The Rusted Mall, I admit, was directly inspired by the seemingly unrelenting news of public mass murders in America during the time of its writing. I have a number of opinions about these events that I don't think I'll share here, except for the one alluded to in the writing. I don't think the murderer's pictures, names, motives, friends, should be a center of celebrity attention the way they often are.
The character, Shannon Vega, is someone I envisioned having to grow up knowing what her father did, but sharing my views of disdain on the sensationalizing of it. In my head she's devoted a lot of her young adult life shooting portraits of the survivors, and she donates any money earned from that to various prevention and recovery charities. It always irked her, though, that there was a memorial painted in the mall that got shot up, so she had to go take care of that, too.
The setting was the prompt, I believe - just the abandoned mall setting. I've always had a fascination with abandoned and derelict places, with graffiti that outlives the scrawler, and other tiny things. I wish that I was brave enough to explore these places for myself, but I think it's okay for now that I can just build them up in my head.
Sounds like a fascinating character. Did you write more about her?
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