Build Your Story: 8 Strategies for Writing Innovative Setting with Impact
Family Vacation
Journal Worksheet
Another way to approach local flavor is to use your own
personal vacations as a starting point. Then from that base material you can
adjust fictionally up and down the emotional scale from humor to terror
depending on your genre.
Try it out first with a short weekend trip you’ve taken
recently.
Event/Time/Place
1.
Make a list of all the events you remember that
happened. (ex. flat tire two hours before reaching destination)
2.
a. Make a list of all the people there: family,
friends, and strangers.
b. Next to each name put what was
the distinguishing characteristic of that person at that time. (ex. lady in
snack shack—had wild hair) (brother—told a new joke every morning)
3.
Describe the setting: place, weather, and
smells.
4.
Was there then or afterwards an image or
repeated phrase that became a code for that vacation? (ex. Remember the phone?)
5.
What is your specific emotional connection that
makes it your……….?
6.
Write out a rough draft of that vacation.
Overwrite the sensory details. Then revise once again choosing the main focus.
For
example: “Every time I smell jasmine I remember…
Add taste, hear, touch, and see.
Share: What one
incident distinguished your trip?
Read deep, marcy
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