History and Transportation
What forms of
transportation exist in your world? Start with the basics. Make a general list:
foot travel, air travel, vehicle, water or animal travel or other. Are some
divided by economics or class hierarchies? Are they natural to your world or
have some been superimposed? For example, in the movie Avatar the earth has brought heavy machinery to the planet Pandora.
Which ones will
your heroine be using? Does she have access to all? Make her a list of methods
common to her. How does dislocation affect her? Will there be any distinctions
or oddities? Has a person so used to an entourage around them not even know how
to push a button in an elevator? Go through each category and look for details
that can forward your plot or characterization.
Foot travel. What kind of gait does she have? Will
she walk, skip, hop, or run? Can she run fast—will she need to? How will she
accelerate? Barefoot, spiky heels, leather boots, sneakers or ?? and in what
circumstances. What is the next step up: roller blades, skateboard, or scooter?
In a writing workshop
at Mount Hermon one year, author Lauraine Snelling demonstrated just how
insightful watching a person walk indicates their emotional situation. She
would call four or five people up at a time and whisper their attitude to them
alone, and then have them walk around the room. The audience had to guess what
was happening.
Share: Give one mini sketch for foot travel mode in a
lighthearted or humorous circumstance, and one for a dramatic encounter. Which
was easier to communicate?
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