Something beautiful happened last night.

I was talking with author Teel McClanahan III and agent Tom Willkens at the TOC Bookish TweetUp, organized by the very kind and hospitable hostesses Kat Meyer and Kassia Kroszer.  We were just talking shit, not being too serious.  Just tossing around ridiculous ideas.  But then something very real and very possible was spontaneously imagined by this small group of people.

You know how mall developers are going bankrupt and how some malls are predicted to close?

Well, what if somebody who still has money left sponsored a “Writer Mall”?  It would work like this:

• For one summer only.
• There is a residency program for writers.
• Funded by a book-loving philanthropist.
• Each writer gets his or her own retail space in a closed up mall.  One writer gets an entire floor of a former Circuit City.  Another is surrounded by Victoria’s Secret pink.
• The writer writes (or just sits quietly or spends time on the internet) in the retail space and also has previously written works for sale there in various formats.
• People come from all across the country and maybe the world to see this beautiful thing: writers writing, a crassly commercial space used for creativity, a public space for private creativity, an event that will never happen again.
• Although writers typically prefer to work in solitude, this is an experiment to see how interacting with the reading public during the writing process will affect that process.  Web cams can also be incorporated for those unable to physically visit the mall.
• Since authors, rather than books, may be regarded the true product, putting them in stores is a way to play with this idea.
• Some writers are selected in a contest judged by Kassia Kroszer and Kat Meyer and one other person to be decided later.  Other writers are selected in a random drawing.
• Visitors buy the writers’ work, or just make donations.
• People from neighboring communities bring home-cooked food to the writers, or sometimes pizza and beer.
• Children are inspired.
• The entire scene looks like the “Silent Light” still in the post before this one, except with a mall full of writers in the middle, with the sunlight shining down on it.
• Since daylight is good and necessary, this should happen in an airy, light-filled mall, such as those that were commonly built in warmer climates.  Otherwise, perhaps a strip mall will have to be used.
• There is also one general bookstore in the mall called Waldenbooks.
• There is a wandering ascetic ebook street preacher in the mall.  This will be somebody who is radical in his support of ebooks.  People can give him money or food.  Some people will be converted and will return to the outside world to convert others.
• Authors who like the experience of interacting with their readers can continue this process online after the Writer Mall has closed.
• This is all very possible.

Do you know a wealthy person who would like to support this?  It actually would not cost very much money but would bring the philanthropist great fame.

If you have money, you can make this happen.

Also, I am not afraid to look stupid.