Entries tagged with setting

Entry tags:

9 Days Until...

Start with an object, a very personal, important thing that represents both your character and theme and expand
out to show surrounding objects, an entire room, then focus on the character or characters and begin as normally.

- Ginger Earle, Establishing Shots-Small to Big

9 days remaining before the start of NaNoWriMo, Nano Writers! We finish this week putting together something that should help keep track of all the story's details that we've generated the past two weeks, your story's ( bible... )

Next week we'll look at quick ways to outline the big ideas for your story - pantsters welcomed too! Until then, keep writing Nano Writers!

Entry tags:

Fast Start for NaNoWriMo Day 14 - Setting - 10 Days until...

I try to use all of my senses when describing a setting, and try to think
of everything that would impact a character in any given scene.

- Mercedes Lackey

Today starts our daily countdown to the start of NaNoWriMo. Ten days, Nano Writers! Today, we're going to work with a visualization exercise to describe our story world using our ( five_senses... )

And in case you missed it the first time: ten days to the start of NaNoWriMo, Nano Writer! Tomorrow, we'll bring this week's work all together and create a story "bible." Until then, keep writing!

Entry tags:

Fast Start for NaNoWriMo Day 13 - Setting - When is This?

The “Scene” is the place where an event is unfolding.
It is, essentially, what lies underneath the characters’ feet at any given time.

- Ken Brosky

It is one of the essential questions that a writer must answer for the reader almost right out of the starting gate: ( when? )

There's only 11 days left until the start of NaNoWriMo! Tomorrow, we'll look at a quick start exercise to make our story world "real" for both character and reader! Until then, keep writing!

Entry tags:

Fast Start for NaNoWriMo Day 12 - Setting - Where are We?

The world only exists in your eyes - your conception of it.
You can make it as big or as small as you want to.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

With less than two weeks left until the start of NaNoWriMo, world building may be a daunting, perhaps impossible, task. But fear not Nano Writer, let's apply the principle of working from small things to ( BIG )

And it's getting to be about time to talk about time! Tomorrow! So until then Nano Writer, keep writing!

Entry tags:

Fast Start for NaNoWriMo Day 11 - Setting - Introduction

Remember in your story that setting is the other character. It is as important to your story as the people
in it because it gives them context and can ideally be used to heighten drama and tension, depending on where it is.

- Rob Parnell

Last week we looked at your story's characters: the protagonist, antagonist and secondary characters like your main character's best friend. This week we're going to talk about your story's other character: ( setting )

Tomorrow we'll try to put everything in its place! Until then, keep writing Nano Writer!

Current Mood: curious

Entry tags:

Story Plan Checklist: Setting part 2

Setting exists so that the character has someplace to stand,
something that can help define him, something he can pick up and throw,
if necessary, or eat, or give to his girlfriend.

- John Gardner

And more about the ( the_"where"_for_our_story... )

Current Mood: creative

Entry tags:

Story Plan Checklist: Setting part 1

The writer operates at a peculiar crossroads
where time and place and eternity somehow meet.
His problem is to find that location.

- Flannery O’Connor

And where does your character ( hang_his_hat? )

Current Mood: working

Entry tags:

Let's Build a World: Day 28 - What Did We Leave Out?

Food probably has a very great influence on the condition of men.
Wine exercises a more visible influence, food does it more slowly but perhaps just as surely.
Who knows if a well-prepared soup was not responsible for the pneumatic pump or a poor one for a war?

- Georg C. Lichtenberg

It's Day 28 for Nano Writers's Let's Build a World. Read over - What Did We Leave Out? - from Stephanie Bryant's 30 Days of Worldbuilding. Notebooks in hand, let's read today's ( exercise )

Current Mood: awake

Entry tags:

Let's Build a World: Day 25 - The Sky

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.

- Buddha

It's Day 25 for Nano Writers's Let's Build a World. Read over - The Sky - from Stephanie Bryant's 30 Days of Worldbuilding as well as Suns, Moons, and Rainbows by Holly Ingraham before completing today's ( exercise )

Current Mood: accomplished

Entry tags:

Let's Build a World: Day 23 - Revisiting Culture

Other things may change us, but we start and end with family.

- Anthony Brandt

It's Day 23 for Nano Writers's Let's Build a World. Read over - Revisiting Culture - from Stephanie Bryant's 30 Days of Worldbuilding. Time for notebooks and today's ( exercise )

Current Mood: thoughtful

Entry tags:

Let's Build a World: Day 22 - Revisiting Geography

A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing.

- Oscar Wilde

It's Day 22 for Nano Writers's Let's Build a World. Read over - Revisiting Geography - from Stephanie Bryant's 30 Days of Worldbuilding. Maps and notebooks today and of course today's ( exercise )

Current Mood: good

Entry tags:

Let's Build a World: Day 21 - Flora and Fauna

If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed; if in terms of ten years, plant trees; if in terms of 100 years, teach the people.

- Confucius

It's Day 21 for Nano Writers's Let's Build a World. Read over - Flora and Fauna - from Stephanie Bryant's 30 Days of Worldbuilding. Crack open those notebooks and check out today's ( exercise )

Current Mood: bouncy

Entry tags:

Let's Build a World: Day 7 - Recent History

History is the present. That's why every generation writes it anew.
But what most people think of as history is its end product, myth.

- E. L. Doctorow

It's Day 7 for Nano Writers's Let's Build a World. Read over Day 7: Recent History from Stephanie Bryant's 30 Days of Worldbuilding. Pull out those notebooks and start today's ( exercise )

Current Mood: thoughtful

Entry tags:

Let's Build a World: Day 5 - The Map

I have an existential map. It has 'You are here' written all over it.

- Steven Wright

It's Day 5 for Nano Writers's Let's Build a World. Read over Day 5: The Map from Stephanie Bryant's 30 Days of Worldbuilding. Get out those notebooks and pens and pencils and start today's ( exercise )

Current Mood: productive

Entry tags:

Let's Build a World: Day 4 - Cataclysmic Events

We want a story that starts out with an earthquake and works its way up to a climax.

- Samuel Goldwyn

It's Day 4 for Nano Writers's Let's Build a World. Read over Day 4: Cataclysmic Events from Stephanie Bryant's 30 Days of Worldbuilding. Let's get out our notebooks and complete the ( exercise )

Current Mood: moody

Entry tags:

Let's Build a World: Day 3 - Mood and Setting

I like these cold, gray winter days. Days like these let you savor a bad mood.

- Bill Watterson

It's Day 3 for Nano Writers's Let's Build a World. Read over Day 3: Mood & Setting from Stephanie Bryant's 30 Days of Worldbuilding. Let's get out our notebooks and complete the ( exercise )

Current Mood: hopeful

Entry tags:

Let's Build a World: Day 2 - Weather

Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.

- Charles D. Warner

It's Day 2 for Nano Writers's Let's Build a World. Read over Day 2: The Physical Planet from Stephanie Bryant's 30 Days of Worldbuilding. If physical geography isn't your thing, take this opportunity to cultivate a general understanding of the kinds of things that affect a world's climate, seasons and weather. Then get out your notebook and complete the ( exercise )

Current Mood: contemplative

Entry tags:

Let's Build a World: Day 1 - Climate

Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.

- Mark Twain

Welcome to Day 1 for Nano Writers's Let's Build a World. To begin, read Day 1: Climate & Variety from Stephanie Bryant's 30 Days of Worldbuilding. Then get out your notebook and complete the ( exercise )