Nordo Muses: Hotel Nordo
Hotel Nordo was one of the best to write. I felt in my own element allowed to revel in all the things I love in entertainment. Ghosts sliding around corners. The epic tale of the otherworld glimpsed through only a few, small lives revolving around one ghastly truth. The macabre merry-go-round of souls trapped by their sins. And artistically, since it was an episodic piece, it was fun to establish a world within a few minutes then tip it on its side immediately and watch the truth of the scene trickle out. I visited serval hotel lobbies for inspiration and observed how people moved about one another in a place made for strangers, filled with strangers. 95% of the time it was boring. People listlessly sip a beer and stare at innocuous sport news or flip through their phone connecting with a home or a job in another place. And most hotel bars look like dressed up airport bars. But then, every once in a while, a person with a bright smile or a sharp wit or a catchy sing-songy voice would surprise you with a glimpse into someone else’s life story.
Watch:
The Others- A favorite ghost story as we see the real world through the eyes of the ghosts, and a ghost would really never know they’re the one doing the haunting. It’s just in their nature to haunt. Ghosts do look to be ghosts.
Twilight Zone (early episodes like 1-6)- The motherlode for this Hotel Nordo because it was both episodic and eerie, and nowhere has it been done better, consistently, than in The Twilight Zone. Learn to write 46 and 23min whole stories! Learn the recipe for tilting the normal into the unnatural.
The Shining- Number #1 Haunting in a Hotel. It’s a building that breathes and breeds evil, and the humans are only there for it to feed. I read it too for the writing of Hotel Nordo, and while I liked some things about the book better I’m going out on a limb here; I prefer the movie. Sorry Stephen King.
2046 by Wong Kar-Wai- The sequel to perhaps the best love story ever, In the Mood for Love, 2046 is a melancholy dream world out of time and place in which a man waits for love while living in a hotel. It’s all ambiance. And so cool.
Lost in Translation by Sophia Coppola- Lonely souls passing one another in a hotel lobby and looking for something more between strangers. This is what attracts me to hotels: all the strangers in one place anticipating something from another that will likely never happen.
Listen:
Songs from the show itself. Check out Music for Dining Volume II by Annastasia Workman on Spotify or order a CD from our website.
Tear for Fears - “Shout”
Beyoncé - “Haunted”
David Bowie- “Changes”
“Big Break” and “Ghost” by our Annastasia Workman
Read:
“Stories from The Twilight Zone” by Rod Serling- The source of modern American weird fiction. The recipe for the surreal- 3 parts normal day life and 1 part WTF.
“The Bone Clocks” by David Mitchell- It’s the episodic telling of a larger tale from different characters that drew me to this one. Plus, the luscious language. Plus, the story of the otherworld in our most modern world.
Short Story “Playmates” by A.M. Burrage- I don’t know. Just really creepy. Friends playing forever in the walls of an abandoned school. Who doesn’t love that?
Fact:
Did you know there is a word for the criminal act of poisoning the water of others? It’s Lurgulary. Think Oregon cult. And it proves, there’s a word for everything. Except maybe, poisoning your own wedding cake.