WL#7: Location, Location, Location!!!
As a writer I collect locations and characters. I have a notebook called “places” and as I travel and find interesting places, I write about them while I’m there. I also have a notebook called “people” but I’ll save that for another time. I’ve always found that it’s easy if you have a base. I might start out with just a coffee shop, maybe it’s sort of hip and locally owned. Of course it’ll have whatever theme or flare the owners bring but in my mind, once all that is written down I can add a room upstairs where the owners live or imagine a look into the back room where they make all their pastries. I can imagine so much once I have a base.
This effort comes in handy often when I am working on a story and need a place to put my characters, or if I’m blocked and don’t know which direction to go in. Places include businesses, houses, parks, empty fields and anywhere in space. There is no limit.
I am also a fan of the game Dungeons & Dragons, which I have been playing on and off since around 1984. Dungeon Masters create wonderful, action packed and often perilous adventures for players to participate in. As a theater kid, I always wanted to play and not have to be responsible for being a Dungeon Master. I’d run around the room, I had props and my character deaths were beyond glorious.
I am also a fan of the game Dungeons & Dragons, which I have been playing on and off since around 1984. Dungeon Masters create wonderful, action packed and often perilous adventures for players to participate in. As a theater kid, I always wanted to play and not have to be responsible for being a Dungeon Master. I’d run around the room, I had props and my character deaths were beyond glorious.
I never played many video games as a kid, I was always more of a reader, but I remember Dragon’s Lair and Legend of Zelda and there you go, more worlds. There are worlds everywhere, worlds abound and yet often, it’s difficult to think of details for a place you want to use in a story. I recommend the notebook concept. A notebook just for places, make them interesting or keep them boring and just describe them in epic fashion. It’s great practice for descriptive writing, taking something more boring than a Ted Talk on the color beige and making it exciting.
Sometimes, if you have a good enough place, you end up finding characters in the rooms and all of the sudden, you have an entire story because you decided one day to describe the Laundromat you were sitting in waiting for your knickers to dry.
Sometimes, if you have a good enough place, you end up finding characters in the rooms and all of the sudden, you have an entire story because you decided one day to describe the Laundromat you were sitting in waiting for your knickers to dry.
It’s also great therapy, great for anxiety as it’s busy-work. It’s a great distraction that can help when you’re feeling overwhelmed.
So grab a comp book and your favorite pen, you know you have one, and write “PLACES” across the front then fill it up. As Dr. Seuss once said, Oh! The places you’ll go!
So grab a comp book and your favorite pen, you know you have one, and write “PLACES” across the front then fill it up. As Dr. Seuss once said, Oh! The places you’ll go!