Move over sci-fi and fantasy, the highlight from today was a great lecture by author Coe Booth on world building in contemporary novels - six pages of notes! As a teen, I embraced my inner geek in many ways, one of which was in mapping out imaginary towns and imagining the lives of the people who lived there. I had no idea that what I was doing was an integral part of creating story, but think about how many ways your life has been shaped by the neighborhoods you grew up in.
Coe created an imaginary New York neighborhood called Bronxwood for her Tyrell novels and she provided us with various levels and questions to help us go about the process ourselves. I'm excited that I gleaned a couple character memories from the exercises that will improve my draft of Kiss and Cry.
If you're in the mood for your own writing challenge, I've posted a slide show of pictures below that you might use to imagine character memories as connected to a place. The pictures are from downtown Montpelier, but don't limit yourself to that. What kind of characters do you think live in a place like this? How do they feel about living here? How do they interact with each other? You can also take a walk through your own neighborhood and think of some of your own connections to place as well.
P.S. I love almost everything about Vermont but the internet connection in the dorms leaves a lot to be desired. As a result, these posts are drafts and I apologize in advance for typos or the occasional nonsense post gone live...
Coe created an imaginary New York neighborhood called Bronxwood for her Tyrell novels and she provided us with various levels and questions to help us go about the process ourselves. I'm excited that I gleaned a couple character memories from the exercises that will improve my draft of Kiss and Cry.
If you're in the mood for your own writing challenge, I've posted a slide show of pictures below that you might use to imagine character memories as connected to a place. The pictures are from downtown Montpelier, but don't limit yourself to that. What kind of characters do you think live in a place like this? How do they feel about living here? How do they interact with each other? You can also take a walk through your own neighborhood and think of some of your own connections to place as well.
P.S. I love almost everything about Vermont but the internet connection in the dorms leaves a lot to be desired. As a result, these posts are drafts and I apologize in advance for typos or the occasional nonsense post gone live...
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