A simple image this time, one of stark, monochromatic beauty from www.creativethorp.com. But oh, what a world of stories, characters and/or settings you can find here.

It’s the otherwoldly starkness of this image that appeals to my imagination. I can see an intrepid group of explorers landing on a strange new world to encounter a monochromatic environment that is hostile to human life. In the sweeping miles of ice and snow they find a lone tree, the only sign that life once flourished there. Suddenly, the air is full of—what? Snow? Frozen hydrogen? Or are those birds of prey or carnivorous insects flocking to intercept the first living beings they have seen in years?

This tree could be thrusting up through the clouds into the frozen vastness of space. Or perhaps it is a root system thrusting down through the crust of the planet.  Or it might not be a tree at all, but a creature from another world. Or an alien ship that roams between galaxies on an unknown mission. What kind of beings would live in such a ship? What might their mission be?

Or perhaps this ghostly tree stands not on the surface, but in an unexplored cave deep beneath our feet near the center of the earth. A center that science has told us is fiery hot, but that this photo tells us is frigid and sterile. Or is it?

What setting do you see in this photo?

Susan Tuttle

Comments? Your story/setting ideas from this photo…

(Hint from Write It Right, Volume 1—Character: It is people’s quirks or weaknesses—their flaws—that make them interesting. Even your superheros should have feet of clay, or the reader will lost interest in them.)