Grr, I cut my pinky on a mandoline blade when cleaning out a kitchen drawer today. The giant bandage is making it hard to type.
Today, March 21, is the 2016 Blogging from A-Z April Challenge Theme Reveal! This year, I have a plan, and I’m actually ahead of myself for once. Cheers for me!
RULE BRITANNIA–oh wait, that’s the wrong cheer. Calm down, Grandma.
Image: stockimages / freedigitalphotos.net
Ironically, the captcha for downloading that image was “forever and ever.”
I really enjoyed writing the Character series in the 2014 Blogging from A-Z Challenge. In that vein, this year I’ve chosen to pick apart different elements of settings.
In this post on The How to Write Shop, Kathy Steffen states:
A setting does more than add interest; in fact, if your story can take place anywhere and nothing else in your story would need to change, rethink how you have used setting. Make it integral to the story[…].
Check out her post; it’s from a few years ago, but she shares some cool creative writing prompts you can use to establish a setting. And you might want to look at this one on world-building from Chuck Wendig. He’s so good he makes me feel like a clumsy farmer trying to plow a field with a fork, but he’s also pretty inspiring in between the swears. In fact, that entire post kind of negates my entire series here.
Your lack of faith disturbs me. — Darth Gorilla
Image: Arvind Balaraman / freedigitalphotos.net
And the captcha for that one was “Plan Ahead.” I’m on a roll here.
I already wrote about setting once before, in this post. For the Challenge, I’ll cover a few things I didn’t mention and try to expand on those I did. These posts will pose lots of questions. You don’t have to answer them all; just pick the ones most applicable to your story. It may seem overwhelming, but if you picture the setting in your head and you know where you want to put your characters, the answers will come to you.
And remember, nothing is set in stone at this point. A first draft is only that—a first draft. But a solid setting in your mind will make moving your characters through the story much easier, as well as orient your readers. World-building is fun, but it requires careful consideration.
Stay tuned for the Challenge. I’ll see you there!
Graphomaniac - A. Elizabeth West 
