Tag: establishing the known world

Crime and Punishment

On By Terry ConnellyIn prompt, Uncategorized, Writing promptLeave a comment

            Back in the Middle Ages there were beheadings and amputations for what today would be considered minor crimes. People would be whipped so badly that little skin remained on their backs. Others would be locked into stocks and left to die.

Torture and imprisonment was sued to exact confessions. People were beaten burned alive, covered with boiling water, or worse, tar, and fingers cut off. Branding was also used to identify criminals.

Outlaw bands roamed about, robbing villagers and city-dwellers alike. The harsher the crimes they committed, the worse the punishment. What’s more important is that the punishments were public affairs, much like going on a picnic or seeing a play.

Your task is to establish the role that crime and punishment takes in your world. You can borrow from earlier times or create your own system, but whichever you choose, it needs to make sense in terms of the society you have built. Medieval torture might not fit in a contemporary society, but maybe it does!

Write a story in which a crime is committed and punishment is doled out. Readers will want to be there from the beginning, to walk with the criminal throughout it all. Or if you write from the perspective of the officials who hunt down, catch and then punish, make sure that the details are intriguing enough to entice readers.

Have fun with this one.

Code of Conduct

On By Terry ConnellyIn Uncategorized, Writing promptLeave a comment

A code of conduct is a set of rules that outlines the norms of behavior, the responsibilities and proper practices of an individual within a society or organization. It sets what behaviors are considered acceptable and which are not. Many of these are written in the form of laws for which punishments are enacted if an individual chooses to break the code. However, many are unwritten, such as not spitting on the playground, cleaning up after yourself and not trampling the flowers in your neighbor’s garden.

Knights of yore had codes that defined behaviors that they couldn’t do, such as not slaughtering civilians, taking care of their steeds and those of their opponents when captured, and communicating effectively for the benefit of all. They also couldn’t make an opponent suffer needlessly and if someone, even a brethren, was fleeing, to kill them swiftly and mercilessly.

Your task is to list a series of codes of conduct for your society. Once you have a sufficient amount, you will write a story in which someone breaks the code. The offense could take place within a powerful modern-day company or in a fantasy world based loosely on the Middle Ages.

Once the code is broken, what happens next decides where the story goes. The offending person could be your protagonist who willingly made the choice because it conflicted with a personal belief system or it could be an entire army that refuses to follow a command that it deems offensive. Conflict arises which leads to tension. As it is resolved, your protagonist might have to make decisions affecting her ability to survive.

Have fun with this one.

Rules and Regulations

On By Terry ConnellyIn Uncategorized, Writing promptLeave a comment

Probably the first rules you remember had something to do with home: Make your bed. Eat all your food. Don’t hit Jimmy. Obey Mom.

As you moved into the world, you learned new rules, primarily around school and community: Finish your work. Don’t talk back to the teacher. Take turns on the playground.

Eventually rules dealt with work, driving, and keeping the city safe.

There were also unstated rules, things we understood that we had to obey even though no one articulated the reasons why. For example, no jaywalking, changing clothes frequently, looking neat out in public.

Your task is to write a story in which rules and regulations play a part. Rules will depend upon the ages of your characters and how you see them interacting with others. Your story can be realistic or fantasy, humorous or serious.

Have fun with this one.