It's funny that we had a reading about using google maps to go and see a location because I'll often do this when I'm feeling... well I don't know what the feeling is but I'll go look at old places I've lived. I've done this a couple of times to go see my dads house. Going past that, I've also used the Sims to make one of my old apartments because I wanted to see if I could make it from memory and I think I did pretty well. Granted that instance is my word against my memory so, who knows how accurate I actually was. It's hard for me to come up with like, an actual strategy past just remembering but those tools have helped me to regrasp a space before, so I don't see how they would stop working now.
All of these things are helping me visualize my ideas on a screen. I'm in my own head far too much for my own good, and coincidentally all of my work also thinks that. So I guess, even when I'm not actively writing (rip accountability checks) the Padlets are helping me get my thoughts and ideas onto a computer screen and from there I can move on to actually conceiving work. Even if that has yet to be written, I know that I won't just be spewing mostly stream of conciseness malarky.
I often use Google maps and Open Railway Map to look at abandoned railway lines whenever I'm bored. As it happens, a few of my stories center around abandoned places since they can create mystery and tension. Similar to your use of the Sims, I've used Minecraft to try and emulate landscapes (to some extent) and cityscapes with the sense of scale on display.
After creating the ideas on screen, finding the right words to describe the settings has also been important to me, which is why I love going into excruciating detail with setting; it feels more immersive and the reader gets a sense of actually being there.
I'm also in the same boat in which my memory plays a huge role for creating an environment. I think that's so cool that you tried to recreate your old apartment on Sims from memory!
Echoing what Evey and Izzy said, i's super cool that you created your old apartment on Sims! That sounds like such an interesting exercise. I agree that the Padlets are surprisingly helpful. I guess I've never approached a writing project from so many different angles and using this many methods, and it's adding a really interesting dimension to the shape of the project in my mind.
Because my character is going on a journey, I've always been mapping out my world in recent years. Google Maps may seem unhelpful for me in this scenario, but I frequently use it because the places I create are often based on real-world locations. For a while, I've developed railroad maps of my world in order to create a sense of scale for it. I've also tried to develop city maps, but those have been harder to really create details for due to the nature of cities in general. Like I said, my character is on a journey, and there are plenty of locations I still haven't touched upon yet.
The central conflict of the story revolves around chaos in the form of a genocidal invasion in the beginning, as seen in my research Padlet. Because the latter is naturally tied to themes of nationalism and patriotism, or a sense of pride in the location of where one was born, the mapping portion helps me create the various sovereign nations that end up being targets or the instigators of such conflicts.
I’m still working out details of my story or stories maybe, but I will say that I do have a clear direction of where I’m heading towards with the project. My biggest thing is deciding on if I want my setting to be real places or not.
I will say that the research padlets have been a very neat tool to use so far. It has allowed me to revisit my good memories from my childhood. I definitely want to go through different stages of my life and showing things like the Space Jam movie poster gave me a feeling of euphoria and I do enjoy working on those.
Padlet has also helped me with my research so far. Visualizing our project on screen makes it easier to grasp what we're trying to portray in our projects.
For my project I don’t see myself using google maps because most of my time in dance has been in a four by four box… also known as a dance studio. I basically have my environment for my project engraved into my head since it is from my personal experience. I think my memories of dance are so vivid in my head because I miss dancing all the time.
My statement of interest has helped me shape where my creative critical project is going. I know I want to write about myself performing on stage, the adversities and struggles behind dancing, and how alluring dance truly is as an art form. Using Padlet as a research tool has helped me visualize what I want to portray in my project. It’s a great researching tool that has helped grow my project even more.
I completely understand where you're coming from on the intensity of your dance memories! I have the same feelings for hockey. I grew up obsessed and consumed by not only the game, but developing my skills as many hours of every day as possible, so it's strange suddenly being completely removed from the culture.
I see where you're coming from. In many scenarios, a map isn't as helpful in these situations, and possibly a sketch of the room/rooms would work much better, especially if this is a story coming from memories. I find vivid descriptions of a location to be extremely helpful in helping the reader/audience in receiving the material well.
I am seeing how an outline could form letting all the ideas float around upstairs. It is taking shape in the steps I need to get to the end of this project and hit the goal.
Padlet is helping because I am attempting to put things in order of what needs to where and for what reason. Next, I will begin to categorize in just what order I want to present it or make it so that the themes relate, or the difficulty increases.
I was particularly interested in using Google Maps as a tool to map out locations because I used it as a resource for something important recently! A couple years ago, I planned a series of long-weekend trips throughout the year (about one per month) to places I'd lived in the past which had greatly affected me. The goal was to reprocess some of the events I'd lived through and to gain a clearer understanding of myself and my decisions. I used Google Maps as a resource before each trip to look at the town again and refamiliarize myself with what it felt like to live there. It was also important to me to visit the actual locations that were meaningful to me, so browsing the streets on Google Maps was key in sparking memories of the places I wanted to be sure to visit during my trips. I'm excited to try using Google Maps for a different- but still somewhat related- purpose.
I was also intrigued by the idea of actually drawing locations you're trying to capture in writing. Although Google Maps and other means of viewing locations are obviously beneficial, I'm excited to try to sit down and map out these places myself. Since I moved almost yearly during my 20s, I will likely use a map of the eastern US to map out and see my actual path; this is something I've never done before!
I think that as opposed to an actual map, for me I have found that the best strategy for me is to take a bunch of pictures of locations in my story and tie them together with captions or explanations. i am not sure if this is more different or not than what the rest of everyone is doing, but this has proven effective for me. My statement of interest gives me a concrete idea of how I want my project to go. For my research padlet, it is helping me make more connections to add layers to my work. And for my mapping padlet, it is kind of similar to my SOI in the fact that it keeps me on a concrete track and keeps my ideas straight and organized
It's funny that we had a reading about using google maps to go and see a location because I'll often do this when I'm feeling... well I don't know what the feeling is but I'll go look at old places I've lived. I've done this a couple of times to go see my dads house. Going past that, I've also used the Sims to make one of my old apartments because I wanted to see if I could make it from memory and I think I did pretty well. Granted that instance is my word against my memory so, who knows how accurate I actually was. It's hard for me to come up with like, an actual strategy past just remembering but those tools have helped me to regrasp a space before, so I don't see how they would stop working now.
All of these things are helping me visualize my ideas on a screen. I'm in my own head far too much for my own good, and coincidentally all of my work also thinks that. So I guess, even when I'm not actively writing (rip accountability checks) the Padlets are helping me get my thoughts and ideas onto a computer screen and from there I can move on to actually conceiving work. Even if that has yet to be written, I know that I won't just be spewing mostly stream of conciseness malarky.
I often use Google maps and Open Railway Map to look at abandoned railway lines whenever I'm bored. As it happens, a few of my stories center around abandoned places since they can create mystery and tension. Similar to your use of the Sims, I've used Minecraft to try and emulate landscapes (to some extent) and cityscapes with the sense of scale on display.
After creating the ideas on screen, finding the right words to describe the settings has also been important to me, which is why I love going into excruciating detail with setting; it feels more immersive and the reader gets a sense of actually being there.
I'm also in the same boat in which my memory plays a huge role for creating an environment. I think that's so cool that you tried to recreate your old apartment on Sims from memory!
Echoing what Evey and Izzy said, i's super cool that you created your old apartment on Sims! That sounds like such an interesting exercise. I agree that the Padlets are surprisingly helpful. I guess I've never approached a writing project from so many different angles and using this many methods, and it's adding a really interesting dimension to the shape of the project in my mind.
Because my character is going on a journey, I've always been mapping out my world in recent years. Google Maps may seem unhelpful for me in this scenario, but I frequently use it because the places I create are often based on real-world locations. For a while, I've developed railroad maps of my world in order to create a sense of scale for it. I've also tried to develop city maps, but those have been harder to really create details for due to the nature of cities in general. Like I said, my character is on a journey, and there are plenty of locations I still haven't touched upon yet.
The central conflict of the story revolves around chaos in the form of a genocidal invasion in the beginning, as seen in my research Padlet. Because the latter is naturally tied to themes of nationalism and patriotism, or a sense of pride in the location of where one was born, the mapping portion helps me create the various sovereign nations that end up being targets or the instigators of such conflicts.
I’m still working out details of my story or stories maybe, but I will say that I do have a clear direction of where I’m heading towards with the project. My biggest thing is deciding on if I want my setting to be real places or not.
I will say that the research padlets have been a very neat tool to use so far. It has allowed me to revisit my good memories from my childhood. I definitely want to go through different stages of my life and showing things like the Space Jam movie poster gave me a feeling of euphoria and I do enjoy working on those.
Padlet has also helped me with my research so far. Visualizing our project on screen makes it easier to grasp what we're trying to portray in our projects.
Your idea of real memories taking place in fictional places is really interesting! I'm curious to see what that will look like :)
I can say I’m still developing ideas if I want my stories to take place inside or outside. Or shift during the middle of a story to a new setting.
The concerns would be if I have the skills to world build twice. Hmm
For my project I don’t see myself using google maps because most of my time in dance has been in a four by four box… also known as a dance studio. I basically have my environment for my project engraved into my head since it is from my personal experience. I think my memories of dance are so vivid in my head because I miss dancing all the time.
My statement of interest has helped me shape where my creative critical project is going. I know I want to write about myself performing on stage, the adversities and struggles behind dancing, and how alluring dance truly is as an art form. Using Padlet as a research tool has helped me visualize what I want to portray in my project. It’s a great researching tool that has helped grow my project even more.
I completely understand where you're coming from on the intensity of your dance memories! I have the same feelings for hockey. I grew up obsessed and consumed by not only the game, but developing my skills as many hours of every day as possible, so it's strange suddenly being completely removed from the culture.
I see where you're coming from. In many scenarios, a map isn't as helpful in these situations, and possibly a sketch of the room/rooms would work much better, especially if this is a story coming from memories. I find vivid descriptions of a location to be extremely helpful in helping the reader/audience in receiving the material well.
I am seeing how an outline could form letting all the ideas float around upstairs. It is taking shape in the steps I need to get to the end of this project and hit the goal.
Padlet is helping because I am attempting to put things in order of what needs to where and for what reason. Next, I will begin to categorize in just what order I want to present it or make it so that the themes relate, or the difficulty increases.
I was particularly interested in using Google Maps as a tool to map out locations because I used it as a resource for something important recently! A couple years ago, I planned a series of long-weekend trips throughout the year (about one per month) to places I'd lived in the past which had greatly affected me. The goal was to reprocess some of the events I'd lived through and to gain a clearer understanding of myself and my decisions. I used Google Maps as a resource before each trip to look at the town again and refamiliarize myself with what it felt like to live there. It was also important to me to visit the actual locations that were meaningful to me, so browsing the streets on Google Maps was key in sparking memories of the places I wanted to be sure to visit during my trips. I'm excited to try using Google Maps for a different- but still somewhat related- purpose.
I was also intrigued by the idea of actually drawing locations you're trying to capture in writing. Although Google Maps and other means of viewing locations are obviously beneficial, I'm excited to try to sit down and map out these places myself. Since I moved almost yearly during my 20s, I will likely use a map of the eastern US to map out and see my actual path; this is something I've never done before!
I think that as opposed to an actual map, for me I have found that the best strategy for me is to take a bunch of pictures of locations in my story and tie them together with captions or explanations. i am not sure if this is more different or not than what the rest of everyone is doing, but this has proven effective for me. My statement of interest gives me a concrete idea of how I want my project to go. For my research padlet, it is helping me make more connections to add layers to my work. And for my mapping padlet, it is kind of similar to my SOI in the fact that it keeps me on a concrete track and keeps my ideas straight and organized