I did a creative writing course a few months ago. To warm us up, we had to describe our ideal place to write. Mine would be a summer house in my garden connected to the mains, actually, I’m bigging myself up. A shed would do.
We then had to write a fictional ideal spot and then a terrible one.
Here we go 🙂
An Ideal Place
Eileen thinks I’m polishing my power tools in the shed when I am in fact placing my action hero, Captain Crosby Fosdyke in a precarious situation. The readers will have to finish another chapter to see if he survives. Command HQ is a makeshift desk at the back of the shed. A secret location screened by gardening paraphernalia. I'm surrounded by the smell of the outdoors, paraffin, oil and seasoned timber. I am wonderfully warm, have a flask of strong coffee laced with something even stronger and half a fruit cake sneaked in from behind enemy lines. What more could any man desire? The chapters are flowing like a fast-moving river.
A difficult Place
“Gordon, What are you doing?” I am wedged into the plastic moulded desk and chair where the kids did their homework 20 years ago. It's in the corner of our junk room/laundry. I'm writing my action thriller featuring the fearless Aaron Quicksilver. I imagine being interviewed 3 books into the series. ‘A true writer can write anywhere.’ I will opine. “Gordon, your mum’s been on the phone again. When are you going to fix her dripping tap?” The room is cold and the window is blurred by condensation. I spot a damp patch on the ceiling. I write the title in my new notebook. “Gordon, the dog needs to go out and what do you want for your tea?” Do I write in the first person or should it be in the third? What tense should I use? Important points for any writer to consider. The door flies open and Barney barrels in, leash in mouth, all ready to go. He tries to join me on the plastic chair but settles for knocking my notebook off instead. Just who is Aaron Quicksilver to him?