The Bent Page

Imagine yourself living in one small room. This is your bedroom, your bathroom, your kitchen, your laundry… every function of your existence, with the exception of your employment, takes place here. I forced myself to consider this possibility while working on a new character for a story idea that’s been rattling around inside my head.

There are stories of such people, sometimes many people, crammed into a room in dire circumstances. However, in the course of this story, the character chooses to live this way. He has a room in a building and he makes it his home with all the functions described above. Furthermore, he has the place crammed with odd things he collects from time to time. There are books, slips of paper, pieces of cartons and boxes, a few bottle caps, a few glass bottles, a broken necklace, various torn shoelaces… on the list goes. All these things from building blocks of this character, revealing different things about him in his pursuit of someone else.

This has been a fun exercise, considering what it would be like living in not much more than a box. What you could do without, what you wouldn’t give up. Give it a try. It will make you think.