Hello. We missed you. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Happy Monday, lovelies. Can you feel its icy breath on your neck as it tries to drag you back into Lazy Time? Not to worry, I’ve just the thing. Time to warm up your brain and flex your fingers. The week’s just getting started, so let’s get it going off right.
Today’s challenge is setting-related, but since all the elements of a story need to work together like Voltron, it’s character and plot related as well. Synergy: it’s the name of the game.
Today’s Iron Writing Ingredient is…..home.
That’s a loaded fucking word, isn’t it? Lots of baggage there. It’s the place you came from and sometimes the place you’re going. It can be the place you feel safe or the place you had to leave because it was no longer safe. It can be a house, a neighbourhood, a backseat of a car, a box in an alley, a hospital room. It can exist nowhere but inside your own head, something to be looked for and planned for. It can be nowhere at all.
If your character had a set of ruby slippers, where would they take her when she clicked her heels and wished?
Write about the place your main character thinks about when they consider the word ‘home’. Is it their apartment? Their parent’s place? Is it the same place it’s always been since they were a kid, no matter where their actual body was? Or will they be surprised to find the meaning of home has changed in their heart while they weren’t looking? Is it a safe place? Was it ever? Are they there now? If not, why did they leave? What stops them from going back? Will they ever go there again?
Who is waiting there for them?
And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to skin Monday and fly its pelt from my flagpole.
Bare Knuckle Writer 
(Monday) Challenge Accepted!
It was an obvious choice – a Hawaiian shirt. He was Hawaiian, after all, so why shouldn’t he wear one? (This question was only asked by non-Hawaiians, since islanders knew better. The only people who wore those kinds of shirts in Hawaii were tourists who thought it would help them feel like locals or tourism workers trying to live up to the stereotype).
But he wasn’t in Hawaii anymore. It had become too dangerous for him to stay, so he went to California where he would be safe. The heat was the only thing that reminded him of Hawaii. The pace of the city, the attitude of the locals, the surrounding greenery (or lack thereof) – everything else was different.
Because he was in hiding, he needed a disguise. Nobody knew that he was here, but it was better safe than sorry. Since he was good at being subtle his disguise should be loud and brash, and people rarely looked at the person wearing a Hawaiian shirt, only the shirt itself. As a true islander he’d never be caught dead in one, but since his old life was effectively dead why not?
So there was his disguise – brightly coloured shirts covered in flowers and waves. He’d never admit it, but he liked wearing the shirts. They made him feel closer to the islands and his family. They helped remind him of why he left and for whom he left. Right now, the shirts were the closest to home that he could get.
Oh, hello Kalani. It’s been a while.
Great post, Ali. The idea of clothing as a part of it didn’t cross my mind, but of course it would fit in: local sports teams, dressing for the weather, touristy shit…all part of home. Stepping your game up, Rainbow.
I hope Tuesday finds you with a new pelt on your flagpole.
I got one of those blogger award things and nominated you because you’re awesome… and also because I think it’d be quite hilarious to see which 7 random things we learn about the curious Steph Snow. Or you can bend the rules and be all thematic and do 7 things about your writing or something…
Anyway, that’s all. 😀 Happy not-Monday-anymore.
My Monday pelt was stolen in the night by other members of the Monday tribe. But not to worry; I suspect I will see them again next week.
Aw, thanks for the nom. (Heh, nom.:) And for thinking I’m awesome. I think I’ll save it for my birthday, which is next week. If there was ever a day to go on about myself, that would be it.