much time in, there was incorrect and misleading info. I wouldn't dare trust this as reference.

Do yourself a favor and just get a guidebook to the location and check out the local websites as well.

This is a great idea for a book... but it'll only work if the information is accurate. I found numerous mistakes in the section on Canada. Some information was outdated (by years!); some other things were just plain wrong. According to one of the maps, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia now sit on an isolated island. That's news to me! If this is indicative of the research done by the authors, I would be wary of using any of the information in the book.

I would say that if you want to use "Writer's Guide to Places," use it with caution. Decide on the setting for your story and use this book as a starting point... but do LOTS more research yourself before you start to write.

I had thought this book would be helpful however, in starting off the read, when I got to Arizona I discovered listed at the top of "What Arizonans are ashamed of" our beloved Sheriff Joe! Conceding that the book may have been written by someone that does not live in AZ and therefore may not understand that Sheriff Joe is an elected official and not necessarily a police officer and may not understand that his job is not to hunt down criminals but to raise money and law enforcement awareness and therefore may not understand that Sheriff Joe has been re-elected many times in the most populace -- and most liberal -- city in Arizona, I did not argue the point. (For those who have read this book and do not know, Sheriff Joe Arpiao is beloved even by the criminal element as they know if Paris Hilton were arrested for DUI in Maricopa County, she would spend her 10 days in jail at Tent City along with Joe Blow and Maria Garcia and Alice Cooper.) Having decided to forgive the attack on Sheriff Joe, I moved on and eventually reached Colorado, when the author's and the editor's integrity hit the wall -- the map highlighted Colorado as being where Wyoming is!!!!! I do not recommend this book as a reference guide.

To the author's credit, he presents a lot of information in what is a very ambitious book. However, readers definitely need to manage their expectations about what it can deliver. If you're looking for a city to use as a setting, this book is a good catalog to browse for a general geographic look-and-feel that might work for your story. After you've selected a place, though, you MUST do real, in-depth research on your own because this book can't help you there.

Really will help you get useful, insider details on a location to which you have not paid a visit. Indispensable for giving your story the ring of personal experience when your budget for research travel is slim or nonexistent!

The book is well organized, but doesn't contain any information I can't get by googling. I get the impression the author hasn't been to most of the places listed within either, there's no "inside information" you couldn't find out easily on the internet. Good idea that needs to be fleshed out a lot more to be useful. Sorry I spent money on it.

When I received the enormous package in the mail I was confused. When I tore into the box and saw a very large book I was pleasantly surprised. Although I wish the book could have been expanded and included several hundred more smaller cities, the book is worth it. It breaks down the lingo, the areas of the city or state, and creative things that definitely would apply to characters.

Overall a good buy, but needs a new edition.