This is another setting related exercise. This time you were asked to come up with some interesting locations your characters could visit: places you can't go or are scared to go in real life.
It took me a while to get going on this exercise, because my first thought was 'Well, my entire novel is set in an alternate universe - I can't go anywhere in it, because it doesn't exist!'. So I decided to take a step back, and just think of locations I'd like to visit or I'm scared to visit in the real world, and then think about how I could fit them into my novel.
In the end I came up with three locations. They're all places I could easily find close to my house, but they're also all places that will work really well within the world of my novel.
It's also made me a lot more excited about writing my novel: although I don't get to go to these places, my characters can. Although I might have to arrange to visit some of them for research.
This exercise has also solved some of my narrative problems - I now have a better idea of where I might set some of my scenes, and what those places might look or feel like. Although there is one location that I will just have to completely make-up, because I doubt I can access it.
I've also been so focussed on plot that it was nice to think about something else. The character worksheets were the same - coming up with settings and characters was a fun creative exercise.
I think this would be a good exercise to keep in mind while you're writing: as you start a scene, think about where it could be set, and how that might work with the narrative or the characters. Make each scene as interesting as possible - that way you'll be more excited about writing it.
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