Today’s Misdemeanor : Loitering
There’s no great club without a clubhouse- That little place where your characters meet to discuss the bad guy or revenge tactics. It makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, like you’re a part of their inner circle. Or in the case of the men from ‘Fight Club’-the basement of some abandoned building where they can bond while punching the living crap out of each other.
In some books it’s the habitual campfire on the beach, or in the woods. Sometimes it’s the parking lot of some abandoned building or a hut located on the outskirts of an enchanted school of witchcraft and wizardry (gotta have an HP reference. Now I know why JK Rowling rocks. She’s got EVERYTHING in her books).
We used to hang out in all of the above. Well, minus the hut. Across the railroad tracks and through the woods, to the bonfire keg party we go. But there was also the Mcdonalds parking lot. The Baker’s Dozen parking lot. The 7eleven parking lot. And the Hank’s Dairy Bar parking lot…you get the picture. It was a small town. I consider myself lucky that we didn’t tip cows for fun.
What places have you loitered and what is your favorite meeting place in movies or literature?
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28 comments:
When I was younger, it was cool to hang out on Kirkwood (a street in our downtown area). The parking garage (in the downtown area). And ofcourse, you would cruise you car thru the parking garage, down Kirkwood and back. We were cool. NOT. LOL. It's so funny thinking back.
My characters seem to end up at a diner or someone's house. That's odd. I should change it up!
~JD
My favourite novel meeting place tends to be a bar or cafe, and when I was a teenager it was the image of the 1950's diner. In reality it was nothing as glamorous - a park and the local shops! Karen.
Ever since I was a child, we had this sandwich store with every type of juice and every type of sandwich ever! So, even after we all got jobs, and had busy lives, we'd always meet in there, kindda like in a tropical Central Perk!
My characters however always seem to end up in Hankan though... they are weapons of massive consumption.
Hmmm. Not really.
For my mc and her potential love interest, it was the beach. But someone told me to mix things up a little (though they still have to meet at the beach cause the story's partly about swimming in the lake). So I did. :)
I love your blog and just had to join. I too am a stalker of agents. How has your quest been going?
The absolutely best hangout was a treehouse we occupied when we were 10. Me and my brothers inherited it from the previous owners of the house my parents bought, but it didn't take long for that to become the spot in the neighborhood to be. It could comfortably hold a dozen ten year olds and had a sliding pole for quick exits! Great times!!!
I always wanted a Soda Shoppe like in the Archie comics...and of course, I LOVED Breakfast Club so even the detention room looked appealing.
Hands down best lit hang out: Three Broomsticks. The Burrow would be a close second.
When I was a young teenager it was cool to hang out at the mall and movie theater on Friday or Saturday night. Now when I'm at the mall on a weekend, it's hilarious seeing all those little teenyboppers! That used to be me and my friends, haha!
When I was an older teenager, it was cool to hang out on High Street. People would park their souped-up cars at the McDonalds, Dunkin' Donuts, and Dairy Queen. The street was two lanes and the traffic lights were pretty close, so it was cool to race with the car next to you until you came to a screeching halt at the next red light. They've since removed the second lane and added a bicycle lane, so I don't know what the older teenagers do these days!
When I was a kid, it was in some made-up fort in the woods. When I was a teen, it was definitely down town, by the harbor shops and the vintage clothing stores.
Great question though, it brought me back to my younger years for a while!
When I was a kid we hung out at each others houses...boring I know. When we were teens we hung out in Boothill parking lot off of the main street. Small town, what can I say?
Uh...you're not supposed to talk about Fight Club.
My favorite book hideout is the garden in the Secret Garden.
In high school, we used to hang out at the resovior and burn pallets in bonfires. Back then, the lowered trucks with the entire bed filled with a giant speaker was cool...we'd have a crazy time just dancing and hanging out around the flames until someone called the cops.
Then we'd all scramble and end up at the Taco Bell or the KFC in town.
Oh, loitering. What fun!
We used to loiter under the street light at the corner of the road. There was really nowhere else to go. What an exciting childhood I had! :)
My characters tend to loiter in castles and on space ships!
For me, I used to loiter in the park and on the beach.
I moved a fair bit when I was younger, but no matter where I went, there was The Loop. The track that the Cool Kids with a license and wheels would drive around looking for other Cool Kids with a license and wheels.
And of course, in Vegas the answer for cool places and cruising would be the Strip. Not really cruising though. More like drive 10 feet and stop. Drive a few more and stop. Wait for pedestrians to cross the street against the light...
GREAT post! Ahhhh, the memories!
I think we grew up in the same type of place: barren. Hah. We also had the dirt parking lot behind the UPS building and the water tower.
I'm not sure where my favorite loitering place in a book is. Probably someplace with just enough creep. LOL
As kids we used to loiter in each others' houses! LOL! You lot were rebels compared to us! And bet you would've beaten us too! LOL!
I always loved the Cheers gang meeting up in the Cheers bar and Frasier meeting up at Cafe Nervosa!
Take care
x
JK really DOES have everything in her books. It's kind of crazy when you really think about it.
Is it weird that I wish you'd tipped cows for fun? I think that would be a funny blog post.
Like you I loitered just about everywhere. We even had a makeshift hut/fort deep in the woods because we were SUPER cool like that...
We used to hang out at the Hardees (when it was still there). But it's still not as cool as the enchanted forest. I'd love to hang out there. =)
I think for me it was just usually my house! Maybe occasionally the park where we used to pretend the woods were haunted.
Sadly (or fortunately) they've since cut down those trees.
I remember hanging out at the restaurant where I worked, even when my friends and I weren't working. And at the beach near my house.
We used to love going to the bowling alley every Friday night in high school - pretty lame, huh?! :-)
I would love to meet at Hogsmeade for butter beers!!
Hanging out at the mall is always fun with my friends, but sometimes I often prefer to hang out with them at Borders or Barnes & Noble, since I'm surrounded by books.
Sometimes at each other's houses is also nice and quiet enough to just chill, talk to one another, and catch up from the old times 'til the present.
Funny post (I laughed when I read that you considered yourself lucky that you didn't tip cows) and write on!
Remember Arnold's in Happy Days? Gosh, am I showing my age?!? :)
SLEEPOVERS. When I was a teen, this was the weekly information infusion... what everyone was up to--there were four or five of us and we rotated houses...
And you know what... my first book has... I think three... funny how that works... they are an efficient way to spread 'gossip and lore' to your READER that isn't the kind of thing that comes up in one-on-one conversations.
My adult characters more often have meetings or things happen in pairs.
Fav place in HP would have to be the Gryffindor common room in the big comfy chairs by the fire place. In my personal life I'm a Starbucks lover. It is the perfect place to hang and fill up on caffeine.
What a good question! My favorite is the outdoors, either in my own life or in novels. I love the expansive green lawns where people gather in Henry James novels, or the romantic outdoor walks in Jane Austen's novels.
My characters at work my be at the office, where there is a surplus nuke stashed in the closet, sex with aliens on the desk, and the building gets bombed.
After work, there are fights with aliens at the bar, UFO's in the parking lot, biker bouncers, gambling, and the building gets bombed.
I guess I like to bomb things.
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