We each wrote a story using the prompt “an abandoned couch in the woods” and in this episode, we’ll talk about all the things that came up before we started writing.
Prompt: An Abandoned Couch in the Woods
Rebecca Notes:
- I journaled to get to a story idea and went down a lot of wrong turns, including an entirely different story
- I like the new direction. My goal is to write a story about a girl who visits the couch because her mother’s boyfriend is trying to hit on her. She always escapes when he’s over at their house and he hates it. She’s a teenager so she’s able to get away and the couch keeps her safe. She’s lost sight of the magic of the world because her world sucks, but the couch is about to show her that the magic still exists. I think it will start with her going there once and have a couple instances showing her on the couch and talking to it. In the end, he’ll come to the couch and then disappear the next day. She will have to decide whether or not to say anything about the magic to anyone else. Not that she won’t want to help other people, but I think she will ultimately keep the secret to herself and find that the couch has disappeared which is what people will be talking about anyway. She doesn’t think anyone will believe her anyway.
Katelyn Notes:
- Worldbuilding with such a short amount of space, weaving in backstory naturally without large information dumps. Only choosing what is necessary and letting the audience fill in certain gaps.
- Process: Always know the beginning and the end, usually not the middle. Lots of surprises.
- Every stage of pre-writing occurs as a movie playing out in my own head.
- Our idea of a prompt is very different, Rebecca is more specific and I’m extremely broad.
- There are a lot of recurring themes in my writing, such as motherhood and dynamics between siblings.