From Person to Place

Just as places can be translated into memorable characters, so too can people be translated into unique settings for our stories. It’s all in taking a different perspective, so you find the extraordinary and singular aspects to add to your story.

With Halloween right around the corner, here’s a fun exercise to try:

Write Over the Hump

Think of someone you do not get along with for whatever reason, someone who is dark, maybe a bit scary. If that person were a place, what would that place be like? What would you find there? What atmosphere would abound? What kind of people would go there? what kinds of things might happen in this kind of place. Give yourself 10 minutes to explore this new setting.

What kind of Halloween-type place did your less-than-loved person turn out to be?

About Susan Tuttle

Susan Tuttle is a professional freelance editor, writing instructor and multi-award winning author of 21 books—6 nonfiction on writing (Write It Right), 6 suspense novels and 7 collections of award-winning short stories. She also has stories in both volumes of "Deadlines", the new anthology from the Central Coast Chapter of Sisters in Crime (SinC), Tales from a Rocky Coast, and the SLO NightWriter anthology. Under the pen name Susan Grace O'Neill, she is the author of the Journey With Jesus series: Lord, Let Me Grow (Parables) vol. 1, and Lord, Let Me Walk (Lent). She is currently working on volume #2 of her Skylark P.I. series (a PI with paranormal abilities), as well as 2 YA fantasy series. And she teaches fiction writing in both the morning and afternoon every Wednesday. Email her if you're interested in joining her class. And follow her on Twitter and FaceBook.