Facing your written world

Picture by Metacheetr

I know full well that London is a real place and that many of the locations I've used in Sanctuary do exist. But I'm not a Londoner and I don't go to London all that often.

On Tuesday I hopped on the train and found myself if the big city. I'd already planned to look at it through a writer's eyes, to take in certain aspects of the city that may help me to get the description in Sanctuary perfect.

I looked at everything through a post-apocalyptic haze. That was until I got to the Tube. I find the underground system really scary at the best of times. But the difference now is that I've written a super scary scene about the exact place I was travelling through. One of the scarier scenes of Sanctuary takes place underground between Westminster station and Embankment. Passing through those two places on the way to Chelsea freaked me out a little bit.

I had to clear to the post-apocalyptic haze and go back to carefree PR girl. Although every time those lights flickered my heart jumped into my throat.

So, what I've written scares me. I know the world, I created it, and yet I'm terrified of it and the mere thought of the places mentioned in it. That's amazing! Hopefully I can instil a sense of fear in all who read Sanctuary.

Is it a good thing that my own writing can freak me out? Does that mean it will scare others?

Using real locations in your writing

Image from the amazing SilentUK.com

Despite the fact that Sanctuary is set in the future I still used a lot of locations from modern-day London.

I could tell you exactly where each mission in the story took place. I could tell you the route the characters took through London, where they encountered scary things and where they found up friends.

I've been to London a good few times so it's not all that difficult to picture it. Using a named city really brings a reader closer to the action because they know the locations. The Sanctuary is based around Westminster and I've gone into a lot of detail with regards to the surrounding Tube system.

Further away from the base I began to use Google Streetview to picture potential places for campsites, small settlements and more scary things. The research then got even more exciting when I was looking at the state of some abandoned Tube stations.

So, I just wanted to know, do you use named cities in your work? Or do you prefer the freedom of an unnamed location?