Help me create a cool museum! :)
I haven't finished the first draft of my novel yet (130,000 words and counting :P), but I'm already thinking about the rewrite and getting kind of excited about it.
There is a major subplot that is completely missing from this draft because I hadn't done enough research to know the first thing about how to write it, and frankly, I waffled on what it was going to be about right up until... Well, maybe still waffling... Yes. But I have some thoughts about it...
I had originally planned for my main character to be an associate curator at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, and the subplot would be an exhibit she was working on -- originally about early movie musicals, then the history of television, and now I'm thinking Broadway.
But honestly, I was so intimidated at the prospect of trying to portray a remotely accurate picture of the inner workings of the NMAH, that even trying to research it was giving me anxiety attacks. I can't even go there, the museum is closed right now. But while I was feebly attempting to learn something about the museum on the web, I read about affiliations. If a museum's purpose is related to NMAH's mission, they can affiliate with the NMAH and borrow artifacts and things like that, and it occurred to me that this could suit my purpose very well.
A fictional museum setting up an exhibit using objects borrowed from the Smithsonian. That could work. And this is the thing that appeals to me -- I could make it all up. My fantasy museum. It would be focused on the history of American entertainment -- movies, plays, TV, music. I was thinking of having it housed in an old (fictional) theater where they could have performances; jazz concerts, scenes from Broadway shows, vaudeville acts!
I love dioramas. I love "experiences" like they have at the Imperial War Museum in London -- the Trench Experience, the Blitz Experience. For mine there could be reconstructions of sets of different movies, plays, or television shows. Maybe visitors to my museum could have themselves filmed on the set of the Honeymooners. Maybe they could take a ride to the Heaviside Layer on the set of Cats. :D Maybe they could walk down a yellow brick road to see Ray Bolger's scarecrow costume (on loan from the NMAH, of course). Maybe there's a working recording studio, or a dance teacher who'll teach you how to do a simple buck and wing, or... or...
What else? If anybody's actually read this far, I'd love any suggestions you've got for entertainment-related exhibits, especially interactive ones. Total fantasy entertainment museum here. What would be fun?
There is a major subplot that is completely missing from this draft because I hadn't done enough research to know the first thing about how to write it, and frankly, I waffled on what it was going to be about right up until... Well, maybe still waffling... Yes. But I have some thoughts about it...
I had originally planned for my main character to be an associate curator at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, and the subplot would be an exhibit she was working on -- originally about early movie musicals, then the history of television, and now I'm thinking Broadway.
But honestly, I was so intimidated at the prospect of trying to portray a remotely accurate picture of the inner workings of the NMAH, that even trying to research it was giving me anxiety attacks. I can't even go there, the museum is closed right now. But while I was feebly attempting to learn something about the museum on the web, I read about affiliations. If a museum's purpose is related to NMAH's mission, they can affiliate with the NMAH and borrow artifacts and things like that, and it occurred to me that this could suit my purpose very well.
A fictional museum setting up an exhibit using objects borrowed from the Smithsonian. That could work. And this is the thing that appeals to me -- I could make it all up. My fantasy museum. It would be focused on the history of American entertainment -- movies, plays, TV, music. I was thinking of having it housed in an old (fictional) theater where they could have performances; jazz concerts, scenes from Broadway shows, vaudeville acts!
I love dioramas. I love "experiences" like they have at the Imperial War Museum in London -- the Trench Experience, the Blitz Experience. For mine there could be reconstructions of sets of different movies, plays, or television shows. Maybe visitors to my museum could have themselves filmed on the set of the Honeymooners. Maybe they could take a ride to the Heaviside Layer on the set of Cats. :D Maybe they could walk down a yellow brick road to see Ray Bolger's scarecrow costume (on loan from the NMAH, of course). Maybe there's a working recording studio, or a dance teacher who'll teach you how to do a simple buck and wing, or... or...
What else? If anybody's actually read this far, I'd love any suggestions you've got for entertainment-related exhibits, especially interactive ones. Total fantasy entertainment museum here. What would be fun?