Take some old, but real, weird pictures
Add a rocky, bog ridden isolated island off of the coast of Wales
Add an old orphanage
Stir and you get creepy. Let's deal with the old but real pictures that are scattered throughout the book. The author, Ransom Riggs, began collecting what is called "found photography". That is pictures taken by others that you "find" at flea markets, antique shows etc. When his publisher suggested he create a story around his "found" photos, he began constructing a world based on an orphanage that housed children with "peculiar" powers. The cast of the book would consist of the children he "found" in his photos.
He ended up using 44 of the pictures he found. Read more...
