• The Paris of the West
• The Arsenal of Democracy
• Motown
• Hockeytown
• The D
However, when it was founded it was called Fort Ponchartrain du Détroit – Fort Ponchartrain of the Narrows. You can learn more about how this came to be here.
I've lived in metro Detroit for all but five years of my life, and as a writer I find the city makes a wonderful setting for my stories. Indeed, the vast majority of my stories are set here. This is not an accident. It is a conscious choice, but it was not my idea. I was inspired by the story of a young writer from England.
This young writer from England once wrote a story, an homage to his favorite author H. P. Lovecraft, who was famous for his weird tales set in New England. The young writer showed his story to August Derleth, one of Lovecraft’s chief disciples and editors. The young writer so admired Lovecraft's work, he set his story in New England (where he had never been) rather than his native England. Derleth gave him some firm advice: Set the story in a place he knew. And so he did. Ramsey Campbell has gone on to write many weird tales and horror novels…set in his native England.
This story of Derleth's advice to Campbell made a big impression on me. As Pablo Picasso once said, "Art is a lie that tells the truth." Stories have to have a certain level of authenticity to maintain the suspension of disbelief. I believe that if I wrote about a place that I had never been, that I did not know, the reader would feel this. The spell would be broken.
When I started looking around Detroit for stories to set here, ideas seemed to jump out at me. I don't expect you to take my word for it. I'm going to prove it.
Over the next 12 months, I will post 12 writing prompt/writing challenge for stories that are set somewhere in metropolitan Detroit. To link it up with Detroit's Birthday, I'll post the first writing challenge today. Since August is only a week away, I'll post the next writing challenge on the first Sunday in September. On the first Sunday in July 2012, I post the twelfth.
I hope you will be inspired by these challenges and join me. If you don't know Detroit, look around your own hometown and come up with 12 challenges specific to it. Let's see what we can come up with!
When the French settled in Detroit they brought their folk beliefs with them and soon, storytellers were sitting by the fire telling tales of the lutin, fey creatures that were both good and evil. Some looked like creatures we would recognize as goblins. Others, took the form of black cats, who were considered the best protection a family could have. The storytellers also told tales of the Nain Rouge (the Red Dwarf), les dames blanches (will-o-the-wisps), and loup garou (werewolves). Many of these tales were collected by M.C.W. Hamlin in Legends of Le Détroit (1884) and retold for children in Were-Wolves and Will-o-the-Wisps by Dirk Gringhuis (1974).
The Challenge: Write a short story that centers on one of these fey creatures and is set somewhere in metropolitan Detroit.
Genre: Given the prompt, horror and urban fantasy would be the obvious choices. However, you could also write a children's story, an historical story, or use the fey creatures as metaphors and write a literary piece.
Word count: Short stories are generally no more than a few thousand words, but the length is up to you. If your idea turns into a novel, post the first chapter. If you'd like me to give you a hard number, here you go: Write a story about 1000 words long.
Accepting the challenge: Post your story on your blog. In your post, include a link to this post. Next, put a link to your story in the comments section below, and when I post the next challenge, I will post a list of all the stories. Finally, if you are on Twitter and tweet about your story, please include the hashtag #narrows. Let's share with the world what an excellent setting Detroit makes.