I need help in the 'geography' of a funhouse type of world. The MC has to travel to the world to retrieve a certain item, and the world is a creepy funhouse inhabited by ghosts (plus an elephant, but it doesn't stay long).

So what's in a funhouse? A creepy one, little kid one, or just a normal funhouse? I've never been in one, so blow me away with the fascinating funhouse facts.

To tell you the truth nether have I. But...if you want to go with the slightly creepy sort of things that will test your ability to write weirdness and confuse your readers then I have a suggestion: ever played Super Mario? Well in it I think there is a level called "Boo's Castle".This castle is made of bricks colored black with ghosts floating around, random torches, dark hallways with mortifying laughter, some walls that look like they are there but really they are transparent, portraits of places in the castle that if you jump into, you vanish and there you are...
And if you want to...Mirrors every where that if you look into them...Disfigures your face. Not just the normal flat-faced-wide-nose mirrors but ones that make you look Ghoulish.
PS: I just made up the last one so feel free to use it.

Those sound like great ideas. Creepy is one way I'd like to go, for this world (since it has ghosts), but getting a mix of everything would make a fun adventure.

Hmm...I've never been inside a funhouse, but we live rather close to a "Nightmare Factory" which is essentially as evil as it sounds. It's a scare house. As you can imagine, I've steered miles away from that thing, but from what I can see is that it has a lot of things that jump out at you and broken mirrors as well as dark corners that people get to hide in... * shivers *

There are also quite a few ghost-looking electric, motion-sensored statues that they put in the window. They jump out at you and scream. * cough * Creepy stuff 'round those parts.

As for houses of mirrors...I've been in a few of those. Scared my daddy half to death. Poor Daddy, haha. They're fun...but do beware, if you're a six year old in a house of mirrors or a thirty some year old guy...you will bump into yourself at least once. Other than that, they are pretty awesome.

The closest I've been to is the "Crooked House" at Enchanted Forest, based on this Mother Goose rhyme:



The walls and floors are all at strange angles, making it not only hard to walk because of the slants, some of them really steep, but also very disorienting to have all your walls slanting and tilting. The doors were also crooked and mixed up.

Oh, hey, here it is! (This link the picture only, from an image search.)

http://a1.l3-images.myspacecdn.com/imag ... 9f50/l.jpg

*Shudders* Don't scare me, Brendan. Whoo, that did make me feel uncomfortable.

As for if I've any suggestions for a funhouse world...I've only been in a small one at the Kansas State Fair. There were glass mazes, and weird mirrors, etc. So, yeah, I don't have very many ideas there.

Ardyth- Wow, that looks like a fun house. I think I've been in a similar room at Cosi.

Inesdar- .... If I start having nightmares, I will be blaming you. Those are good ones, though.

Milly- OK, the glass walls sound a hilarious maze. I'm getting images of people running into a wall. ^^

You girls must excuse Brendan, he actually likes nightmares.

Yeah... While we were going through it, I saw several people running violently into walls. I was a good careful girl, however, and felt my way.

Aris, there is this place in a city I live near by called the Fun Factory. It isn't a creepy type of funhouse, but one that is actually fun. Now, a creepy one might be better for your book, but I thought I might tell you what a fun funhouse is like in case you want to sort of combine them.
I had a few birthday parties at the Fun Factory when I was maybe 7-9 ish, and I remember having the time of my life. Slides, tunnels, a ball pit, nets to crawl on, plastic windows to look through, padded rooms to play in. It was basically like a huge McDonald's play-place. Come to think of it, that's pretty much what it was. A huge indoor play ground made of plastic and padding so it was pretty much impossible to get hurt. I am still confused as to if that is a kind of funhouse you were looking for, but oh well.

AzlynMae- Thanks. I'm probably going to draw from both kinds of funhouses. Thanks for the info.

Those are awesome ideas you have there, Inesdar.

Perhaps a human that goes there is in danger of becoming one of the ghosts?

I like your suggestion, Lady Pilgrim, and I agree that it should involve as many of the five senses as possible. Weird, half-heard noises that make you uncomfortable, half-felt breaths of air brushing by, a barely detectable odor in the air that one can almost taste, things like that. The less you can tell about them, the more the person will imagine, and believe me, imagine they will!

~M.M.

My imagination would run rampant. Those are good ones, Lady Pilgrim.

Me too...

Say, a friend of mine was mentioning that in a funhouse he was in, there were sections of floor that would drop an inch or two upon being stepped on. That would certainly lower one's confidence in where one was going. Just an idea.

Oh, this got me thinking. If the world is magical, why stop at an inch or two? What if one step shifts you to an entirely different part of the house/world? Sort of like teleporting spots on the floor. That would multiply a person's insecurity on knowing where they were going even more. You'd have to learn which sections of floor to jump over and hope you made it.

Those are good ideas. This will be one freaked out funhouse. And to think I'm putting a twelver year old girl in it...

Ardyth's idea is a good one. I think there's another story (or two?) that does something similar and I can't remember to save my life.

Ya'll have been in some fun funhouses! I've been in two... and they were lame. The only cool part was that the exit was a round barrel that rolled. If you braced yourself in it spread eagle style you could ride it around, turning upside down like wheel spokes. There were parts of the floor that moved and stuff, usually a poor attempt at preventing you from making any progress.

Funhouses are essentially a complex maze, that's supposed to take time to get through while confusing you as much as possible. The ideas you have so far are brilliant.

I just saw "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" again and I thought of this thread... perhaps give it a read? There were some creepy things in that Chocolate Factory.

Also, I hope you've been working on this! If you haven't, consider picking it up again.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory's a book?

I haven't worked much on it. I should though. I think I might chuck the outlining stage and just start writing. If I keep on outlining, the outline will be almost as long as the series itself.

Hehe, yep, go ahead and start writing, if you think you're ready!

Yes, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a book. It's by Roald Dahl.

I must say, this fun house world sounds pretty awesome I want to read this. I'm very excited just reading ideas. The mirrors, the dropping floors, the crooked walls-- I love it all. If you keep each new thing divided into its own area you could probably get very creative with your fun house world and it will still very clearly be a fun house. Maybe you could have places that are so very tight, so small that the characters have hardly any room to move.

Perhaps there are big black tube slides that create total darkness like you see in some playhouses and things, only they seem to go down and down and down. They're pretty scary without feeling endless. Especially if you were to step into one without knowing that you were stepping into one...

And I can't help but think of those swinging net bridges like you can see in McDonald's playhouses. They were always terrifying to me when I was little. I mean, they move, and my feet could fit through those holes; how could I be sure I wouldn't fall through? If there was a big one that I had to get across that was made up of only a big net for a long distance and you have to crawl balanced on your hands and knees, that would be a very suspenseful peril. At least to me. Maybe I just have bad childhood memories.

Please keep this up! I want to read this story pretty badly.

itLoC,
Alyda

Yeah, I could see how that can be scary as a kid.

Ya'll can nag me. I've lost enthusiasm in writing the series that this world appears in. But I will make a stab at writing to get to the book where this world stars as the setting, or at least get you all a blueprint. I love all the ideas! This'll be one creepy funhouse! *Should make mental note not to write it at night*

I don't know much about fun houses or haunted houses, but I went to Wonder Works and that has inspired a few interesting ideas.There was this tunnel where the wall was spinning and it felt like you were spinning too. It messed with my head. There was also a room that simulated a hurricane. You could make it like that, only more horrific. There was cool wall murals that confused me, which could be used as a weapon. There was a bed of nails, freaky, and even a climbing obstacle course. I hope this has been helpful and inspiring.