A Little Bit of Structure

Finished my little city oneshot. I'm rather happy with it all things considered, though I still can't bring myself to write the omake, even with Bill's blessing upon it XD

Writing about cities is one of my favorite things to do - the best writing exercise in my aresenal is called "Invisible Cities" after the Italio Calvino book. All you do is write about a city with all your senses; what does it look like, smell like, what's the general atmosphere, what are the people like, climate, culture, everything that makes up a unique identity. I don't typically use real cities as it's far more fun to craft your own, but this was a gift, so I made an exception.

The thing with writing cities is you have to be specific to get to the heart of what makes on place different from another, but being too specific leaves the piece unrelateable. That's the real reason I don't really like to use actual places, especially when I haven't even been there myself.

For my fellow writers out there though, the exercise can produce some fantastic results if you'll just sit down and write a few. I'm considering making that a mini-project of sorts for this blog - dedicate a day each week to posting with a new city piece. I need a little more structure to this blog anyway.  I decree, Sundays shall be city days!

The wind curled through the brushes on the edge of the river, rolling along with gentle waves lapping at the black sandy shores of Discortia. There was an almost malicious chill to the breeze, a harshness one might have called intentional as the cold slipped daggers into every patch of skin not covered by my jacket. The city gates rose tall, huge, black iron beasts filigreed with twisting metal snaking its way around the bars that swung open soundlessly. Within, rows of grey buildings lined perfectly paved streets, eerie in their too-perfect geometry.

Not bad for five minutes of freewriting : ) I almost always end up writing about empty/ creepy cities for some reason and I honestly can't figure out why. I guess it's the mystery? The ambiance of an empty city is impressive, but you'd think my traveller would meet more people in his journeys.