June 21, 2011

IDEAS ON TUESDAY #18: Stalking the Abandoned Mall....

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them.


Current Event: http://www.kare11.com/news/article/925530/396/Brookdale-Mall-Finally-a-new-life

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them.

In the 1978 horror flick, DAWN OF THE DEAD (written and directed by the master horror director, George Romero), after the zombie apocalypse, a mall becomes a refuge for a couple of humans who clean out the zombies and go on a wild shopping spree. Of course, that doesn’t last long and the zombies get in and go on a nasty eating spree…

What if we turned this idea on its head?

I don’t live far from the mall depicted above – so what if we have a dead mall. Teenagers wangle their way into it one night to have a grand old party. What nobody noticed as that the mall was scheduled for destruction by dynamite the next morning. When they head for their entry point, they discover that it’s been blocked…in fact, they can’t get out. Something; someone; WHAT has trapped them in the mall…

NEXT! Add in the original plot of the novel, I AM LEGEND ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Legend_(novel))in which the zombies are afraid of the humans. Stir the mess together, and what do you get...

image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/63/Dawn_of_the_dead.jpg/220px-Dawn_of_the_dead.jpg

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