Maybe I Just Hate Caravans

Today in Creative Writing class, we were asked to write the setting of a stage play; basically, the introduction to a narrative. The suggestion was to take ‘a novel you’re writing,’ and use a setting from that. That bothered me, because I don’t have ‘a novel I’m writing’ I’m just trying to learn about the best ways to go about writing a novel.

This is what I made:

Realism Approach

One room, a second-hand Caravan with mostly fixed fittings, sitting on its side. Water damage visible around the floor and one wall. Fixed-fitting table juts on the wall, mattresses piled on the floor. Dusty ladder sits against the ‘wall’, which is the former floor, paint marks on it, for egress. Door opens outwards. Cans, closed, piled up in one corner in the alcoves that used to be the bunk beds, turned to a pantry. Radio, crackling with older music and occasional snatches of conspiracy-theory laden speech. The light fittings buzz. Candles sit on the flat surfaces, away from windows.

The door opens, light sheets in.

A Looser Realism approach

Caravan on its side, ladder to exit. Battered. Second hand. Hot. A enters from door.

Bare minimum

Prone abandoned caravan shelter. Door opens.