Google Maps and Gay Fiction

Like Lug, I did the Google/Maps/StreetView thing when I was writing 'The Tourist' to see what Sanitaria Spring was like as I had seen it referred to as a real place. That is why my story starts off at the Cemetery, as it was about the first image I found!

It might be essential. Gee Whillickers has a story,'Border Line Insanity', where he has helpfully included a link to GMaps so that you can see what the story is premised upon.

Otherwise it depends on the story and how it piques my interest and interacts with what else I know.

For example, I am currently reading a story on another site that takes place during the Peninsular War. Since I have been to some of the areas mentioned I have got the (printed) map out on occasions to see where there other places mentioned fit in. The story has also led me to do a bit of Wikipedia background reading on the war.

Another story on yet another site is set in the US-Canada border region west of Lake Superior. The author described the scene, but as I had not expected the area to be as described (due to higgorance and living across the pond,)I did go Maps/Satellite view to have a look. And I also looked at NZ satellite view when reading Kiwi's stories.

I found it interesting that Kiwi's two epic tales, Westpoint Tales and Kaimoana Tales fictionalized real places. It took a certain amount of investigation for me to discover that the towns of Westport and Kaikoura (recently heavily impacted by the earthquake) were Westpoint and Kaimoana. Later with his much shorter Okarito novels he used the name of the actual location which was a remote village on the west coast of the south island. For Brownsville Tales series I've never figured out for sure which city he used as his model.

Unfortunately there really isn't much to the hamlet of Sanitaria Springs, even though it had an interesting history. I found out even more about it after I started writing as the old Sanitarium was actually purchased by a religious group, disassembled and moved. The only part of the structure that remains is a carriage house that is now someone's home. Somewhere I have some images of the town, of a Methodist church which is, I think, very near the cemetery.

As far as RPI, the picture used was a free image, though I could have gone up tot Troy and snapped a picture. Ryan, as do I, have some ideas about who their characters should be and his always included higher education. RPI was a logical choice, keeping them geographically close to Alec and Sasha as well as keeping them in NYS which opened possible story lines. Ryan had considered having Kale and Chase go to different schools, but felt he couldn't part them in the end. It would have made story telling with them difficult as well.

I have never used those services in reading, but I have used them in writing, occasionally.

Although there's never been any established requirement that any writer anywhere must site his stories in real locations, whenever he does I do expect that he will stick to the reality of the location's flora, fauna, and general geographic and climate characteristics. If he won't make that effort I tend to put the story down. I'm very impressed that the Sanitaria Springs cadre of writers tend to follow through on that sense of commitment to their chosen setting.

SFO?  Not familiar with that acronym.

Thanks for clearing that up, Teddy.  I am used to seeing San Francisco abbreviated as SF.

I corresponded with one author about 11 years ago about a fictional city he had made up a name for.  The weird thing was, there was a real town of the same name right almost exactly where he placed it in his mind-- a very small town, whereas his fictional city had a population of more than 150,000.  Now he tries to check maps and town/city names before he randomly places something.