We’re all drawn to certain places. If you had the power to get somewhere — anywhere — where would you go right now? For your twist, focus on building a setting description.
If you could zoom through space in the speed of light, what place would you go to right now?
The spaces we inhabit have an influence on our mood, our behavior, and even the way we move and interact with others. Enter a busy train station, and you immediately quicken your step. Step into a majestic cathedral, and you lower your voice and automatically look up. Return to your own room, and your body relaxes.
A place belongs forever to whoever claims it hardest, remembers it most obsessively, wrenches it from itself, shapes it, renders it, loves it so radically that he remakes it in his own image.
— Joan Didion
Today, choose a place to which you’d like to be transported if you could — and tell us the backstory. How does this specific location affect you? Is it somewhere you’ve been, luring you with the power of nostalgia, or a place you’re aching to explore for the first time?
Today’s twist: organize your post around the description of a setting.
Giving your readers a clear sense of the space where your story unfolds will help them plunge deeper into your writing. Whether it’s a room, a house, a town, or something entirely different (a cave? a spaceship?), provide concrete details to set this place apart — and to create a more immersive reading experience.
You can go the hyperrealist route (think the opening four paragraphs of Gustave Flaubert’s A Simple Soul, a masterclass of telling detail). Or focus on how a specific space makes the people in it feel and behave, like blogger Julie Riso did in this visceral recounting of her hike through an Estonian bog.
Need a helping hand? Head to The Commons.
Editors’ Note: you’ll get much more helpful feedback from your co-bloggers here and in The Commons if you ask specific questions and use the template to help you focus. Questions like “What do you think of my blog?” or “Is this post good?” are difficult for people to respond to because they’re so broad; often, you’ll get an equally broad response (“It’s good!”), which doesn’t help you grow.
Instead, think about the particular things you’re interested in knowing, like:
- Does my post feel too long? How could I make it more focused?
- If you were interested in dogs/gardening/baseball/spelunking/your blog topic, would you find this post interesting? Will it help me reach other dogs/gardeners/baseball fans/spelunkers?
- Does the introduction of this post intrigue you? Is the ending of my short story powerful enough?
- Did I clearly explain how to make lasagna/run a marathon/groom a dog? What was unclear?
If you have more than one question, that’s fine, although we recommend focusing on one or two questions per post to avoid overwhelming folks. You’ve got a lot of challenges ahead of you, so there’s plenty of time to ask about different things.
This one will be difficult for me since my blog is less about story telling and more about history and social politics of Black hair. I’ll do my best though! I’m thinking about a short poem…I’ll post it as soon as I can!
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How about the first salon you walked into or house where someone was doing hair? My blog isn’t usually story telling either, it’ll be interesting fitting the prompts in!
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Those are great suggestion! Thanks so much for helping me with this one.
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If I could travel anywhere,
and move faster than light.
I would choose to be in bed,
and asleep for the night.
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I love the short and sweet nature of this poem! Most days I want to just relax and stay in bed too.
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You too have a bunch of toddlers? 😉
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I’ve already registered to this challenge but why the prompt isn’t delivered to my inbox?
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Are you subscribed to receive Daily Post posts by email? You can check and manage your subscriptions here:
https://wordpress.com/settings/notifications/
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I changed my email settings, but I did not see a way to select what/who is sending me daily emails. I would like to simply receive daily emails from this course and then weekly emails for everything else that I am following through WordPress.
I find that I am spending too much time figuring out what is going on, and not getting to actually writing. Is there an outline for the course anywhere? I was on a mountain on day 1 and missed my chance to prepare for the course.
Thank you for your help.
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Marina — all the assignments are collected here:
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/courses/writing-101-build-a-blogging-habit/
If you’re using the Commons, each day’s task is also posted at the top of the page there.
Unfortunately, there’s not a way at the moment to separate course emails from other Daily Post notifications.
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Hi guys, this is my write-up for this assignment, please feel free to leave a comment telling me if it’s too sappy for your tastes, or if it’s fitting for the theme I’ve tried to push forward.
http://dx0330.wordpress.com/2014/09/16/a-room-with-a-view-a-house-with-a-soul/
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This reminds me of a post that I made on my blog today, called “Putting PLACE on paper.” You can see it here, at http://kerrinicolecasey.wordpress.com/2014/09/15/how-to-put-place-on-paper-how-to-write-setting-description/ An interesting coincidence, and an interesting challenge.
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If this is redundant I apologize, but I can’t seem to find my original post for Assignment 2 and I would love feedback on the descriptions such as too little, too much, too silly…
http://memolsblog.wordpress.com/2014/09/16/writing-101-day-2-setting/
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I think I would also like to be in bed, except I would like to be in a good dream.
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Assuming I did this correctly… Check out my first ever blog!
http://kalcantar20.wordpress.com/2014/09/16/untouched/
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I changed my tagline a year ago. Because it is a mishmash of Japanese vs. Southern American, recipes, haiku, etc. I captitalized on the lions, and tigers, and bears, Oh My! to “East meets South: Haiku, Musings, Recipes, Serendipity – oh my!” It says it all.
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Here is the link to my write up for the assignment. http://eadamsgrace.wordpress.com/2014/09/15/writing-101-a-room-with-a-view-or-just-a-view/
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I would love some feedback on my response! Hope you’re all enjoying the assignments!
http://mariawaldkirch.wordpress.com/2014/09/16/writing-101-a-room-with-a-view/
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I will have to post mine tomorrow. Just saw the link on Twitter so I didn’t get the assignment before I was already in bed and lost my writing mojo.
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No worries! Take it at your own pace :_
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Ok everyone I have finally finished the first assignment and would love some feedback. Give me the good, bad and ugly 🙂
http://drscoggins.wordpress.com/2014/09/16/writing101-day-1-off-to-atlantis-with-the-family/
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If I could go anywhere back in time it would be to an obscure little mining town in the middle of nowhere, with nothing more than scraggly trees and dry aired heat. Where temperatures soared into the hundreds, an unattractive place for the uninitiated, but the happiest days for me, when our precious children were small, and our love soared high and held no bounds.
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Lovely .I liked it Simpson.
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Be sure you’re publishing your responses on your own blog!
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How do I do that?:)
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Make sure you’re on your personal site, and then click “new post” in the bar across the top of your screen.
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http://amberwaslike.wordpress.com/2014/09/16/glow-in-the-dark-stars/
any feedback would be nice. thanks 🙂
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My blog is about food – I don’t really write stories. I will have to dig deep for this one.
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How about the cooking atmosphere? first kitchen where you really started cooking? a special restaurant? …
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Hi everyone – great to be on this writing journey with you all!
I’d love to have some feedback on my post if you are so willing. I wanted to get your input, I really like visualization so sometimes I get carried away.
Can’t wait to read your posts as well. Happy writing everyone!
http://ebyescapes.wordpress.com/2014/09/16/writing-101-a-room-with-a-view-or-just-a-view-rome/
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Great post! I would just give some breath to the text by dividing it in paragraphs. Keep it up 🙂
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hii everyone , here is the link to my post…feedbacks most welcome !
http://sweetykannoth.wordpress.com/2014/09/16/the-cruise-down-the-danube-river-back-in-time/
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http://speak2world.wordpress.com/2014/09/16/all-body-part-of-lord-ganesh-has-its-own-significance/
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Hihi everyone, there’s my response to day 2, it’s there’s not much focus to it, i’m just playing around with descriptive narrative. Any feedback welcomed! http://gorgeousness.me/2014/09/16/writing-101-a-room-with-a-view/
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I’m not sure about this one. I hope I got the mix of physical and emotional right to make it a “setting”. I’d appreciate comments and opinions.
Here’s my post – http://wp.me/pkvb-JI
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Hi everyone. So this is what I wrote. I saw this exercise as soon as I got to work this morning and this is the only place I wanted to be. Do tell me what you think of the post and whether it makes any sense at all.
http://abitofthisnalotofthat.wordpress.com/2014/09/16/stairway-to-heaven/
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Hope you like this!!!
http://blogging101september2014.wordpress.com/2014/09/16/dances-in-the-rain/
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Day two. It’s kind of different, but trying to keep it inline with my site.
I want to show you something
http://jdstockholm.com/2014/09/16/i-want-to-show-you-something/
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I took a bit of a different route for this challenge! I would love to hear whether my post makes sense to you? Did you feel drawn into the journey? Here it is: https://leadersintraining.wordpress.com/2014/09/16/on-a-personal-note-step-by-step-by-step/
I look forward to hearing from you all!!
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Hi Everyone!
This is the opening to a post about my visit to a Mexican penitentiary.
Does the introduction of this post intrigue you? How can I improve it?
“The tires crunched as Vivian drives her SUV slowly into the gravel parking lot. We have arrived at Mascota penitentiary. Now that my visit is a reality I’m a bit intimidated….”
I look forward to hearing from you!
http://la-vita.us/blogTEST/
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Here’s mine for today. Descriptive writing is not my strong point (I’m still looking for that) but it is something that’s fun to work on. 🙂 http://kindazennish.com/2014/09/16/the-starting-line/
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I signed up for both Blogging 101 and Writing 101, only received an email for Blogging 101, and can’t access the Commons for either of these sites yet. Please help.
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Thank you!!
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Autumn leaves, centenarian trees, legendary tales anyone? More here: http://frenchtouchincebu.wordpress.com/2014/09/16/i-only-went-out-for-a-walk/
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I linked the challenged to my post but the links appears broken. Is it normal? just let me know so I could then copy/paste the assignment instead. Thanks a lot
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Hi estelea — I just checked the link in your previous comment, and it appears to be working.
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I haven’t been blogging for a while. I’m looking forward to getting bak to it 🙂 Here’s my contribution. http://travellingmacs.wordpress.com/2014/09/16/no-stronger-bond/
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