Posts Tagged fiction
Physical Description of Setting Exercise
Try describing a room from three perspectives: through the door, looking in; from inside the room for the very first time, and then from the perspective of being an active participant in the room’s use on a regular basis, maybe focusing on a couple particular elements within the room.
Next, interject a character at the three different points.
How does the room’s view change the character? The mood? Does it affect the relationship between the character and the reader? If so, in what way?
Exploring these aspects will help you, the writer, engage or disengage your reader as you so desire. This is a useful tool to learn and master!
Good luck and, as always, write on!
Describing the Physical Setting
The topic of our upcoming craft chat (Saturday, January 24, 2009) is how to describe the physical setting in your novel. Over the next two weeks, we’ll attempt to post prompts and challenges along with some helpful tidbits about this topic here.
One thing that seems to be overlooked when writing a scene is using several senses. Draw your reader in by including at least three of the five senses: smell, touch, taste, sight, and sound. Thinking about the five senses, how could you describe an artist’s studio? Try playing around with the five senses, using a different set of three each time. How does it change the feel of the room?
Character Study
Write a description for one of the "characters" shown below or go to Flickr’s People Pool to find a character to write about.
This Old House
Writing prompt:
Write about a situation where the first character wishes to achieve a certain goal, but is prevented by the second character.
Character 1: Octavio Washer
Goal: To restore a creepy old house
Character 2: Paul Shaner
Writing Prompt: The Snooping Neighbor
Write about a situation in which an obstacle causes problems for this character:
Character: Daisy Swiss
Obstacle: A snooping neighbor
Writing Prompt: Character vs. Character
Write about a situation where the first character wishes to achieve a certain goal, but is prevented by the second character.
Character 1: Rebecka Lorenzo
Goal: To die penniless
Character 2: Roland Woodring
Writing Prompt: Character’s Physical Description
Introduce the antagonist in a story, allow his physical description and body language to convey his/her sinister or selfish nature. (From: Creative Writing Solutions)
More Writing Exercise Gone Wrong
Here are some more "Why Did The Chicken Cross the Street" answers submitted by Playwright Anne Wycoff who notes she’s merely rearranged the true words of these famous people.
Shakespeare:
To cross, or not to cross, that is the question;
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to stay
The smash and squish of outrageous traffic,
Or to take wings against a road of cars,
And by opposing, cross them.
Robert Burns:
The best laid schemes of chickens an’ cars
Often go awry.
Carman Bliss:
Set me the road to cross, in which I can put my wing,
my beak, my claw, of my very self,
and it is a road to cross no longer, it is joy;
It is roadkill. And It is the reason why I cross the road.
Mark Twain:
The miracle, or the power, that elevates the few brave chickens to cross the road, is to be found in their egg laying, flight and stupidity under the promptings of a winged, driven spirit.
That, and the fact that their brains are the size of my pinky finger nail, will ensure their unfortunate demise.
Louisa May Alcott:
As a chicken, I am no longer afraid of roads, for I am learning how to drive a car and join my brothers in quest of becoming Foster Farms chickens.
Henry David Thoreau:
Cowardly chickens suffer the desire to cross, heroic chickens, though some be dead, enjoy the thrill of crossing the road of life.
Toni Morrison:
Birth, life and death: Each took place on the hidden side of the road as an egg, a chick and an unfortunate encounter with a Harley Davidson.
Edgar Allan Poe:
Deep into the dark road peering, long I clucked there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no chicken ever dared dream before.
Pearl S. Buck:
None who have always been on the other side the road, can understand the terrible, facinating power of the hope of crossing the road to those who are on the wrong side of the road.
Mahatma Ghandhi:
The difference between crossing the road and being capable of crossing the road would suffice to solve most of the chicken coups problems.
Erma Bombeck:
What’s wrong with you chickens? Would you stop laying eggs if you realized that you have wings? You don’t have to cross the road. You can fly over it!
Anne Wycoff:
We are always trying to cross the damn road and not appreciate the side of the road we are on.
Short Story Theme Contests
The following comes from Duotrope’s newsletter. Click on the underlined theme title for more information. And if you do submit something, please drop us a line and let us know!
10/1/2008: Christmas – Twisted Tongue
10/1/2008: Illustrators and imagination – Frame Lines
10/1/2008: Roar (erotica, 5-18k words) – Phaze
10/6/2008: Journaling the Apocalypse – qarrtsiluni
10/10/2008: Pirate Package – Writer’s Digest "Your Story"
10/15/2008: As a writer, who do you steal from? – Tiny Lights "Searchlights & Signal Flares"
10/15/2008: The shared world of New Ceres – New Ceres: The Anthology
10/17/2008: Property Lines – MAKE: A Chicago Literary Magazine
10/20/2008: Demons, exorcisms, real-life vampires or real-life zombies – SNM Horror Magazine
10/20/2008: Music Around the World – Faces Magazine
10/24/2008: War & Peace – Liars’ League
10/30/2008: Let’s Play! The Biology of Fun – Odyssey
10/31/2008: Color Wheel: Cultural Heritages in the Twenty-First Century – Crab Orchard Review
10/31/2008: Dia de los Muertos – Dia de los Muertos Anthology
10/31/2008: Lovelorn Anthology – New Concepts Publishing
10/31/2008: Masques – Masques
Writing Prompt: Garbology
From Imaginative Writing: The Elements of Craft by Janet Burroway
If people are characterized by the objects they choose, own, wear, and carry with them, they are also revealed in what they throw away. Garbology is the study of society or culture by examining and analyzing its refuse. Write a character sketch by describing the contents of your character’s waste basket.
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