Unlike my predecessor, I try to keep up with the times and am working on my web-presence.

I don’t yet have a Twitter account however.

Thanks for that, Much to think on in what you have said. As a rule I don’t tend to write on the basis of what I think people will read Instead I choose stories based on where my imagination wants to go. So it’s an I ternal rather than an external factor that draws me into Americaland. And I for one would like to read a story set in Newzealandland!

Damien

First: Yes, Americaland is as fake as Middle Earth or Dune. But if it’s written well enough, it can be as real as Middle Earth or Dune. It may not be a real place, but I’m not sure it should be dismissed out of hand just because of that. We’ve absorbed Americaland all our lives. I think it’s valid to explore that. Of course, if our stories rely on lazy stereotypes, we’re doomed.

Second: There is an assumption that if you want your story to be widely read, it’s set in America. Guy Hasson’s recent editorial on the world SF blog summed this up really well.

http://worldsf.wordpress.com/2010/01/27/wednesday-editorial-guy-hasson-on-writing-for-two-cultures/

Third: your “British tendency towards naffness” – we call it the cultural cringe down here in New Zealand. The thought that telling a story from your own country just won’t sound as compelling as one from Americaland. We don’t just get American popular culture here: commonwealth countries sit on the border of Americaland and, well, call it Britainland. From here, the sun coming up on a rainy Soho street is just as mythic and remarkable as a deserted Nevada highway.

There’s certainly a lot of interest in the view outside of Americaland at the moment, from District 9 to River of Gods. But still, every time I start writing I have the same doubts as you. Would you read a Science Fiction story set in New Zealand? Not the mythic New Zealand-, um, -land, but the real place?

In the end I think the story will dictate where it wants to be told. Personally, about a third of my stories seem to be set in the US, a third in the UK and a third here in New Zealand. I’m OK with that.

Sam – good to know I’m not alone!

Daniel Hall – nice of you to take a break from you duties to comment on a mere mortals blog! And yes, I agree that internal consistency is the key.

I do want the setting to be internally consistent though, so that it feels real. Gotham may not represent any real american metropolis but it’s fine by me as long as it feels like Gotham to the core, in all its details.

It is more difficult to convince a native however. I’m reminded of those episodes of Lost which are supposed to be set in the UK but are clearly filmed in Australia. They’ve cast the Australian actor who can do the best imitation of an English accent and dotted the streets with red post-boxes in a vain attempt to cover up for the fact that the place looks and feels nothing like the UK.

I guess it would be equally hard for Americans to read an English representation of Americaland without spotting similar flaws. The devil’s in the detail.