We have another pre-camp activity for everyone, this time from Stephen!
In this Creative Writing activity, Stephen will guide you through building your very own world, complete with maps, towns, characters, and adventures. All you need is a little paper, a pen, and your imagination. Let’s see where your story takes you.
See below for the full instructions, and follow along with Stephen in the video.
Creative Writing: Ten Steps to Fantastic New Worlds
What you’ll need:
One (1) blank sheet of paper (no lines)
Two (2) blank, lined sheets of paper
Writing tool
Markers (optional)
Step 1: On your blank, un-lined sheet of paper, draw a “wonky circle.
” This should be in the shape of an island, so it probably won’t be a perfect circle. It may be any shape—consider what a “natural” shape for this island might be.
Step 2: On one of your sheets of lined paper, make a list of five (5) geological features. These are things like mountains, rivers, canyons, plains, and caves that give your island character.
Step 3: Decide where each of these geological features should be on your island and
add them to your map (the wonky circle we made in Step 1). You can draw the features or just make a symbol to mark where they exist on the map.
Step 4: On the same sheet of lined paper, make a list of five (5) settlements. These are things like villages, towns, and cities where the beings that inhabit your world (at least some of them) live. Give your settlements fun names. Do the names have to do with nearby geological features (example: River Town, Ten-Peaks City), or do they come from something else like the people who live nearby? (example: Birdville, Riverkeeper’s Village).
Step 5: Decide where each of these settlements should be on your island and add
them to your map (the wonky circle we made in Step 1). You can draw the settlements or just make a symbol or mark where they exist on the map.
BONUS FUN: For Steps 2-5, you can collaborate with friends by taking turns
imagining and placing geological features and settlements on a shared map.
Step 6 [ADVANCED AND OPTIONAL]: Pick two (2) of your settlements and imagine
conflicts, tensions, events, or challenges that these places are experiencing. These
could be serious things like overpopulation, resource scarcity (not enough food, water, or minerals), natural disasters (like floods, volcanoes, or droughts), or changes in government (“a new queen takes the thrown”). These tensions and events might also be fun, less-intense things like parades, festivals, or contests. Basically, what’s going on in these places right now?
Step 7: Imagine a character that lives in this world. Write down some notes about the character on the lined sheet of paper that has your geological features, settlements, and conflicts lists. Where are they from? Do they have a job? What do they like to do with their time? What do they look like? What do they like and/or dislike?
Step 8: Imagine that this character is going to travel across your new island continent. Where will their trip start, and where will it finish? What and who will they see along the way? What will make the trip difficult or easy? Write down the answers to these questions with your other character notes.
Step 9: On your remaining blank sheet of lined paper, write a story that follows your
character on their trip. This will allow you to really illustrate, see, and show your world! You can write about just one part of the trip (whichever part would be the most exciting), or you can write a longer story that shows the whole voyage. This should be written in third-person, as if you were controlling a floating camera that is watching your character and writing what the camera sees. Example: “Billy the Shark swam up the slow, brown river. Then they climbed the weak, dribbling waterfall to reach the Great Marsh that surrounds Turbid Town.”
ALTERNATIVE: Show the trip by writing a diary entry as your character. This should
be written in first-person, as if you were the character. Example: “I swam up the river until the stone of the mountain blocked my path. Then I began to climb.”
Step 10: Congratulations! You have created a new and exciting world where characters can live, struggle, and thrive! What else is happening in your world? What other characters live or travel there? How do these characters work against or within the conflicts, tensions, and events that you have set into motion? What is the history of this world? What is its future? Write in and about this world as much as you like. It is as limitless as your imagination!
