I am working on a dystopian story setting in fallen New York City. The name for this setting is giving me some trouble. "The Society" "Capitol" etc. I feel are too overused. The City seems to be all I can come up with, but is this too bland? Any opinions on a name or "the City" would be much appreciated!
It doesn't seem too bland to me, especially after Blade Runner kind of set the stage and used L.A. as the city. I tend to use a mix of real cities and fictional for the dystopian society I have.
Rome was still Rome even during the Dark Ages. Calling it New York or by the name of one of the boroughs seems logical and acceptable to me.
Go the Zardoz route - Take New York or Manhattan or even a certain street name, drop a few letters- and create a new name. Zardoz - Came from a damaged copy of The Wizard of Oz.
I like the Idea of calling it New York. That grounds it in reality, and adds some shock value at seeing what it has devolved into. Maybe the people living there could just call it the City, then that shows their relationship with the setting. They live in "the city", but it is the city of new york.
I third New York. I agree with Pheonix, perhaps those in the story know it as 'The City' but it could formally be called New York City.
Thanks for the advice,I like the idea of it being New York with the characters referring to it as the City!
Irony. "Oz" comes from "O-Z" on an encyclopedia. I agree with New York. Or you could make it "New Yorke" just to be cute and pretentious.
I always thought it was an allusion to gold, measured in ounces, or oz. Keep following the path of gold, when all Dorothy ever needed was the silver slippers she already had.
New York sounds like a title that could work. However, referring to it as "the city", even amongst the characters, would require some back story. Is New York THE city that's left? Or is it the only city that matters to them because they have no more contact to other cities?
Nothing wrong with that idea, especially since people living in the outer (i.e. other than Manhattan) boroughs refer to Manhattan as "the city".
You know the origin of the name Oz is quite disputed. And I really like calling it New York, it averts a lot of post apocalyptic conventions.
