Ask the Author: Lissa Dickensheets
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Lissa Dickensheets
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Lissa Dickensheets
Music! I always find inspiration in music that connects me to the story I'm currently working on. So, when I find myself stuck, I actually just sit back and listen to music and relax until the block comes down. It could be days or weeks, but I just let the process happen and that works very well for me.
Lissa Dickensheets
Into the Nothing is actually inspired by real life events! Now, before anyone freaks out (haha) the real life events involve family legend and most likely a young mind too creative for it's own good!
For most of my 20's I had on-going nightmares about a house. Like my character Sophie, they would always feature some sort of massacre. To add to the creepiness, the interior would change to fit different decades or points in time. So, one night the furniture and decorations might be from the roaring 20's or hippy 60's or everything-orange 70's. They were always intense and scary to the point that once awake, I felt as if the "boogeyman" from my nightmare had followed me out of the nightmare. Basically, what made these nightmares so terrifying was the idea that everyone who lived in this house would meet some manner of slaughter.
Now, add to this the very first time I dreamt of this house. I was only about 10 years old. I was sleeping over at my grandparents house and when I awoke, I went running to my grandmother. I told her that I had crossed the threshold and was confronted by an enormous staircase. At the top was a tiny door and I just knew something terrible was waiting beyond that door. As she served me breakfast, she told me (after I had sketched out what the house looked like) that she had dreamt of the same house in her early 20's. It always featured in her worst nightmares and yes - something terrible was waiting behind the small door at the top of the stairs. Flash forward to her mid-20's when she was dating my grandfather. He took her to a dinner party being held by friends. As they walked up to the house his friends were living in at the time, she instantly recognized the house from her nightmares. Upon walking in, she was confronted by the same staircase and yes - the small door at the top. She fainted.
I've lived with the story idea for a long time, but it only really formed once I moved into an apartment building in downtown Los Angeles. Not only is it purported to be haunted, not only does it have an amazing history ( For instance - Charlie Chaplin & Douglas Fairbanks came up with the idea for United Artists in the lobby bar and Valentino had a regular suite, now named after him ), it also has a quite eclectic number of residents and all of it became an amazing inspiration.
The sequel is in the works!
For most of my 20's I had on-going nightmares about a house. Like my character Sophie, they would always feature some sort of massacre. To add to the creepiness, the interior would change to fit different decades or points in time. So, one night the furniture and decorations might be from the roaring 20's or hippy 60's or everything-orange 70's. They were always intense and scary to the point that once awake, I felt as if the "boogeyman" from my nightmare had followed me out of the nightmare. Basically, what made these nightmares so terrifying was the idea that everyone who lived in this house would meet some manner of slaughter.
Now, add to this the very first time I dreamt of this house. I was only about 10 years old. I was sleeping over at my grandparents house and when I awoke, I went running to my grandmother. I told her that I had crossed the threshold and was confronted by an enormous staircase. At the top was a tiny door and I just knew something terrible was waiting beyond that door. As she served me breakfast, she told me (after I had sketched out what the house looked like) that she had dreamt of the same house in her early 20's. It always featured in her worst nightmares and yes - something terrible was waiting behind the small door at the top of the stairs. Flash forward to her mid-20's when she was dating my grandfather. He took her to a dinner party being held by friends. As they walked up to the house his friends were living in at the time, she instantly recognized the house from her nightmares. Upon walking in, she was confronted by the same staircase and yes - the small door at the top. She fainted.
I've lived with the story idea for a long time, but it only really formed once I moved into an apartment building in downtown Los Angeles. Not only is it purported to be haunted, not only does it have an amazing history ( For instance - Charlie Chaplin & Douglas Fairbanks came up with the idea for United Artists in the lobby bar and Valentino had a regular suite, now named after him ), it also has a quite eclectic number of residents and all of it became an amazing inspiration.
The sequel is in the works!
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