Creative Writing Rule #5: People, things, and places develop together.
Yesterday you took one of our class’s opening sentences (or your own) and wrote a page which focused on raising questions you make the reader wait to answer. If you like what you wrote, you can use that writing today. If not, choose another opening or strong line from our Schooloy list, or find a piece of writing you have started that has a good hook as an opening. Today you will add details of setting to a piece of writing, and you will do this without answering all the question(s) you introduce. In fact, you might even add more implied questions. Offer your reader clues, but keep your secrets.
Make sure that today’s writing is in the third-person point of view. That is, use “he” or “she” rather than “I” as you are writing. (This will be important for tomorrow when you learn to show this character’s thoughts.)
Imagine that your main character is staring at something. The object you choose should add a clue about the character’s situation without giving away too much. Think about something that a character in this particular situation might stare at and think about. Maybe the character is looking at an old photograph, a broken object, a view out a window, a scar, a handful of blackberries.
Choose something that your character will feel strongly about. Write for five minutes, allowing your character to experience and think about this object. You could begin with something like this: “Brandon removed the makeshift bandage and studied the wound above his knee. The bleeding had stopped, but the smell had grown fetid. Small red streaks branched out into the surrounding skin. He knew what it meant. He wrapped the wound up again and rose to his feet with a grimace.”
After your character has stared at and thought about whatever object you chose, let him/her look out at his wider surroundings. What does your character see in the near vicinity, and what does he think of this place? Human beings perceive places through the lens of their own minds, and this means that as you describe the setting around your character, you are also developing who he/she is. Your character’s feelings about this place should be obvious because of the words you choose to describe it.
Allowing your reader to experience the setting also gives you an opportunity to raise more questions you do not fully answer. Notice that with my description above, I implied questions about how the character received this wound, why he hasn’t gotten help, why he has to keep moving despite the pain. Write for another five — ten minutes about your character’s perception of his/her place. Bring this writing with you for our next class when we practice rule #6: Go from bad to worse.
