I've assembled the basic structure of Palm Haven, a fictional seaside locale in the southeastern United States, akin to Myrtle Beach but a tick more classy. In fact, it could even be nestled somewhere between there and Charleston; along the large swath of land known as Highway 17. I've made that drive numerous times and often wondered of the possibilities in lieu of the long stretches of nothingness. If only I could have turned off the main dragway and spent an afternoon combing through a used bookstore or indulged in a cocktail or two at a place with a name like Low Tide or Drift, I'd be unconcerned with my state of melancholia. To a visitor, it would exude the ambience of the perfect getaway, but to a long-standing resident, it's full of dread. It's not a land of the rich, but of the hopeful, wishing to pull themselves out of whatever deep, dark funk ails them. A place to start over, or to gain confidence, or to escape whatever one is running from. It's not an ancient land, hasn't been around since colonial habitation, but something of the more modern era. Perhaps it bleeds an art deco look, a poor man's Miami, but charming enough to have character; even if it is a little sketchy.

Palm Haven needs to be almost mythical, of course; a relic of the past that has plagued the city for decades. A missing person? A highly publicized murder? Or a rash of unexplained phenomena? Something. Anything. What keeps the people talking is what I keep asking. And it should exude eccentricity. Massachusetts has Provincetown, New York has Fire Island, and Florida's got the colorful Wilton Manors. What if South Carolina had its own homocentric mecca?

Of course, that all sounds laughable, which makes this fantasy-land all the better. A drag queen reenacting the local tabloids of yesteryear, local government trying to smother its history, and listicles trying to sell the drama of the land as the next best thing; it's the perfect fodder for twisted tales of curiosity. All of that tugs at a part of me to turn this world into something tangible. And that is exactly what I'm hoping to accomplish.