Urban Fantasy discussion

Hi everyone!

My name is Susan and I'm a huge UF nerd.

I'm currently a PhD student at Ryerson University in Toronto, and I'm conducting a research project on how readers connect with UF books set in real cities. Before collecting information, I'm trying to judge interest. Is there anyone interested in giving their opinion on their favourite UF books set in real cities?

Thanks!

Susan

I could try...

Hi Susan! I'm curious what your thesis is with this as the research! I hope no matter the response that you are able to find what you're looking for :-) What's entailed in giving opinions? Polls and big studies are different creatures.

Are you interested in fictional cities based heavily on real cities, or real cities by name? I can provide a writer's perspective on the former, but if it's out of bounds, that's perfectly fine. :)

I would be interested in hearing more about your study. I read at least two series that are set in real cities.

I'm interested! I am currently reading at least 5 UF series' set in real cities. I am sure there are more, but that's just off the top of my head.

Thanks for the replies, everybody! I am looking at how people make connections with their real-world lives through reading. So I am looking at what draws people to reading UF books set in real cities (by name... not just based heavily on real cities). I.e. were you drawn to a book because it was set in your home town or somewhere you've visited, did you like the book more because you could relate to it physically, or did reading a book inspire you to travel to that real-world place. I need ethics approval from my university before I can actually ask anything, I'm just gauging interest right now. So I can't use anything until I get that approval. I hope to have a better framework for my paper by the end of the week, so I can update you more then. I'm not sure I will have enough data for this specific of a topic, so I may have to change it up a bit, but it will still relate to places in fantasy, and I'll still keep you updated, if you're interested!

Allison: this research isn't actually related to my dissertation! It's just for a course on audiences. My dissertation is on communication between employers and job seekers, but it will use research on audiences to support it.

Susan wrote: "Thanks for the replies, everybody! I am looking at how people make connections with their real-world lives through reading. So I am looking at what draws people to reading UF books set in real citi..."

I have in the past read urban fantasy series set in real cities, but there are very few cases where the location actually matters to the plot. They usually could be situated anywhere. So I didn't read them because of their location.

Susan wrote: "...this research isn't actually related to my dissertation! It's just for a course on audiences. My dissertation is on communication between employers and job seekers, but it will use research on audiences to support it. "

Ah, very cool! Good luck with it! :-)

I think I'm mostly with Shomeret. The only thing that it really changes for me is that I expect the book to be more realistic if we're using current-Earth as the setting. Not that I expect to walk into the bar mentioned in the book or anything, but I expect it to "feel" like that city, and for people to talk and react like people I might meet.

This sounds like a really interesting topic for research, to be honest as a reader setting doesn't usually factor into why I pick a book. Usually, I read things because I connect with the main character.

I'm a researcher in creative writing - I know you can't use any of the comments on this thread in your actual paper, but the topic is definitely interesting, and I'd be happy to fill in a survey once you have ethics approval and the survey up and running! I'd be happy to recommend it to my students as well.