#GetWriteOnIn to Your Character's Living Space With This #WritingPrompt

We are well in to National Novel Writing Month 2020 now, so hopefully you’ve done some good connection with your characters, plots, and settings.

I hope the same for you even if you’re not doing NaNo 2020.

Today, we’re going to do a bit of a double-dip and increase our character connections through a focus on setting:

Describe your main character’s bedroom.

Are they clean, or a total mess?

Do they even have a bedroom?

Are they one to settle, or do they bounce around a lot?

This is another place to let out some expository information.

Sometimes, you want to include every little detail within the actual manuscript, and it can take you away from the actual story.

So detail out one or more of your character’s personal spaces, then get write on in to your daily session.

See you tomorrow!

My Response:

Vaeda’s room is absolutely nothing like mine. Granted, he doesn’t exactly have a room in the story as it is, but back in his hometown in Hardmoure, he kept things tidy. Dark, but tidy. He didn’t have much, really in the first place, because he liked to keep things simple and neat. He’s never been one to put much thought into material, and outside of the necessities like a bed and a place to cook and eat, he didn’t need much.

His living space is also not the biggest. It would be akin to a studio that hardly fit the bed, but he felt comfortable in his little shell. There was always some part of him that wondered what it would be like in a place much larger, although a cave wouldn’t have been his first choice. He didn’t have many windows as it was back in his home, so the darkness of the cave doesn’t bother him in and of itself. He just had a very simple and plain existence.

His unit was one of fifteen in a subregion of Hardmoure, and it wasn’t known to be the richest portion of town. Hardmoure itself wasn’t too interested in the ritzy glitzy life as seen in the larger cities. There wasn’t even any carpet on his floor, just dirt like he lived in a tent. None of it ever bothered him, and he always appreciated his additional connection to the earth. He never realized how much he’d miss it until it was already gone.

You'll #GetWriteOnIn to Setting Development with This #WritingPrompt

Week one of NaNo might be coming to a close when this video comes out, but who knows when you are.

November 6, 2020 or anytime thereafter, today’s writing prompt will bring us back to our settings again.

You may have developed a history or researched events based in fact, but today we’re going to have a little more fun.

Today we’re just going to pick one of our favorite locations, and do one of two things.

Either describe why it is your favorite location, to yourself, and elaborate.

Is it because there’s a memorial from the character’s deceased grandparent that brings forth its sentimentality?

Is it a place you know more of only as the author, but wish you could share it more in the story itself?

The other option is to detail it out in as much expository detail as possible.

Describe every color, every building or room or drawer, or whatever.

Spend so many words describing it — or just fifteen sentences — so you don’t have to worry as much about some of the expository information.

Picture the story, then get write on in to your descriptions.

See you tomorrow!

My Response:

I think my favorite location here is, or at least will be, Hardmoure. This is where Vaeda, our main character, is from, as well as Go’Ranashu, who is the only person he can trust. Hardmoure is a beautiful city that, quite frankly, reminds me of where I am from. I grew up in the foothills of Yosemite, and I thrive when I am among the trees and the mountains. I had to give Vaeda a similar home setting, because I think that’s what helps him connect so well with his inner self.

Everyone knows I’ve been reflecting on my own journey during the writing of this book. Hardmoure reminds me of the mountains of New Zealand. Those bring about multiple bouts of nostalgia, both because of the fact I had the fortune of seeing them for myself, as well as because of movies like Lord of the Rings. There’s a peace out there that’s hard to explain. Those who have seen it or experienced it for themselves know all too well what that’s like.

The cave is the total opposite of that. The stark contrast of everything in Vaeda’s life is represented by the darkness of the cave. In a lot of ways, the cave of course is a representative of darkness in general. Vaeda is also on a search of self-discovery as he tries to find and hold on to any memory that will present itself. Hardmoure is the root of all of that, a place he may never see again, but one that has molded every aspect of who he is, all the same.