Build Your Story: 8 Strategies for Writing Innovative Setting with Impact
Writing Prompt
Write out a journal entry for your character remembering her
saddest day, scariest, most challenging,
disappointing or despairing. Focus the
emotional description.
For example, suppose your character’s scariest day happened as a ten-year-old
who accidently locked himself or herself in a room or a garage. She knew no one
would be looking for her for several hours, because they all thought she was at
a friend’s house, or after school activity, or some other event. She panics
either because of imagination, or a spider, or guilt at her deception.
Take that panic and detail it from each sensory premise. Make a list
of all the words that heighten the drama. Is it summer? Does she smell the
sweat dripping down her back? What does it smell like? Does she curl up in a
corner? Is she up against cement or wood or iron? What does it smell like? What
does the room smell like? Repeat the situation focusing on each sense. Once you
have the sensory vocabulary, pick which image most defines that time for her.
Choose from your above journal entries and pick the one that fits most
clearly into the emotional, physical, mental or spiritual danger you want to
develop for your character. Then
repeat the above paragraph inserting her sensory details.
Share: What
emotional memory did you choose for your character to remember? How can that
become a mirror for her present dilemma?
Read deep, marcy
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