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Monday, February 28, 2011My Own Piece of Hollywood
I've never been to Los Angeles. Actually I've never been farther west that Nevada, but this spring we're headed to Hollywood. The husband and I are planning a trip to Las Vegas and then a 2-day excursion to Hollywood/Los Angeles. I had my first taste of Hollywood this weekend, right here in Ohio.
This weekend we attended a murder-mystery night with some friends at the Mansfield Reformatory - the real-life prison where Shawshank Redemption, scenes from Tango & Cash and Air Force One were shot. We all joked about going to prison to have some fun before we actually drove through the gates...but driving through? Yeah, that made it a little more serious. Of course, we still joked about it.
Unlike many other prisons, the Mansfield Reformatory doesn't have cells facing one another; if you're in a cell, you're facing a rock wall. No windows. The exterior, barbed-wire-topped walls have been torn down, paint is peeling from the bars, and no prisoners have been inside the walls since the 1990s. And yet there is still a feeling of lonliness and loss inside. Solemnity that even the silliness of the murder-mystery (there were a lot of jokers in the crowd) just couldn't cut through. I can't imagine what it would be like for the actual prisoners. Which brings me to books and atmosphere, which is a part of setting. The part of setting that I usually don't get right right away. My books are mostly fun and a lot flirty, but there still needs to be an atmospheric undertone...just like the undertone of the prison was still there on our fun date night.
Another thing that really caught my attention - and had me reached for my notebook and pen often - were the non-prison events held there. They host weddings, receptions, ghost hunting, haunted houses...the list goes on. And I thought, what an interesting kind of place to set a romance novel - not my usual contemporary books, but something different. I've had about twenty ideas hit me since Saturday night, and I'm making notes. Most will probably remain ideas, but I'm hoping that one might be something more....
What about you? Where do you get your ideas?
Posted By: Kristina Knight @ 3:51:43 PM