American novelists Nella Rosmarino wants to set part of her book in Perth, what advice would you give her to help describe our city?

US based writer Nella Rosmarino wants your help for her young-adult book to be set in Perth and other parts of Australia.

Having (presumably) never been to Perth, Rosmarino reached out to the Perth Reddit community this week to seek help. So I thought I would help bring her inquest to the Perth Twitter community via @TweetPerth.

“Hey, guys. I’m an American girl here, writing a YA book. I love Oceania, and I’m tired of American settings in books so I decided to set my book in Australia,” Rosmarino wrote on Reddit.

It includes a cross-country roadtrip and the trip concludes in Perth…so I was actually wondering if you could have your help. When you see movies/tv shows/books set on your city, what do you wish the writer knew? What do you want them to write about? What activities/stores/food should be featured?”

Based in Pheonix, Arizona, Nella describes herself on Twitter as “your typical, young, and struggling writer.”

A number of Perth Reddit users have already given Nella Rosmarino recommendations, including suggestions she read some of Tim Winton’s books for inspiration.

Other users suggested watching the film ‘Red Dog‘, set in WA’s north-west and the apocalyptic zombie film shot in Perth, ‘These Final Hours‘.

One American living in Perth noted that in Perth, accent is not really a problem for foreigners, but the use of slang words could be a challenge.

“Accents are not as strong here however slang is much more heavily used than in the movies. And terminology is different.
I’m an American living in Perth now and have noticed the biggest difference in language is actually more based on terminology/slang not the accent. It’s more of a dialect than an accent,” said ‘UStoOz’

Interestinly, the conversation turned to comparing Perth to some US cities, particularly Los Angeles of 20-years or so ago regarding the urban sprawl issues.

“On the note of Urban Sprawl – Town Planners liken Perth to Los Angeles (The Los Angeles of 20 years ago),” IAmYoda wrote on the thread.

Can you help Nella understand life in Perth for her book?

Join the converstation on Reddit or tweet your thoughts to Nella on Twitter