Real places that have inspired your stories?

[MillieDynamite]

Though not named, Walsenburg, La Veta, and Cuchara, Colorado, have been used in some of my stories. Denver Metro Area and Colorado Springs, along with Boulder and Longmont. OKC, Enid, Norman, the Winding Star Mountains, southeastern Oklahoma, and the Panhandle of Oklahoma have all been used as backdrops, though not always named.

 

[Juliet_Writes]

Oh, constantly.

Which is why so many of my stories are set in and around campuses, and in all the places on the backpacker trail.

Not so many are in five star hotels. Sponsorships gladly received....

 

[EdwardsOtherSide]

New York City, and the temperate rain forests of the Pacific Northwest come to mind.
Indirectly, Providence Rhode Island (ended up using Google Street View heavily to make that work).

Part of me wants to use New Orleans, part of me knows I am not good enough to do New Orleans justice.

 

[EdwardsOtherSide]

Oh yes, Hawai'i.
I lived there for a while, and one story is based on that time of my life.

I never say Hawai'i in the story, but there are a bunch of very specific things that someone who knows Oahu would recognize.
(Sadly, a restaurant I mention, that was an absolute favorite of mine has closed )

 

[ericalauren]

I once wrote a short story based on my trip to a basilica in Montreal.

 

[Pabiporffor]

I live in a rural area dotted with farms, hamlets and small villages. The type of places you drive past and think, "What the fuck do people do out here." That's unless you're a lit reader and you probably think, "Bet there's loads of swingers here," or "Bet that village genepool is more a puddle."

I base my stories on my locality because even if you don't live here most people will know a similar location they can picture in their minds.

 

[StillStunned]

Upstream was inspired by the Maestrat in Spain, with some influences from Alpujarras.

 

[Cultivateddesires]

I walked past one of the real places I've used as central points in my stories by coincidence today, Fait Maison in London.
I got a warm feeling, and am wondering if using places that you know or have personally experienced is something you prefer?

I gravitate towards using areas or locations that I've been to (Like London, North-Dakota or Arctic Norway), or even very specific places, like the hotel bar in Hotel-Dieu de Lyon. I find it makes my witing flow a lot better when I have that first hand experience.

Absolutely. All places I have been

 

[MillieDynamite]

The Case of the Rich Man's Wife was supposed to be set in Denver and was for a short time, until I reworked it and moved it to NYC. I used our visits there for part of my inspiration, and then read about NYC of the 1930s and 40s.

 

[FrancesScott]

My Community Pool anthology series is based on my local public pool, which is not in Marshall, Connecticut. Then Marshall itself is borrowed from another work of fiction.