Hello, writers. Many thanks to Emmet for last week’s brilliant diary on
character, which you should read if you haven’t.
The more developed and real and idiosyncratic your characters are, the more they really will drive the plot. --Emmet
And of course, if your characters are driving the plot then you know it’s in good hands. Much better than if
you’re driving the plot. You’re just the writer… you’ll never know your characters’ world like they do.
Now let’s look at that world.
We’ve discussed the phrase “setting as character” before –it’s almost self-explanatory—and we’ve talked about invoking setting not just through description but through what the characters eat, smell, think, and slosh through. (Engage at least three senses!)
Then there are settings that, in themselves, make a reader want to read.
Such settings can be complex worlds—a careful authorial construction of 15th century Venice, 18th century West Africa, 23rd century Venus, Middle Earth, the Wizarding World.
But sometimes just a building is fascinating. I’ve read novels variously set in castles, cathedrals, a series of disused subway tunnels, a museum. Readers like a behind-the-scenes look at a place they may never go.
Think of a setting that would make you want to read… just because it would be fun to transported to that particular place.
Now then.
Tonight’s challenge:
A callow youth and his/her stout companion have just lost the Duffel Bag of Least Resistance.
Not in the Swamp, though!
They lost it in …
[your setting here]
Show them searching for it. Use the setting. Use the difficulties and dangers that the setting contains. Engage at least three senses.
If you want, here’s an optional first line:
They’re never going to believe this back home.
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