Strengthen Your Worldbuilding Skills With This #WritingPrompt

All right y’all.

Halfway through the third week of National Novel Writing Month 2020.

Or, potentially halfway through your novel.

Or maybe just halfway through life, who even knows at this point?

I hope you’ve hit a stride, wherever you are in your book, but whether you have or haven’t, maybe you just need a little boost for your writing session today.

The last few days have had us focusing on our love for our characters and plots, so let’s show some love for my least favorite thing about writing books:

Our settings.

And hey, if I can find something love in a setting that is a cave where my character cannot see a thing, I’m sure you can find something to love about wherever your book takes place, too.

Is this a place you’d live, if you could?

Would you at least want to visit it and see what it’s like in person?

If it actually exists, have you been there? What would you do if you could visit, or how has a real-life visit affected the shape of your story?

Love the world you’re in, then get write on in to keeping it moving forward.

See you tomorrow!

My Response

You know, this book has really grown on me. Especially having it take place in a cave. That’s been a really weird and really up and down thing for the writing of this. It’s one thing to have a blind character, I think, but another to have them all trapped in a place where they can’t see. Especially one that’s filled with so much general darkness and despair as with the Lanniswell Hollow.

That all being said, I feel like there’s so much life in the caves. So much life potential, anyway. Caves in general have so much life in them, which is something I learned out in New Zealand and exploring some caves of my own, as well as whatever cave episode was part of the Planet Earth documentaries. Sometimes there’s life within the darkness, even if we can’t see it. It can be a scary-ass-looking life, but a life all the same.

I think that’s still what Vaeda’s searching for in all of this. What they’re all searching for. Just a life outside of the darkness that’s holding them back. To connect with whatever inner power is meant to guide them forward. They can find everything they need and more, all within themselves, and all because of the caves of the Lanniswell Hollow.

Halfway Through #NaNoWriMo, Where We At?

Congratulations, everybody!

We are officially halfway through National Novel Writing Month 2020!

I don’t know if you’re actually in NaNo whenever you’re watching this, but if you’re writing a story at all, chances are, you’re going to feel some frustrations sometimes.

Today’s writing prompt is going to be the last of us letting out those frustrations as we take them out on our settings.

We already know everything that drives us crazy about our characters and plots, but what about where the story is taking place?

Is the location coming through crystal clear?

Are you like me and absolutely detest anything that has to do with building up your settings?

Are there any other disconnects going on because of these frustrations?

I know I’m feeling a large wave of emotions this year, so I’ve certainly enjoyed my time letting my story know all about the frustrations I have with it.

So let your setting know how it can shape up, then get write on in to your daily session!

See you tomorrow!

My Response

I am frustrated with the fact that I CANNOT SEE MY SETTING!!! I actually thought I was doing that to myself as something as a favor when all of this started. You know, if the character can’t see it, then I don’t have to either. My lazy author ass should have known better by this point, to be honest. This is not my first book, and I should have known it wasn’t going to work like that once I actually went to go get write on in.

But I just feel like this story is making me WORK for it!! Every other story just comes so naturally and I just have so much fun while I explore it. There are so many aspects to this one that I love, but it’s weird that I don’t really have the opportunity to explore the surroundings like I normally do. It makes me feel like there’s just a darkness over the story, which there kind of is in a lot of ways, but it’s just harder than I thought. I wish the setting, as with the characters and plot, would just speak to me more than it is.

I can’t figure out the layout of the caves and I don’t know how to get anybody out of them. The characters aren’t the only ones who have no idea where they are in all of this. I’m trying to channel Vaeda to find the hope to get through this story myself, but the caves also depict despair and sadness, so that’s probably not helping. I feel like the story is trying to make me feel the way the characters do. How method of it.