And now for a rousing game of "Help the Writer!"

[Lvl_9_Gazebo]

Alright folks, I need your help. As some might remember, I've been working on a horror novel for more than a year now, but lately I've become bogged down in it. There are several things that seem wrong with my approach, and so I'm thinking of restarting the whole thing.

Now, here's where I need assistance. Originally the novel was set in an enormous, European-style opera house that kept behaving in a manner unseemly of a building. For example, a door that led from a lobby to a stairwell, leads from the stairwell to a large ballroom that wasn't there before. That kind of thing.

I know nothing of opera houses. I know nothing of opera. I basically picked it out because opera houses are cool, and because the idea actually did fit in well with the concept. However, your average theater would do just as well, and I began to toy with the idea of where else you might find a theater in addition to lots of other rooms and hallways and things like that. I considered perhaps an abandoned school or an abandoned resort hotel.

Which one is creepier? Imagine a very large high school or even a college left to decay for several years. Imagine a very large resort hotel left to decay. It's got to be something large enough to accommodate several uses that I can employ in my writing. Ballrooms, dining rooms, dorms or hotel rooms, offices, a library... so on and so forth.

And having decided which, a school of some kind or a hotel, is creepier, let me run a scenario past those of you in the know.

Let's pretend that this hotel or school sits by a river in a mountainous area. Some time in the 1990's, that river experienced massive flooding, which inundated the complex. Also, a mudslide came down one of the hills immediately behind the buildings, taking out either a dorm or a wing of the hotel, and possibly killing some guests/students. The place was condemned shortly thereafter, and has sat neglected, tied up in the courts ever since.

Is that a reasonable and realistic scenario? In such a situation, would the doors have been sealed, leaving everything, from books to papers to settings on the dining room table behind? Abandoned buildings are scarier when it appears that the people just up and left them for whatever reason, so I'm trying to think of a way to make it so that the characters can wander around in a place where there might even still be clothes in the closets and blankets on the beds.

Thoughts?

[Caveat Emptor]

When you mentioned "hotel" and "water," I think of that hag (?) from the bathtub in "The Shining." When I think of "mudslide," I think of "buried bodies" and that leads to "Poltergeist" i.e. "You son of a bitch. You moved the cemetery, but you left the bodies, didn't you? You son of a bitch, you left the bodies and you only moved the head stones. You only moved the head stones. Why? Why?"

So I'm thinking of water-logged ghosts or zombies. Does that sound stupid?

[Dragonlover]

School. Hotels are too uniform, whereas a school grows organically and so can have walled off rooms and stuff like that a lot easier.

Dragonlover

[Lvl_9_Gazebo]

When you mentioned "hotel" and "water," I think of that hag (?) from the bathtub in "The Shining." When I think of "mudslide," I think of "buried bodies" and that leads to "Poltergeist" i.e. "You son of a bitch. You moved the cemetery, but you left the bodies, didn't you? You son of a bitch, you left the bodies and you only moved the head stones. You only moved the head stones. Why? Why?"

So I'm thinking of water-logged ghosts or zombies. Does that sound stupid?

Not at all, although to tell the truth, all the ghosts and whatnot will come from inside the main character's own head. One of the problems that I faced with the opera house was the fact that the character realized he was trapped in a building that did not exist and immediately freaked the ever-living hell out, which made it really hard to motivate him to go on. He wanted to do what we'd all want to do which is wrap up in a ball on the floor and rock and whimper. I need to keep him unsuspecting for a longer time as he eases into the horror, so he'll keep going and not overload.

School. Hotels are too uniform, whereas a school grows organically and so can have walled off rooms and stuff like that a lot easier.

Dragonlover

I dunno... The grand old resorts can be very organic as they grow to accommodate increased business. There are several in the city where I live and I'd go into a panic attack if I were to get lost in the largest one -- 500 rooms in three wings, God alone knows how many lobbies, ballrooms, meeting rooms, dining rooms, and public areas, a spa, pools, tennis courts... That hotel didn't as much grow as it did metastasize.

[Brighid45]

Of the two options in the poll, imo a school is perhaps a bit less cliched than a hotel. And a new school that's haunted or disturbed would be creepier than an old one. You'd expect an older place to be haunted--not a new building.

Personally I find abandoned hospitals of any kind to be the creepiest, simply because of all the powerful energy released by physical, mental, emotional and spiritual illness and trapped within. A sanitarium would easily fulfill most of your requirements. Maybe take a look at a place like Waverly Hills.

Good luck with the novel. :)

[morgana]

Personally I find abandoned hospitals of any kind to be the creepiest, simply because of all the powerful energy released by physical, mental, emotional and spiritual illness and trapped within. A sanitarium would easily fulfill most of your requirements. Maybe take a look at a place like Waverly Hills.

Good luck with the novel. :)

And an abandoned *teaching* hospital might very well have an amphitheater/lecture hall that would fit what you're wanting to do. Say, one from the 1890s to 1930s.

[Lvl_9_Gazebo]

Thank you, and I agree, although unfortunately I just don't know enough about the inner workings of a hospital to really portray one realistically.

Here was the old set-up:

The main character awoke with no memory in the upper balcony of a massive, decaying opera house, and looked down on the stage to see his boyfriend singing there. He set out to find him and ask him what the hell was going on, and immediately set about encountering terrible things.

Here's the new set-up that I envision:

The main character and his boyfriend were doing some urban spelunking in this hotel/school/whatever, which would have become a fairly famous locale for that in the city where it's set. He awakes under a pile of rubble on the stage of the theater, having been brained with a piece of debris or a set piece that fell over. His boyfriend is nowhere in sight, and he sets out to find him, immediately encountering terrible things.

The reasons that I want to make some serious changes here are because for one, like I mentioned before, originally the character realized he was in a building that did not exist, and lost it. It's hard to make your character move when they're having a nervous breakdown. Secondly, the amnesiac main character schtick is way overused. Third... setting this in a more American, recognizable locale, instead of the Paris opera house plopped down and left to rot... the character can go on a lot longer before he realizes that something is definitely not what it seems. It's a more subtle approach that will have the character in over his head before he even realizes it. He'll be past the point of escape before he realizes he should have fled the instant he picked himself up, whereas with the opera house, I kept asking myself -- "Why am I forcing him to not fling himself out the window seeing all this?"

[rvdammit]

What about a Mall?

And as an aside various sites featuring photgraphy of abandonned buildings:

http://www.abandoned.ru/
http://www.deadmalls.com/
http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/
http://www.opacity.us/main.php

[Knightmare]

I know it's cliché, but how about an immense abandoned insane asylum/mental hospital?

I've actually been inside one. About 12 years ago, I was going to a college near my home town. One night, after some drinks, my friends and I decide to go visit this place and have a look around. It wasn't condemned, just abandoned.

Nevertheless, it was very spooky. Noises. Shadows. Drafts. And did I mention this place was huge? It was larger than my college. It was about the size of a small university.

We only got to see 2 of the buildings, but that was enough for us. We spent a few hours there, and I've seen some things that I can't explain, nor won't forget.

[justZu]

Now, here's where I need assistance. Originally the novel was set in an enormous, European-style opera house that kept behaving in a manner unseemly of a building. For example, a door that led from a lobby to a stairwell, leads from the stairwell to a large ballroom that wasn't there before. That kind of thing.

Is that a reasonable and realistic scenario? In such a situation, would the doors have been sealed, leaving everything, from books to papers to settings on the dining room table behind? Abandoned buildings are scarier when it appears that the people just up and left them for whatever reason, so I'm trying to think of a way to make it so that the characters can wander around in a place where there might even still be clothes in the closets and blankets on the beds.

Thoughts?

:blink: I hate to be a raincloud(please don't get angry), but the changing-around layout in a large abandoned building(with everything left intact) sounds like Rose Red, the Stephen King mini-series.

However, I do love Horror of all kinds, so I'm looking forward to reading your book when its available. :yes:

[Dreamstalker]

Personally I find abandoned hospitals of any kind to be the creepiest, simply because of all the powerful energy released by physical, mental, emotional and spiritual illness and trapped within. A sanitarium would easily fulfill most of your requirements. Maybe take a look at a place like Waverly Hills.
http://www.darkpassage.com/hopscotch.htm

The "Hospital of Seven Teeth" is actually not too far from me. Unfortunately, I never got a chance to get onto the grounds, and it seems that construction has begun now (something about plans to turn it into a country club...that might be interesting story fodder).

[cinema guy]

One of the oldest adages about writing is, "Write what you know." So, since you work in a hotel (IIRC), write about a hotel.

[draggar]

IMO, Hotels are overdone (coughcoughTheShiningcoughcough). They have been a popular setting for horror novels and movies, but this could be because almost everyone can relate to hotels (since we stay at them our entire lives).

I prefer a school, it's fresh, new, and older schools can easily have littke nooks, cranies, steam tunnels, and whatnot that can add into a novel.

The most important part is making the reader visualise what is going on, as Dreamstalker said, write about what you know, you work at a hotel, but you also went to a school.

[Dreamstalker]

I would go for either a school or a hospital (for the latter, there's probably plenty of information).

There's actually an old jail here (Charles Street Jail, apparently a bit notorious for unjustly accused inmates and prisoner abuses) that's being converted into a hotel.

[Der Cute]

How about a B & B made out of someone's house? Old, Victorian-esq...with the nooks & crannies for making out, along with an outdoor ampitheater / stage for local plays.

Or an old church converted to a house. churches have lofts and little unknown places.

Cutenoob

[Brighid45]

Cool site, Dreamstalker! Thanks, I have it bookmarked. :)

HH, if you're still having difficulties deciding on a setting for your story, how about asking your main character where he sees himself waking up? This sounds strange, but it has worked for me in the past. (I've written a lot of fanfic and am currently working on a paranormal romance, nothing published yet.) Imo, characters are the ones who guide the story, so asking them for help is reasonable--after all, you're just asking yourself what you want to do, albeit in a roundabout sort of way. Just a thought.

[MystyGlyttyr]

I kept asking myself -- "Why am I forcing him to not fling himself out the window seeing all this?"

It's sad, but I know exactly what you mean with that statement. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten halfway through a chapter of something and then stopped to think "Wait, would any sane human being with a room temperature IQ actually be putting up with this?"

Fortunately, I've recently uncovered a character for whom it works...I.E., he's smart and relatively sane, but he's stubborn, prideful and got zero commen sense. :lol:

Personally (and it's because I'm a wrestler and that's what I know), I always find empty arenas to be amongst the creepiest ass thing you can be in. Not only do they have halls and doors and rooms upon rooms to get lost in, including the always popular boiler room and usually at least one basement, but there's always that sense of having a vast, empty space very close by, and the echos are terrifying.

[Lvl_9_Gazebo]

Thank for your input, everyone. I'm still bouncing around between what feels right here.

All I know is that the character wakes up from having been knocked out on a stage in a theater. As for where that theater is, that's where I bog down. Whatever I choose, things are going to get very muddled by the end, and it may even turn out that whatever place it is, doesn't actually exist, just like the opera house didn't exist. In fact, I was thinking of having the building mutate, over time, into that opera house.

It's a matter of what these things symbolize. An opera house or a theater symbolize entertainment -- something is going on as entertainment for someone else. Schools mean knowledge and learning. Hotels mean shelter and comfort, a refuge.

A new idea just came to me though... I saw something like it on www.forgottendetroit.com . What about a church and school complex? This novel is set where I live, in Asheville, NC, and while we weren't particularly known as a hotbed of Catholicism, it's not too far of a stretch to think there might have been a huge church big enough to run its own boarding school -- especially since this area was the resort of choice for the wealthy from all over the nation in the 19th Century. Seems reasonable that Catholics from all over the South would have sent their children to be educated in the same wealthy city where they all spent their summers. Hm... Big abandoned churches are plenty scary.

[myswtghst]

I like the idea of a hotel, but a boarding school would actually work quite well in that regard, as I think what appeals to me is it being a place that people live and sleep and eat and all that. For me, school was somewhere I went, got it over with, and then went off to live my life. Though our theatre in my high school (where I spent a lot of time) was reportedly haunted....

Anyhow, I like the idea of a boarding school/church--churches can be quite scary, and having it be living quarters as well, works for me. :)