How to Tell a Story through Settings? A House

Here is an Example of how to Storytell through the Environment.

Surroundings

• Why are you here?
• What are you looking for?
• Who are you looking for?
• You found this house quite conveniently.
• You came from a nearby town and were looking for a place to stay.
• The Townsfolk didn’t tell you about this place tough.

• Where is it situated?
• How are the surroundings?
• Are there Hostiles?
• Are there Threats?
• The house is situated by a small wood.
• At the entry of the woods.
• You see no beasts, though.
• Not only feral beasts, but even small birds or rodents.
• From where you are you can barely see the Town.

• Should you try to enter?
• Should you continue to search the surroundings?
• You go behind the house.
• There are stables there.
• Empty…
• Not even a single horse.
• Nothing that indicates the presence of a single animal for the recent time.
• This, or they were cleaned this morning.

• Should you pursue into the wood?
• You are too tired to explore them.
• But you can look if the house owner has entered them.
• You look for signs of a human presence, but find naught.
• In fact, you find no signs of any kind of animal.
• The very grass at the woods’ entry is perfect.
• As if none had ever walked on it.
• The trees seem to be tended as well, but…
• Are they tree?
• They look like trees.
• Verdant, healthy & quite diverse.
• As if they had been planted to look diverse.

• You decide to get closer to the house.

Outside

• How large is the house?
• How is it built?
• With which materials?
• What’s it’s form & color?
• Does it look welcoming?
• It looks large enough to shelter a family.
• The walls are sturdy & built in warm color.
• The shades of deep red & coppery orange contrast with the surrounding greenery.
• The many windows are rounded.
• Giving the walls many eyes.

• Are there people inside?
• Can you see anything on the walls?
• Can you hear anything coming from the Neighborhood?
• Can you see someone by the windows?
• The windows are small enough to see through.
• And the blue vitreous aspect blocks the vision from outside even more.

• Shall we knock on the door?
• The door is massive wood piece.
• There are no engravings on it.
• The aspect reminds you of a wooden board you’ve seen earlier on the road to the house.
• The board, which seems to have been a road sign, was burned.
• But only the surface was altered.
• The sign itself was unaffected.
• You couldn’t read the symbols on the charred surface.

• Should you still knock?
• You knock.
• No answer.
• You knock again and realize the sound was different from the 1st time.
• You contacted a similar effect while you where ticking your finger against a glass of water.
• As you were emptying it, the sound of the glass’ resonance changed.

• You knock once more.
• No answer.
• You push the door handle.
• The Door is open.

Inside

• How’s the Light?
• How are the Color?
• There are no obvious sources of light.
• Except for the many windows which show all their usefulness once inside.
• Not only do they let light in, they diffuse it softly through the whole house.
• Is it due to their convex nature?
• The colors out are the colors in, but lighter.
• The floor seems to be made of the same floor as the door was.

• Should you continue your observations?
• Should you pursue?

Entry & Living Room

• The Living room is mundane.
• Except for the fact there’s nobody.
• You call but hear no answers.
• You hear no answers, but your voice sound a little distorted as you elevate it.

• What elements can you find in the Living Room?
• A small Library.
• Which is filled with Books.
• Books dealing with various topics, too diverse to be there simply for recreational purpose.
• The Owner of this house was looking for knowledge.
• However the topics, which for most you have a limited knowledge of, doesn’t seem to be linked.
• In fact their heterogeneity is disconcerting, now you look closer.
• Some even seem to have been written in another language.
• Others are worn.
• Only one title is fully readable : Alchemy – Anatomy of the Void.
• More books are placed on comfortable looking Armchairs.
• Nothing else in this room except a round red Carpet.

• There’s a Watery noise.
• But you can’t tell where it comes from.
• Should you check the Kitchen?

Kitchen

• All rooms are connected to the Kitchen.
• The remaining door must be leading to the Bedroom.

• What elements can you find?
• What elements are you looking for?
  • Note that this new question marks the progression from observer to investigator
• The Furniture is scarce & does not congest the room.
• There’s a large round Table, with Chairs around it.
• As one would expect.
• But the chairs are put back properly.
• A book’s open on the table.
• Kitchen recipes it seems, but you’ve never seen them before.
• The ingredients are common.
• The combinations are unusual: ‘Beef with Sugar, Marmalade & Honey – Meat Candies’.
• Many other recipes have been handwritten in the book, and small pictures drawn.

• There’s a Sink.
• Is it the source of the Watery noise?
• The faucet isn’t leaking.
• And you don’t hear the same noise here.

• There’s an Oven.
• It seems to be functional.

• There’s another Carpet here.
• Same as the one in the Living room.
• But, who puts a carpet in the Kitchen?
• Maybe there’s just one is every room.

• The last thing is a Shelf.
• Staples are stored on it.
• Bags of Grain.
• Other boxes, probably conserves.
• A large box filled with loafs of bread.
• The bread is Dry but still edible.
• There’s a Water Tank at the foot of the Shelf.
• Nothing unusual in a kitchen.
• And the water is crystalline.
• The cook must be pleased.

• Now for the Bedroom.

Bedroom

• The Bedroom inner door is locked.
• There was an Access to the bedroom from the outside.
• You 1st thought it may be Dangerous.
• Strange choice to leave a direct access to outside.
• You get back outside.
• Both Doors are Locked.
• Then, if they were both locked constantly…

• Should you Search the House for a key?
• It may be in one of the books in the living room.
• You’ve encountered a similar device before.
• You look into the books…
• It doesn’t seem to be there.
• It makes sense.
• The owner of the House, do respect her books.
• She wouldn’t disfigure those who brought knowledge to her.
• There’s not much else in the Living room.
• And nothing is found.

• Left to us is the Kitchen.
  • It was you, now it is us.
  • There are other ways to create Proximity with the Public.
  • The Pronoun change is the most obvious.

Return to the Kitchen

• We are still puzzled by the Water noise coming from the living room.
• So, we inspect the faucet once more.
• Childish.
• Only trying to compliment our insecurities.
• What should really trouble us is the Carpet.
• What is this Carpet doing here?
• Too obvious?
• Are we still a child?
• We search the shelve.
• Nothing but food.

• The Carpet must be the answer.
• We remove it…
• And discover a slightly altered Tile.
• The color is different.
• It is newer.
• We lift the tile.
• The Key was under it.

Entering the Bedroom

• What elements do we hope to find?
• Will the room be as empty as the others were?
  • of people
• Will we find another carpet?
• There certainly isn’t an abundant water source inside the bedroom…
• A bath, perhaps?

• Now, Through which door shall we enter?