Everyone's hometown is exotic to someone if you study the history and place access to the fantastical within it. Most places where people live already contain elements of the fantastic & adventures of the heroic (if not horrific & grisly).
"I'm not inspired enough. I need to type out my stories in a CASTLE!" (That said, it must have been a helluva place to write in when there was thunder & lightning outside.)
My own beloved Michigan is home to James Oliver Curwood's eccentric Castle studio in Owosso, the Purple Gang of the Roaring 20s Detroit Riverfront. Cult leaders declared themselves the Mormon King of Beaver Island or Fielded Baseball Teams out of Benton Harbor. Men plunged to their deaths in the storm-tossed waves of Lake Superior, inspring a timeless song. Radio DJ hoaxers gave birth to a living urban legend. Eccentric midwesterners naming places Battle Creek and Hell. And that's just the people!
Who knows how deep that pond goes? Is there a slithering horror at the bottom, or is it a gateway to a Counter Earth where we serve Cotton Dogs and Corn Candy, and you have to toss balloons at darts?
Long stretches ot wooded highway that you can get lost in between those great cities. Detroit's underground steam tunnels from the Edison plant. Vast salt mines, chill and damp. Small lakeside towns with more Ice Cream stores than pharmacies that sit quietly waiting for the tourist season to arrive again. The wooded expanse to the north, home to log cabins and old forts where the English, French, American and Indian battled for control of the great lakes. The The cyclopean Pictured Rocks I'd visited as a child. (I even visted Niagara Falls. Niagara Falls? I remember Niagara Falls! SLOWLY I TURNED, STEP BY STEP, INCH BY INCH...)
Sometimes, photography is the art of catching Purple Prose visually.
Back when I was drawing the webcomic Peter is the Wolf, I made multiple trips out to my old alma mater in Ypsilanti for photo reference of the town and college campus. One lengthy day during the editing of the long-delayed book 2, I made a circuit of the entire downtown area in the south, a wide trek up the side and down the railroad tracks to the north of the campus. Old buildings, new buildings, Masonic Temples & frathouses, all to depict a handful of fictional streets. I'd had fans mention they could recognize the student eatery at McKinney Union where Peter & the girls sat down for lunch in chapter 6. The historic Water tower makes appearances throughout as a point of reference.
Ypsilanti is one of those towns with a literal wrong side of the tracks.
There's a reason why Lovecraft wrote Rhode Island*, King stuffs everything into Maine, and Robert E Howard devoted a cycle of stories to the American Southwest. Ease of access to a setting allows you to consistently mine evocative and compelling inspiration from them. So imitate Lovecraft, to walking tours, study the architecture, visit local history, and use that to drag yourself out of that D&D-inspired Imitation Tolekien rut.
Canda exists. Honest! It's just across... that spooky, Silent Hill-esque Fog... But most people depict a paddle boat on a clear sunny day on their book covers.
Hard & fast rule as a comic book illustrator or a writer of of any sort? Carry a digital camera with you, wherever you go. Doesn't have to be high quality, you'll be amazed at the compelling reference material you'll come across just driving. Keep your head on a swivel & be ready to pull over, if need be.
Try to tell me that house insn't hauntedAF. I dare you. I'm already too scared to go in.
Now if you liked this, consider supporting me on Patreon! Patrons recieve access to my discord server where you can get exclusive access to works in progress & discounts on YCH commissions.
*Lovecraft's titular Shunned House was based on a real house!