I often find myself staring at the blank page wondering if I should pursue one of the projects I have saved in some folder on my desktop (like that half a novel that is still rattling around in the back of my mind), or maybe I want to read one of the ten books I have in my to-read pile, or, or, maybe I just need an assignment: a task set out for me that I can see through to completion.
This weekend, as Canada celebrates 150 years (though, this is indeed a land that’s been inhabited by Indigenous peoples for millennia), I’ve been thinking about the places that I’m from – the city I live in now, the small town that I grew up in… These sorts of connections to place, that are a part of who we are, lend us story material.
So, if you’re like me, and sometimes just need an assignment to get you started, I’d like to share with you one that I created (from scratch) for a creative writing course that I teach. I’ve modified it (since, I’m not grading you and you certainly are not restricted by genre or work count); I hope that it inspires you to write.
I’d love to know what you think of the assignment, and if you’re a teacher and want to use it in your classroom, by all means, but I would appreciate if you credit me.
Getting Started (some writing ideas)
Perhaps your place-based story will invite readers into a landscape that you know intimately (in the way, for instance, that Alberta writer Robert Kroetcsh invites us onto the prairies, or into a seemingly never-ending winter). Or, perhaps your place-based story will be an exploration narrative (following a long history of texts by writers like Mungo Park who travelled the interior of Africa). Or, maybe you’ll write a fictional place, a landscape you’ve fashioned that is just as real as Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (or the place that you are from).
Maybe you’ll use a map that you unfold before us. Maybe you’ll take us to the world’s largest triple island in Nunavut that Jeopardy-famous, Ken Jennings details in his book Map Head (that is, the world’s largest island in a lake on an island). Maybe you’ll incorporate Google Maps. Maybe the place you write will be the Internet. Maybe you’ll take us off of Earth, and you’ll write a place somewhere else in the universe. Maybe you’ll write about the Mars One Project—a one-way trip off our globe—and imagine what it would be like for those first inhabitants of the red planet. Maybe you’ll write a travel story—real or imagined—where you explore your history (a family history, perhaps) or a history (for instance, of a particular group’s food or music). Maybe the place you write will be a bedroom, a kitchen, or inside of a car. It is entirely up to you.
For this assignment, place should not simply be inserted as a location (or an empty stage for the action to unfold), but rather it should be developed as an essential element to the story.
Below are some questions aimed at writing place that I’ve used so often I may have worn holes in them; you may find some or all of these useful to answer for yourself before you begin. If you are more of a “write to discover” kind of writer, ignore the questions and get typing.
To ensure that your selected place is a central element, ask the following question: if the same character(s), the same plot points, and the same conflict(s) existed in another location, would this story become a different story? If you answer is “yes,” then continue to polish your story. If your answer is “no,” that’s okay: while revising your first draft, focus on developing your place and integrating that place into the narrative.
In your early drafts, give yourself permission to explore.
Write a place-focused story. Place (real or imagined) should be a central element, i.e. your piece should convey a strong sense of place that is more than just a backdrop/setting, but is integral, in some way, to the story.
Before you get writing, I’d LOVE to hear what place you’re going to write about and why. Where are you from? What's interesting about it? Happy writing!
