# Which of these places should my new horror story take place in???



## rotsuchi1 (Mar 17, 2014)

Rhyolite, Nevada. North Brother Island, New York. Kennecott, Alaska. Seattle Underground, Washington. Thurmond, West Virginia.


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## popsprocket (Mar 17, 2014)

Wherever you like. It's your story.

Besides which, when setting something in the present day, the city you choose is generally of little consequence.


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## rotsuchi1 (Mar 17, 2014)

They are all abandoned, i couldnt figure out which has the more eerie feeling about it.


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## egpenny (Mar 18, 2014)

The Seattle underground isn't actually abandoned, there are regular tours down there.  It's an interesting place, but to set a horror plot there, you really need to visit it to use some of the unique features, if you've been, then it would be a good place.  I think the place determines the type of horror, or the other way around.  Once you know what's going to happen, then research the places you've mentioned and go with the one that will suit your level of horror.


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## Morkonan (Mar 21, 2014)

rotsuchi1 said:


> They are all abandoned, i couldnt figure out which has the more eerie feeling about it.



An island... If you want that "Abandoned" feeling, you may as well pull out all the stops, right? Not only are people on an island "abandoned", they're fairly powerless to "escape." One can always climb out of a sewer, but one can't as easily leave an island.

A note on that:

In "The Thing", the researchers were as effectively isolated as they would have been on an island, due to the terrain and the conditions. If you don't want to use an island, use a similar circumstance that makes the surrounding terrain inhospitable or unnavigable. That will net you the benefit of "isolation" and "impotence" that you can draw on for more horror elements.


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## A_Jones (Mar 21, 2014)

When in doubt go with metaphor.   I agree, an island is already secluded.


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## Riptide (Mar 22, 2014)

I don't know... the island seems too overused. Nevada has some nice deserts. Alaska has those barren wastelands of snow...never been there. The others I can't help with., The snow and desert both have their own feel to them, their own horror's associate


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## Ixarku (Mar 31, 2014)

Morkonan said:


> An island... If you want that "Abandoned" feeling, you may as well pull out all the stops, right? Not only are people on an island "abandoned", they're fairly powerless to "escape." One can always climb out of a sewer, but one can't as easily leave an island.
> 
> A note on that:
> 
> In "The Thing", the researchers were as effectively isolated as they would have been on an island, due to the terrain and the conditions. If you don't want to use an island, use a similar circumstance that makes the surrounding terrain inhospitable or unnavigable. That will net you the benefit of "isolation" and "impotence" that you can draw on for more horror elements.




Incidentally, the story I'm working on is set on an ancient, derelict space city for almost precisely these same reasons.  It's essentially an island in space.


I agree with the others, though, that islands are overused.  A desert or arctic wasteland might prove interesting, but personally I find the idea of isolation in an urban setting the most interesting.  Regardless, if setting a story in a real-life place, I'd suggest, if feasible, a vacation or short trip to see the place (or someplace reasonably similar) in person.  There are nuances that you're not going to pick up on just from watching films or reading books about a place.  There's no substitute for personal experience, in my opinion.


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## PSFoster (Apr 15, 2014)

North Brother Island has a strange history, so it would be a good place. The possibility of it being haunted is also a plus.


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## mike1w (Apr 15, 2014)

I would go with whichever you are either most knowledgeable about or most interested in.


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## BryanJ62 (May 21, 2014)

*I grew up in Northern Washington (about 70 miles north of Seattle). Please choose Seattle. *


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## MysticalMind (May 22, 2014)

Shouldn't you come up with a story first (at least so you have a rough idea) rather than tailoring your story to fit the place you want to write about? It seems a bit restrictive to chose the setting before the plot because a horror story could, at least in theory, take place anywhere. Sure each place has things that are unique about it, and they may influence the story, but I still would think it's better to come up with an idea first.


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## Greimour (May 22, 2014)

Deserts are boring horrors. I would go for island too.. with reason. (Long reason follows) 

The best horror I ever read (because I hate horrors and the like) was like one third sci-fi, one third fantasy and one third horror. I believe it was an adaptation light novel of a manga, but I can't be sure. In that story they used an island and since then I have a soft spot for remote/deserted islands.

In the story, a plane went missing (probably over the Bermuda Triangle, I don't know/remember) ... A Billionaire Chinese-man (maybe Japanese, I forget) had a son on the plane and hired a famous scientist woman who also had a son on the plane. With incredible amount of funding to find out what happened, they eventually ascertained (though this wasn't disclosed until near the end of the story) the plane actually slipped through time and space (hence the sci-fi) - Up until that point of the story, I didn't realize the sci-fi aspect of it - it was all horror and adventure mixing together equally. 

They had worked out the plane would crash land a few hundred years into the future in an area that was currently ocean. The Billionaire decided to build an island there... literally. Using technology that has been used today to do the same thing, he had an island built covering the entire area they could land/crash. The island was pretty big, maybe as big as Saint Knitts and Nevis (226km squared - big for man made)

After the crash landing, people were panicking. Half of the flight passengers had been children aged 15-17 following school trips and what-not returning to either Japan or China (I don't remember). One of the men in the panic blamed the pilot and despite the pilots attempts to calm the situation, someone stabbed him straight off the bat (first death came quickly). The people panicked further and for obvious reasons, the groups parted ways pretty quickly. 

The main character was a boy of fifteen. I don't remember what he was doing, but he was about as normal as a boy could be up until the crash. Afterward, he simply went his own way but some of his class followed him and stuck with him. Pretty soon he became the leader of the group without actually trying - they all just did what he said. He was fair, kind and protective and always did his best for those with him. Along the way they met plenty of trouble. For some reason, the billionaire had decided to create creatures to put on the island (which was now an uninhabited island - mostly jungle with some strange locations and ruined buildings in a few choice spots.) Something in one of the ruins confirmed the technology had been of 2010 but had also been a project lasting decades so the technology advanced along the way. Diaries and so forth along with other evidence eventually told the whole story. It seemed the billionaire wanted an island his son could have an adventure on - because by time they crash landed his son would have no family or relatives left. Even humans themselves may no longer exist. A few hundred years - anything can happen. 

I can't be sure, but I think a plague that started on the island spread globally and wiped out the planet (of humans) - all information was contained within I just don't remember what the light novel was - I could probably find the manga it was based on if  really tried, but that might take hours so I can't be bothered. The reason the plague was no longer active was also partly theorized on by a genius kid who had been accompanying the main character since the beginning. (I don't think they had been on speaking terms before the crash, I don't remember that either - just in the same school maybe.)

Some of the creatures they encountered were most definitely akin to dinosaurs - others were bizarre and others were mythical (like 'The Kracken' or a Giant Squid) All of which had been created by scientists on the island prior to the plague outbreak. Skeletons inside a mostly ruined compound suggested animals didn't pass beyond the outer wall (for some reason) and the skeletons as well as other reasons made them decide it was safer outside the walls with the creatures than inside the ruin without the creatures.
On top of that, they encountered other groups and they weren't all exactly friendly. (some were)

The main bad guy ended up being (if I remember right) the boy/man who stabbed the pilot (I think he was a schoolmate of the hero). He went a bit crazy after a few months and started killing his own group one by one. Eventually it was our heroes group who stopped him. The story only went on for six-months or so, but kind of felt like reading one really long day. Also, the actual ending came two years after the crash where they had built a raft/ship thing to sail North to where star signs suggested would be (or should be) the Okinawa Islands. 

*** 

Though it was only a light novel - and based on a manga to-boot... I really enjoyed the dark horror side of the story and the adventurous side of the story in equal measure -the mystery ending up being a bit of a sci-fi palm off explanation was easily acceptable after all the guessing along the way. Since then, I have had a soft spot for islands. 
If done right, islands are epic <3


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