by Ellen Kuhfeld » Fri Aug 31, 2012 9:40 am
When it comes to any fiction -- the fanfic writer probably doesn't know enough to write a story completely true to the locale. And the original writer doesn't want to be completely true to a certain place and time. Reality is. Fiction is reality distilled down, with a story layered upon it. Certain aspects of reality aren't part of the story, and can be ignored or even contradicted in service to the tale.
Besides, reality is a moving target. I know an author who sets a mystery series in a certain small town. When the series started, she was doing a decent job of representing that town on paper. Places become characters in the storyline and are preserved, even though the real-place-in-the-town went out of business and was turned into a sushi bar. Places change, people change, societies change.