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writercises2014-10-06 01:32 pm
mbarker.livejournal.com) wrote in writercises2014-10-06 01:32 pm
EXERCISE: Background Setting
Original Posting June 12, 2014
Most of the writing advice stresses that we need to have character, plot, and setting. However, most of the attention goes to character and plot. Who's doing what? However, setting also plays into things. For example, Little House on the Prairie would be very different if it was really Little House on Times Square. So...
Take a couple or three characters. Imagine them having a vigorous discussion -- an argument -- about what they should do next. And...
Try putting that discussion and those characters in several different settings. A coffee shop, a crowded airplane, a taxi, a library, the backwoods of Alaska, whatever you like, put it there and show us how the setting, the characters, and the action work together. For one thing, the same people shouting at each other in a library or in a crowded intersection are likely to get somewhat different reactions from the people around them.
All right? Write!
Most of the writing advice stresses that we need to have character, plot, and setting. However, most of the attention goes to character and plot. Who's doing what? However, setting also plays into things. For example, Little House on the Prairie would be very different if it was really Little House on Times Square. So...
Take a couple or three characters. Imagine them having a vigorous discussion -- an argument -- about what they should do next. And...
Try putting that discussion and those characters in several different settings. A coffee shop, a crowded airplane, a taxi, a library, the backwoods of Alaska, whatever you like, put it there and show us how the setting, the characters, and the action work together. For one thing, the same people shouting at each other in a library or in a crowded intersection are likely to get somewhat different reactions from the people around them.
All right? Write!