Settings?

Of course one should be familiar with their story's settings but that's the problem with living in Canada. Sure Canada's very similar to the US but I think in the minds of other people it still has that rural country side aspect to it that doesn't speak well with an audience when a story is strongly based in a city. So having a setting in Canada is out. Not that I have a problem with that, I think the US is pretty cool.

It would make the most sense to write a story about a suicide bomber on a bus in like New York, Washington DC or Chicago. But I find looking at all the books I've read or TV shows I've watched having one of those places as a setting comes across incredibly cliched! But at the same time I still need my story to take place in a big city. Sure there are tons of them but I think there's a fine line between having an overused setting and a place nobody has heard of.

I think I've settled on San Francisco. Its still a big city but I don't find it's one of those over used ones. If an author chooses a city in California its usually Los Angeles. Not that nobody ever writes about San Francisco but I've also been there before so I have a slight idea of what its like. If I can't pick the city I live in I think its probably the next best choice in terms of familiarity. I'll still need to do a lot a research sadly. I think that's my least favorite part of writing.

And its not just the San Francisco bus routes that I'll need to look up but how one goes about making a bomb... I sure hope there are no police officers monitoring my search history...