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Research for the homeless piece
Jan. 26th, 2012 09:54 amThis story is set in LA in 1994, and begins as Daniel walks out of his lecture fiasco into the rain with all of his belongings in the world in two suitcases. So I have been toodling along, writing this as if this were a constrained vertical landscape, but THINKING that a lot of the action would take place in South Central. (Yes, laugh. It's all I deserve. I carefully avoided watching any of the relevant movies in the late 80s early 90s.)
Anyway, yesterday, I wanted to look at some footage or photos or whatever of South Central so that I could do a better job of setting the scene. *facepalm* Like Jack could blend into the background in South Central. That place is FLAT. And weirdly wide open. The roads are really broad, and the houses have little yards. And no wonder nobody walks in LA, the sprawl is crazy. Plus, I want him to be able to possibly be somewhat feared among the locals, and I think the kind of subtle threat that Jack would project would just not be that scary to roving bands of angry, armed juvenile gangbangers.
So this morning I decided to do some *actual research* and realized I was a total idiot. I wanted Jack to be holed up, probably in some abandonded industrial location, so I put in "industrial district Los Angeles" and low and behold, I found "Skid Row." (Also known as Central City East.) Yes. Go ahead. Laugh more. It's thick with homeless, it's been converted in the 90s to a commercial/industrial zone, so I figure it would have been in transition in '94. Plus it is within a mile or so of the hotel where Daniel was giving his lecture. It has lots of services for the homeless, so it would be a natural place for someone to take Daniel when they found him confused on the street. AND it has the added benefit of being convenient to the type of people that I want to have paying Jack for sex. So.
Research. A writer's best friend. No, Reston, VA, is not a concrete block structure under an overpass, and Fairfax County is not full of cornfields and chickens. *prods other writers*
Anyway, yesterday, I wanted to look at some footage or photos or whatever of South Central so that I could do a better job of setting the scene. *facepalm* Like Jack could blend into the background in South Central. That place is FLAT. And weirdly wide open. The roads are really broad, and the houses have little yards. And no wonder nobody walks in LA, the sprawl is crazy. Plus, I want him to be able to possibly be somewhat feared among the locals, and I think the kind of subtle threat that Jack would project would just not be that scary to roving bands of angry, armed juvenile gangbangers.
So this morning I decided to do some *actual research* and realized I was a total idiot. I wanted Jack to be holed up, probably in some abandonded industrial location, so I put in "industrial district Los Angeles" and low and behold, I found "Skid Row." (Also known as Central City East.) Yes. Go ahead. Laugh more. It's thick with homeless, it's been converted in the 90s to a commercial/industrial zone, so I figure it would have been in transition in '94. Plus it is within a mile or so of the hotel where Daniel was giving his lecture. It has lots of services for the homeless, so it would be a natural place for someone to take Daniel when they found him confused on the street. AND it has the added benefit of being convenient to the type of people that I want to have paying Jack for sex. So.
Research. A writer's best friend. No, Reston, VA, is not a concrete block structure under an overpass, and Fairfax County is not full of cornfields and chickens. *prods other writers*
