Young Writers Society

So...Denver. What do you know?

Wait, scratch that. I'll give you some information first, so you have an idea what I'm looking for. My MC is a female, in her midteens. I was looking for a city that would boast everyone from wealthy families to street thieves, with a decently high crime rate, but I didn't want a cliche place like NYC or Chicago. I stumbled across Denver. It's perfect with being in the mountains -- ideal for my story. Alright, back to my character. She was born into a well-off family but left due to their overbearing need to control her, but she keeps in contact with her best friend, who's of the same class she used to be of. Now she makes a living through robbery and fighting and whatever else gets her money or food.

Should I move her to a smaller town, where I can get more intimate? If so, what do you recommend? Or is Denver a good setting? If so, what do you know about...crime in Denver? Housing, hotels, weather, anything you think would be helpful. Or good sites where I could browse and get great information for myself.

Thanks!

I've only visited Denver, and the surrounding areas such as the Crested Butte. (Look at a map). My uncle has lived in Colorado for forty years. I, however, can assist in the ways of the climate and how the altitude will and i repeat WILL claim your body if you're not properly hydrated nor used to the high altitude levels. My first year out at the age of 16, the plan by my uncle was to wait three days in Denver before we - my aunt, uncle and myself - were to travel into the mountains at higher levels. Well, that didn't pan out. My aunt got over-excited and brought me an extra 15,000 ft higher above sea level. I wasn't drinking nearly enough water, and I ended up pretty sick - for two days. Thankfully, my uncle is an RN so he presided over my care and helped me recover. That year, I was with them for two weeks. It's very hot (dry heat) and extreamly dry. In Durango, CO, it's basically a dessert. You can find wild colonies of cacti in that region.

Not sure if I help?

Denver is good with the crime rate and all that- The actual downtown is beautiful, with a big-ish indoor mall, a bunch of shops on the street that you can just walk around and shop in. some high-class hotels (the Brown Palace has had several presidents, movie stars, etc. stay there), great restaraunts, stuff like that. But go just a mile or so further, and it gets preeeetty seedy. Kinda gross at times. The crime rate is pretty up there. I was staying there a year or so back, and there was some kind of shooting in the Johnny Rocket's. It was closed for about a week, to give you some idea of how the crime is. If you need any more info, I can watch the news more closely or go downtown- I live pretty near there. Just PM me.
If you want a smaller town, Aurora has a pretty high crime rate. Loads of gangs, robbery, all that kind of stuff. Therefore, the housing prices have gone down a lot. In spite of all that, it's still really pretty in most parts. Once again, if you need any more info, let me know and I can get it to you pretty easily.

There is an AMAZING bookstore in the Cherry Creek area called The Tattered Cover - it's like six stories tall with the bookshelves stretching from floor to ceiling. *swoon*

Cherry Creek is my favorite part of Denver - they have artsy gimmicks there all the time, street fairs, lots of homeless people, costume shops, brick buildings, and trams. I love it. Other than that, I can't tell you much about Denver, except that their airport has lots of pictures of cowboys and lots of dinosaur footprints strategically placed on the floors.

I've lived in Colorado for a few years, and Denver really is your average big city (besides the fact that they have beautiful mountains.)

I know more about Colorado Springs though, and it has wonderful shops there. Chapel Hills Mall, Barnes & Noble, Wal-Mart, they have pretty much everything there! (since CO Springs has a lot of shops, it could be an ideal place for your charrie to loot food/stuff from.) If you want a really wild-life like area, the Air Force Academy has lots of forests, mountains, and animals (bears, deer, raccoons) The people there are a lot more friendly and open-minded than in other places (they're not like your stereotype gruff, mean East Coasters)

It's very sunny/cold (depends on seasons) in Colorado since its altitude is very high up.

OOCish - You're more likely to get a terrible sunburn there instead of places like Florida and Mississippi.

There's also another place in Colorado (if you need a scenic desert place for plot ideas) called the Gardern of the Gods, which has a lot of red rocks (there's even one called the Kissing Camels, teehee.)

I don't know about Denver, but on the Academy (which I mentioned earlier) gets a ton of snow (you can get a good couple of feet of snow in a strong snowstorm.)

There's a remote-ish (besides residents, from what I can tell) place around CO Springs that's called Black Forest and it has a huge amount of trees there and most residents there own horses.