Is it okay for your story to not specify the settings?

[darkone4587]

Honestly if it's not a big deal then it's fine. The only reason to fully specify a location is if the location itself is important because if it isn't then it could be set anywhere.
I mean how many anime just take place in Tokyo despite how large that city is with so many different areas inside of it.

[edicoesgorilase]

I don't mention that this story takes place in what city or what country,

I think its always fine, but it depends on the exposure you give of other elements. I hate to much exposure or like, a page explaining everything and every detail. But I love to know everything as I go on reading the comic.
Yeah, the balance can be tricky.

[k5rakitan]

Also, I think you would really like the writings of Soramimi Hanarejima

Hierarchy of Needs by Soramimi Hanarejima

[themerrytroll]

I guess it depends really on the focus of your story/plot, writing style, and relevance.

The Rescue Blues I: Sweet and Low | Tapas

[gmaximin]

Exposure can be a way to slowly carry readers inside your story. So even though in some case settings do bring nothing to the story nor the character, it could be used as an opportunity to lure and cement readers in your story. At least in my opinion.
That works best in exotic situation I guess, but not necessarily, and depending on your characters, it does not prevent other people to identify since at the end of the day, some emotions / reactions are quite common to most of us.

[themerrytroll]

Agreed. I also think that the genre that uses extensive setting is fantasy i.e high fantasy. Why? It's because of lore building/creation. You need a shit ton of writing and research for that or else you'd lose your readers in it.

[unknown_user]

In my opinion, it's fine for short stories, but can be a problem for long story with complicated plot and characters interaction. In the last case, characters will kind of... float in the void. Which may make a reader lose the understanding of the sense of the plot and get confused.

[frgmnt]

I leave the setting of my stories purposely unspecified and I don't want to set them in any specific existing country - that comes with various limitations, like geographical, cultural, etc. I don't want to be called out on depicting some real location or culture in an inaccurate way just because I'm writing things the way I want them to be. I could describe the place where I set my stories as a weird mix of multiple English speaking countries, some European countries - including my own - and Japan (cause I'm a weeb, don't judge pls), and that's exactly how I like it

I have some city names dropped in the script, but all are fictional. I could've gone an extra mile with it and invent a whole world with alternate geography and countries but it's too much of a bother for someone bad at world-building, honestly Maybe someday?

@tired_programmer I don't think that's what OP meant by "setting" tho...?

[KRWright]

As a writer, I usually don't like to specify the settings of my stories.I don't mention that this story takes place in what city or what country,I don't mention the nationalities or the races of the characters,even the characters' names are also not influenced by any culture or language

My biggest question for you is: Why? Why don’t you do this? What is the purpose of leaving it out? What point are you making (intentionally or not) by doing so? How does this add to the reader’s experience? But also, why do you think most authors include these things? Why might setting or time period or culture be important? How do characters names influence how people perceive their race/culture/the setting?

Being intentional during creation builds something that readers can connect with, love and breathe and empathise with. It also makes a work stronger, as pulling in a diverse range of characters means you will have multiple points of view and experiences for readers to sink their teeth into.

[kiznara]

I leave the setting of my stories purposely unspecified and I don't want to set them in any specific existing country - that comes with various limitations, like geographical, cultural, etc. I don't want to be called out on depicting some real location or culture in an inaccurate way just because I'm writing things the way I want them to be. I could describe the place where I set my stories as a weird mix of multiple English speaking countries, some European countries - including my own - and Japan (cause I'm a weeb, don't judge pls), and that's exactly how I like it

I have some city names dropped in the script, but all are fictional. I could've gone an extra mile with it and invent a whole world with alternate geography and countries but it's too much of a bother for someone bad at world-building, honestly Maybe someday?

Hey you totally get me!

[kiznara]

While I do agree with you, I have some reasons as to why I don't like to specify the settings like I previously said.

Okay but first of all, not all of my stories have their settings unspecified. I only have like one or two that I'd like to not relate it into a certain culture or country. Here's one of them:

One of the stories I'm currently writing takes place in a high school. The story only revolves around the high school ground and the neighborhood it's in (plus the characters' houses ofc). Then that's it. The only name I have to think of is the high school's name. I also use nouns as the characters' names, like Sunday, Rain, etc.

I'm just worried that this is not the way to go when writing a webcomic. Because all webcomics i've seen, they either take place in a real life country, or a world that the author built themselves. If it's a fantasy comic that I'm writing, I wouldn't mind doing the worldbuilding. It's just that the story I mentioned above can be told without having to specify the settings.

If I have to say so myself, I can tell the story without having to specify the country the characters are in or what culture affects their names. It's not important enough to the story that I have to do a research on a certain neighborhood or a country. I feel like it's just a waste of time because the story can just progress without it.
If I ever did set the story in a real life location, I would probably end up stating it at the beginning of the story like "This school is set in Korea" and then done, I'm not gonna mention it ever again.

Also it's just like what @frgmnt said, I don't want to depict a real life location in an inaccurate manner and I don't want to be limited by it.

I hope it makes sense.

[KRWright]

If you have a school, you’re going to have a culture whether you like it or not. Schools are massive reflections of what a society values because it’s there to teach kids a lot of those lessons. Even how a classroom is set up, will reflect that. If it’s Korea, then Korean school life is a big thing. If it’s America, there are things that are very unique to the North American school buildings even.

I’m going to be frank, even if you create a fictional town, you’re still going to be limited because you still will have your real world biases and expectations with you for your fictionalised place. While you may think it absolves you from having to get details right, you may actually find it harder because you now have nothing to fall back on except yourself if you get some aspect of representation wrong either. Also, a fictional town is still a setting, and still requires work to create.

[kiznara]

The story I mentioned is set in an infamous school, so I don't really put much consideration on the school's culture like school activities, uniforms, etc (because they barely have any). It's not necessary since the focus of the story is more on the youth delinquency/gang-related activities that the characters are involved in.

Well,
now that I think about it,
I'd like to do some research on youth gang activities in some countries and I'll see if setting it up in a certain country could turn the whole story around.

Thank you so much for your reply.

[NickRowler]

I have seen some stories which were ambiguous about where they were. I feel like it is super common in American kids cartoons where you know they are in America, you just don't know where. Which became a running joke in the Simpsons. I have also seen Canadian shows which make is ambiguous about whether it takes place in America or Canada. More or less, it is not completely unheard of.

Like other people said, it is important to set up cultural influences for a story even if you don't state a geographic location.

[AVXP]

So the thread title is this....
Is it okay for your story to not specify the settings?
It's you asking for feedback.
And if anyone cautions you or warns you about the possible pitfalls, you defend why it's okay.
Then why ask for feedback if you already got this covered and figured out?

Maybe next time entitle the thread
"I don't always specify my story's location. Anyone else do this?"

I agree with @tired_programmer if the story doesn't need it don't. If it does, do.
The most relevant reason to fill that information in is so that your audience can extrapolate the details you'd rather not mention. In other words, a small tid bit about the location can fill in what the houses look like, streets, what the laws are.

The geography.....population density...
Or, you can fill that in with accents, slang, names, etc....as you stated...so you're aware of how to fill in the gaps as the story moves forward.

It would be jarring id you didn't plan and just decided not to- because, you know, that's a thing and then decided for a plot point to land in a certain place that no reader was expecting. It would flip their entire perception.
You mentioned swampy woodsy bogs so we thought Florida....
And then you mention tropical birds in chapter 9.
And the final act is in an abandoned Disneyland with zombies with Aussie accents...."Brains....mate..."
But then they stumble out of the woods and there's a volcano.

[KRWright]

My favourite example of setting influencing a story in ways people don’t even think about is Heartstopper. So many of the story beats take place because of the setting. The UK has vertical forms, so characters from different age groups have “home room” together. The boys play rugby. They go on a school trip to Paris (common for British kids). Then there’s the fact that Nick “leaves” for sixth form before Charlie finishes school that’s definitely a thing in the future for the comic.

Everything from the meet-cute, to how they become friends, to their slang etc is all grounded in the setting. The main thrust of the story? Yeah, it could take place elsewhere but things would have been slightly different if it took place in Canada or Australia or South Africa. It feels more real because all those little details are in there.

[AVXP]

Is that because you are from there and it's familiar?

[kiznara]

I'm very sorry, I didn't mean to defend myself. I'm simply trying to clarify my reasons and the situation so people could understand what kind of story I'm trying to write to the point that I don't need to specify the settings.

Anyway, you made such a good point. I'll keep that in mind. Thank you so much.

[KRWright]

Is that because you are from there and it's familiar?

I can definitely recognise the stuff that’s Brit-centric more easily that way, sure. But I’ve also had to learn the American school system as that appears in most media over any other type of system as well.

But I see it in comics that use the Japanese/Korean school system as window dressing as well. Where the aesthetic of those schools is there, but none of the actual cultural elements are taken into consideration making the characters kind of... float in this culturally neutral void halfway between the creator’s home culture and where the comic is set.

In any case, if you put a half-baked setting in front of a professional editor, they’re going to pull you up on it. You’re going to get notes on improving it. It’s just another aspect of craft that you need to develop.

[frgmnt]

It would be jarring id you didn't plan and just decided not to- because, you know, that's a thing and then decided for a plot point to land in a certain place that no reader was expecting. It would flip their entire perception.You mentioned swampy woodsy bogs so we thought Florida....And then you mention tropical birds in chapter 9.And the final act is in an abandoned Disneyland with zombies with Aussie accents...."Brains....mate..."But then they stumble out of the woods and there's a volcano.

Is it really such a bad thing though? I mean, it's different if you actually specify the setting is a real place and then make it inaccurate, but if it's fictional or unspecified, why can't the reader simply roll with it?

So it's like there are only two options for the setting that are considered "right":
1. A real existing place, everything depicted accurately
2. A fictional place with extensive detailed consistent world-building
But what... if you don't want to pick either one? What are your options then? Is it not ever acceptable to have a "half-baked" setting, even in cases where it has very little to do with the actual story?