Okay everyone we are back to our regional differences in June. As a refresher we started off with a story written from a set of elements. These elements to be exact…
Kevin sees some sort of calamity getting ready to face the place he calls home. Others either do not see it coming or think the impact will not be as dire as he believes. He has a piece of information that he believes shows he is right. No one believes him because they don’t want to believe him. So he decides to set some things in place to help everyone out.
Nothing was set in stone so anyone could bend them anyway they wanted to set up their initial story. Turn Kevin into Kelly, choose an economic issue or alien attack, whatever elements you chose, you got your story.
Then we started to play. First we took the story to the seaside. There we allowed the elements from our region to permeate the story. Not only with sights and smells but with the specific makeup that came with the seaside town we each envisioned. Then we took the same story to the mountains. We pictured a mountain town, perhaps a tourist hot spot, perhaps an isolated town, your call. There we changed all the sensory details to fit the location of the town we pictured.
Today we are going to the desert. Same story, desert location. Think about the landscape and the special features of a desert landscape. With little moisture to hold the day time heat in you have vast discrepancies between day and night time temperatures. The flora and fauna is different, the scents are different. Again it can be a big desert city, it can be a small desert outpost, or anything in between. Just picture the place in your mind and not only change the details to show the sensory change, but think about the differences the location brings to the story. Make location matter in your story. Make it a story that needs to be set in this location and not one that can be set anywhere.
And as always, happy writing.
Ten til Midnight 