May 5, 2010 | Book Stuff,Draven Atreides,Draven Atreides, Teenage Informant Series,Life in General,Road Trip Wednesday
Road Trip Wednesday is a “Blog Carnival”, where YA Highway‘s contributors post a weekly writing or reading-related question and answer it in on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.
You’re more than welcome to participate! Just answer the question on your own blog, and leave a link to it in their comments.
Topic #28: What photos inspire your books?
I can honestly say that the only time I use photos for my books is when I’m trying to describe something. I didn’t do this with my first two books, but found the need to do so with the DA series.
This apartment complex inspired Draven’s living quarters. I went there, photographed the outside, and even toured an empty apartment, writing down everything I saw. Everything I saw ended up in the book.
The Portland Square apartment complex on Portland Avenue had been the first complex Ty had shown me my second day here, and I’d fallen in love with the open floorplan at first sight….
….On the street level is the parking garage, a City of Phoenix police sub-station, a small gym, a reasonably priced restaurant, and a sandwich place. A dog park with wrought iron benches sits in the middle of the street, like a median, and spans the whole length of the street, from Central Ave to 3rd Ave…….
…..As I take the elevator to the 4th floor in building C, I can understand why we’ve never run into each other. The complex has 410 units, 4 levels in each, and the three buildings take up three blocks….
Formally known as The Willow House, this coffee/deli shop was the inspiration behind Draven’s favorite hangout, CoolBeans Cafe. It’s under a new name, new management and totally looks different now. But again, I went there, ate, took pictures of each room, and talked to a couple of the employees (who worked there at the time) to get the story about the place.
Located in a cute historic house, CoolBeans Café is a coffee/deli place and a popular hang out for the students at Craycroft. Rader is already waiting in line. After paying for snacks, we walk around the converted house, past the kitchen where Vanessa hands out food, and check out the porch. Then I take him back to one of three non-smoking rooms.
“Do all the rooms have a theme?” he asks as we sit down.
I grin, knowing he’s thinking that because of the room where I like to sit. I refer to it as the Mother Nature Room due to the paintings about saving the environment and Mother Earth. The books on the small bookshelf are about natural healing, saving the environment, and nature.
“They have poetry slams on Thursday nights and open mike nights out on the porch on Mondays. I’ve yet to go to one, but I’d like to sometime,” I say, removing the lid from my strawberry yogurt and stirring it with a spoon.
“Definitely sounds like an experience. The closets are so small, but it’s neat how they made them into display cases for all that stuff.”
“Yeah, I never would’ve thought of doing something like that.”
He points at the walls. “Are the paintings from local artists?”
“Yep. So’s the merchandise. The books are from estate sales.”
“Nice. So, you come here a lot?”
“Everyday, actually. In the morning for breakfast and sometimes for lunch.”
He nods. “So this place used to be a house?”
“Uh-huh. It’s been a coffee shop for about eleven years. The ladies that run this place, Jules and Van, told me it used to be a real estate office, a pet shop, a knickknack store, and a karate studio.”
Do I sound like a travel brochure or what? Gawd, just shut up and eat your damn yogurt.
The school that Draven goes to, Craycroft School of the Arts, was inspired by the high school my niece graduated from: Metropolitan Arts Institute.
When I first started writing Book One, I took the day off and “shadowed” her. Very fun and very cool (everyone thought I was a new student. Shock abounded when her classmates found out I was her aunt…and a lot older than I what I appeared to be. LOL). The school is in a former office building. There’s no cafeteria–only a break room type of room with two vending machines and a refrigerator–no athletic teams and the former offices are now classrooms. The whole time I was there, I was wishing I had gone to a high school like that.
I’ve never used pictures for my characters. My niece (the girl in the pic) is the inspiration behind the DA series and the character of Draven. Draven’s friends, as well as all the characters from my first two books, are based on everyday people. People I’ve met, maybe people I’ve worked with, or people I saw from just people-watching. When it comes to creating characters, I’ve never been the type to search for pics or tear pics from magazines. It’s always been just people I see and writing down what I see.
So, what about you? Do you use pictures to inspire your stories? Do tell.
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