Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Coincidences and other strangeness

Several years ago, I set out to write a story about a haunted house. That was the story that became "The House of Many Doors," my YA urban fantasy tale of a boy who must challenge a house for the life and sanity of his father.

I had an image of the house from the old TV show "The Adams Family" as a model for the house. So I fired up my computer, went to google and searched for the show. Got a picture of the house and went to architectural websites to find out what kind of house it was. It was important to know as much as I could, since the house becomes not just setting, but another character.

That's how I found out about Mansard/Second Empire houses.

So, fast forward to last month. A query for "Doors" went through the rounds and I was fortunate to hook the interest of my agent. While I was riding that high, after the "call" and signing the contract, I happened to run an errand to the library one town over from me. I go to this library quite often, but almost always park in the front. This time, there were no free spaces and I had to drive to the back lot. I looked up and saw the house. The picture I've posted above is essentially Parker's house. (In fact, it would be *perfect* if it were brick, not clapboard, but then I would *really* have gotten me weirded out!).

I've never noticed that house before. Honest.

There are a lot of Mansard homes in our area, but I'd never seen one with the windows boarded up and with 'keep out' signs everywhere. It seemed like an omen of sorts. :) A good omen, even though it's a spooky house.

1 comment:

  1. Nice picture LJ! That is a very spooky looking house. I have lived in a couple of haunted houses over the years and I actually liked it, keeps it interesting...of course nothing bad ever happened so I would probably feel different under other circumstances. Your story interested me, about the research for your story...One author I know of off the top of my head who writes about the houses she has bought or lived in is Anne Rice. In her book "The Witching Hour" the house in the story is actually her First Street home in New Orleans that she bought and restored. When your story/Novel is finished I would love to read it so keep all of us at WILD posted!

    Cheers!

    Shawn Nacona

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