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Sept 6 — Abandoned

Today’s prompt is a look at location. Location can define characters, shape plots, and create conflict. So what happens if your location is a place that has been abandoned, or seems to be abandoned? Who lived there? Who left it? Why?

The Prompt

Write a story set in an abandoned location. It could be a foreclosed house, a closed-down theme park, a ghost town, or anything else. Think about the location’s past and its story, and use those ideas to fuel your plot.

Tips

  • You can focus on how your location came to be abandoned, or you can focus on the consequences of abandonment, or how your characters ended up there.
  • Write about the atmosphere of the location. An abandoned place has a very different feel compared to a crowded city block, or even a lived-in home.
  • Maybe your characters are tied to this location. Why? Did they live there, work there, get hurt there?
  • Maybe you want to go for an  unexpected mood. Not one of sadness, but one of excitement or romance.

Enough of my blabber. Go for it!

If you found this prompt helpful, please share your story and comments below! Stay tuned for more guest prompts.

15 thoughts on “Sept 6 — Abandoned”

  1. I’m late, because, although I’m getting my stories written each day, rough revisions and posting are taking longer…and because I kind of spaced out and totally forgot to leave any comments here on the prompt post!

    Since I’m writing Star Trek fan fiction, maybe spacing out is acceptable? =)

    At any rate, my abandoned location story has T’Pol and Trip returning to her mother’s home, which was abandoned some time before her death. It’s a time of sorrow and joy, for them, with an uncertain future, and I hope I’ve managed to capture that in their story…

    I loved writing this one – sad and sweet work well together…

    https://storyaday.org/shanjeniah/2015/09/09/across-the-threshold-stad-for-september-6-2015/

    Comments and criticisms always gratefully accepted!

  2. I’m late in posting this, but I was actually writing around 8:30 a.m. on Sunday because I had a busy day ahead, as I spent a great day with family, and I’ve not had a chance to read this over, so I apologize for any errors. But this was my best writing session so far. And as you’ll notice from the title, I have much more yet to write. This is my third time doing StoryADay, but it’s the first time I didn’t write a complete story in a single day. There’s too much potential here for me to stop, and I just ran out of time before I had to head out of town to see family, so it’s odd for me to stop in the middle of a story, and it’s usually hard for me to get back into a story later. But I’ll either skip a prompt later on (if not on Monday) and I’ll wait until something comes up that sparks me enough to encourage me to return to this story and finish it. Or maybe it will late until much later. I won’t force it. Anyhow, you can read Part 1 of my story here: https://storiesbystolle.wordpress.com/2015/09/07/day-6-crescent-city-blues-part-1. The password is 6. Please enjoy!

  3. I spent a second day working with a dark romance as my plot. This one took a while for me to come up with, and I’m not really that pleased with it. Perhaps I will revisit it some time and give it the editing and expansion it deserves. http://wp.me/p48tmx-ep

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