I grew up half a mile from the Ashland County Ohio line, in Medina County. I would later live in and around Ashland County for the majority of my life till I moved out of Ohio in 2013.
Recently I read a news review about a local guy Ernest Cline from Ashland that wrote a book called Ready Player One.
(NYT Bestselling author Ernest Cline at a book signing)
Q. How did you come up with the idea of setting this novel in the future and using virtual reality but then mixing in all this '80s pop culture?
A: I think the initial idea came from, 'What if Willy Wonka had been a video game designer instead of a candy maker? And what if he held his contest inside of his video game creation?' - Source
