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colleges, creative writing, fiction, names, New York City, places, schools, Staten Island, The Dark Proposal, Wagner College
Many authors create fictitious names of businesses, entertainers, institutions and others in order to avoid using famous names without permission. It also helps not to use famous names of places, people, and things so it would not sound like an author is trying to misrepresent the like by the way they write about, whether intended or not.
I certainly did this when I created Richmond College in “The Dark Proposal”, the higher ed institution on Staten Island, where Claire graduated and worked part-time at, met her two friends, Samantha and Monica, and of course, met vampire Daniel Bertrand there. I clearly didn’t have the resources to use an actual college on Staten Island, nor did I want to ruffle any feathers. So I made up a name.
Well, to be honest, not really. Richmond College used to be an actual institution on Staten Island, starting in 1965. It merged with Staten Island Community College in 1976 to become the College of Staten Island, which these days is part of the City University of New York (CUNY). I chose this name for Claire’s school because I wanted something authentically Staten Island for my book, since I aim to bring attention to the borough where I was born and raised in.
Image via Wikimedia Commons
While also aiming to have something related to Staten Island, I chose an actual college on Staten Island as the setting for Richmond College. Meaning, in my mind, I used an actual campus. That college campus is that of Wagner College, until recently, the only school with dorms on the Island. I once taught ESL one summer at Wagner, and it is a very lovely campus, sitting atop of the highest part of Staten Island. Since I needed a college with dorms for “The Dark Proposal”, and in 2012, the year I wrote the book, Wagner was the only one with that, I chose its campus as the setting. Whenever I visualize Richmond College for my book, I picture Wagner College.
So, there you have it. The Real Richmond College(s).
I based Delapour & Associates, the fictional property management firm that my characters work for in my novels, on an amalgam of real businesses that I have worked for as a contractor. Nearly all of the physical locations that I use in my books are buildings that I have done work in.
I wrote “Catskinner’s Book” without ever specifying that it was set in St. Louis, MO, where I live, but someone who was familiar with the town would recognize the neighborhoods I describe. In “Cannibal Hearts” the riverfront became important enough that I gave up and called the town St. Louis. (It was too hard to avoid being specific.)
I do try to keep my locations vague, though, because I want my readers to visualize places that they are familiar with. If I say that James went through the drive thru of a fast food restaurant, I don’t want my reader to be focusing on the drive thru, but what James is feeling. It’s my hope that readers from Cleveland or Memphis or Kansas City will be able to put my characters into locations that they already know because it will make the action that much more real to them.
I like the idea of keeping things vague for readers, but I also think certain stories require locations to be specific. It’s true the emotions and experiences of the characters are most important.
I don’t expect my readers to visualize Richmond College based on that one picture of Wagner College, nor do I insist that they do. It is kind of like for me to help place the setting for my characters, though the more I write, the less I feel that need.