Everything's a Writing Prompt Part 12: Home
I'm naturally inclined toward homebody-ness as it is, and this time of year that impulse gets extra hard to fight. Why go out in that cold, rainy, grayness when I could stay in the warm place with the cats? I was thinking about this in the context of Thanksgiving, that my plan was to stay home instead of making the drive to spend the day with my family, and how the definition of home has changed for me over the years. Back in college, “home for the holidays” meant returning to the point of origin. By this point, where I think of as home isn’t where I came from, but where I’ve built my own life.
Home has that same kind of loaded and complex history for characters, too. It lives a double life as both an abstract concept and a tangible location, and that gives it a lot of flexibility and power. So, to get a sense for that, here are five prompts that play with home in various ways.
1. Where the heart is.
One of the most powerful potential uses of home in creative work is as somehing that's longed for or missed. The desire to be in a familiar place can be a powerful driver and emotional engine for a story, especially around holidays or major milestones like birthdays and anniversaries.
For this prompt, think of a character who has been away from home for an extended period of time. Briefly sketch out why they left home and how long it's been since they were back. Then, think about a date that would be important to them, one that they would have good memories of spending in their home. Finally, write a scene where the individual is going about their life on this special day, where their desire to be back home or their homesickness plays a major part in the story.
2. Indoor scavenger hunt.
One of the functions of home is as a repository of all of our stuff. So let's turn all of that stuff into a writing prompt. To start, go around your home and pick up five random objects. Bring them back to where you write, then assign each one to be an inspiration for each of the five following things:
- Character
- Setting
- Plot
- Object
- Imagery
Once you've paired each object to one of those things, write a piece that incorporates all of them together.
3. Cozy evil.
Every kind of person and creature can have a home—even the characters that might usually take the villain, monster, or general bad buy role in the typical story. To write this prompt:
Think of a character or type of character that you don't typically picture just lounging around at home.
Take a second to brainstorm just what that kind of character's home would be like. It might even be fun to sketch out its layout. Think about things like what kind of space they would sleep in, where they would store and prepare food, and what kind of decorations they'd be likely to have.
Write a scene or poem where the evil, villainous, or monstrous creature is hanging out with a friend or relative in their home.
4. Prior inhabitants.
Unless you had the place you're living in built just for you, there were people who lived in the space before you got there. You might have found some of their things still left behind when you moved in, or still be questioning some of their design choices that you haven't gotten around to changing (or can't, if the place is rented).
Take a second to brainstorm who might have lived here before you. This could be educated guessing based on things you actually know about them, or complete invention—whatever seems the most fun for you. Think about the big strokes of their personality and identity. Also think about how they would have used the space. Would it have been laid out the same as you have it? Would they have used any of the rooms for different purposes than you do?
Once you've thought through some of those details, write a scene where this individual is in the home and receives big news—either positive or negative. Show them engaging with the space while they're listening to or processing this information drop.
5. It's coming from inside the house.
Another of the key traits of home is that it's a place of ultimate safety. It's where we're able to feel most ourselves and most secure, the one place we want to retreat to when we're feeling threatened—or, at least, it should be. Which is what can make it extra awful when characters come under threat right there in their own domain.
To start off, think about a character, and briefly describe their home environment. Next, think about some things within that environment that could be potential sources of danger, fear, or tension. These don't necessarily need to be sources of physical danger. They could also be potential sources of emotional distress in the form of strained relationships or objects that trigger bad memories, for instance.
For the last step, pick one of those sources of danger or fear that you brainstormed and write a scene that shows the character facing it.
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