Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Super-Snoop Blogfest



I love blogfests.  They give me an inside peek at some very talented writers I would have otherwise never had the privilege of knowing.  Today, I am partaking in  Alison Stevens' blogfest .  To participate, all you need to do is "describe a setting that tells us something about your character's personality. Characters can be of any age, living in any time or place. But don't tell us about the character, tell us about his or her stuff. We'll get to know the character from what you write."  Hop on over to her website and take a look at some of the crazy belongings our characters collect.  Oh yes . .  and here is mine:

Okay, so Jake’s room is pretty bare, but I will do the best I can to describe it.  It is about ten by ten, the walls made of thee-inch concrete.  A steel reinforced door, that is too heavy to maneuver, blocks his room off from the hallway beyond.  A double, well-worn mattress rest on the floor, no sheets just a few stained quilts protecting him from the protruding springs.  Three empty milk crates double as his dresser and a storage closet for his ammunition. An old, wooden cable spool serves as a table where two mason jars of water and a half-empty can of rotten peaches sit.   There is a pile of holed jeans and gray t-shirts crumpled in the corner, his rain-washed socks hanging on the wall to dry.

On his sheet-less bed lays a baseball, smudged and well worn, a matching glove, and a journal. The floor is covered with pencil shavings and old newspapers.   Dead center of the room is a rusted-out half barrel, a smoldering fire just beginning to die out.  Next to that fire pit are three knives, two dull, one sharp and still resting on the stone he drew it across.  

So that about sums it up – the entire contents of my mc’s room. Any idea who this kid is or why he is there?

20 comments:

  1. I gave you an award on my blog. Come on over to get it!

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  2. Sounds to me like he's there on his own accord. If he was put in that room by someone else, he wouldn't have the weapons.

    So I think the room is a shelter from the outside world--from what I don't know (My mind goes right to zombies because that's what I'm writing about now days. Weird I know). An apocolpse of some sort. But not necessarily...hmmm... he could be a kid on the run, trying to protect himself.

    I like this entry. Very good.

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  3. Definitely sounds somewhat post apocalyptic. The room sounds like a prison cell, but this is certainly not an active prison judging by what he has in his room!
    I imagine a whole micro-society of people holed up in the prison and protecting themselves from whatever is out there. A tentative kind of society brought together by necessity but unable to completely trust one another.

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  4. I'm not with it enough to infer anything, but just the setting has me very very curious as to the story.

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  5. If he were in a prison or holding cell, he wouldn't have the ammunition. He sounds as though he's preparing for battle; I can only hope it's not against the other kids at school. Terrific description! Thanks so much for participating!

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  6. I was going to guess in a prison, but then there's the ammunition. A gladiator? Very interesting room description.

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  7. Sounds like he's on the run or hiding! This setting makes me interested to find out more.

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  8. Hi,

    I'm thinking teen soldier, he's hiding out in the one place he thinks no one will think to look for him. Possibly post apocalyptic setting, or he's a gorilla fighter in a 21st century war zone, he's a sniper who seemingly melts away because someone assists in his disappearance. ;)


    best
    F

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  9. Well, he's definitely a warrior of some kind, even if he doesn't get paid. Maybe a refugee in some civil war?

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  10. He sounds like he's in hiding and like he has good reason to. He's the kind of kid who knows how to protect himself and will if necessary. Great street smarts, and not easily stunted by hunger or pain. Sounds like a dystopia to me. :-)

    <3 Gina Blechman

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  11. Everyones missing a very valid point. He has shavings of pencils. This kid writes. Sounds to me he there on assignment to find out something. Some sort of kid spy or journalist.

    I don't feel soldier. The gun and ammunition are for protection.

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  12. I am going to throw my hat in tho the dystopia/post-apocalyptic ring as well. and I also thought of zombies, or at least some other man eating monster that he needs to protect himself from.

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  13. Sounds like a bachelor pad alright. Sounds like he's living in some kind of bomb shelter. :)

    What do you think of my
    entry
    ? I would like to hear what you think! :)

    Elizabeth

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  14. I'm not good at guessing anything.

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  15. Once I got the idea of "prison" in my head, it was hard to get rid of it, even though the things in his room made me wonder if he was there by choice. Maybe it would help to describe some of the contents first and then zoom out to the whole room. That would make my initial reaction change.

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  16. Oh yes, post apocalyptic indeed. I'm thinking something to do with zombies maybe, or something equally dangerous, because of the heavy door.

    I think I'm going to join this blogfest, it wounds like fun!

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  17. Please tell us who he is and the reason he's there...we'd love to know.

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  18. I'm going to guess post-apocalyptic, he's taken shelter in an old prison, maybe? It'd be one of the few buildings sturdy enough to survive whatever disaster happened. Knives definitely for protection. He's documenting as a way to keep himself sane, because maybe he's alone? Intriguing. :) New follower and fellow crusader just (finally) making the rounds. Happy Thursday!

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  19. Former writer gone rebel. I see a dystopian theme. FANTASTIC description. I want to know more. :)

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  20. I think it's some sort of cell. Very nicely done!

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