“Departing” Stores
I wrote a story once where many of the scenes took place in a shopping mall. Almeda Plaza was published on Eastlit in July 2016. It was a tricky story to write; I was revealing a very complex adult situation from the point-of-view of a child. It would be an interesting exercise to revise it now that I have (hopefully) grown so much as a writer since then.
What I failed to appreciate back then is the choice of shopping centre as a setting for many crucial scenes. Metro Manila haunts like SM, Robinson’s, Ever Gotesco feature prominently in my childhood and early adulthood. Big box shopping malls are still around as I write this in 2025, but there has been a decline in the energy of their spaces, likely in correlation with their revenue. There’s online shopping to blame. Covid didn’t help. Now, there are trade wars. Very recently, the oldest department store in Canada closed for business.
Will there still be shopping malls in my old age? I don’t (yet) ask this for sentimental reasons, just out of writerly curiosity. It is worthwhile to write more about them as they might someday only exist in memory and soon, in historical records (much like going to places in horse-drawn carriages). We shall see.
Your Prompt: Create a child character based on a youngster you know in real life. Situate this new character in a scene from your childhood. Note the difference between your behaviour back then and this young character’s in the same scene.
Quick Tip
Be playful with dialogue; use it to show a character’s personality and feelings, not as substitute for exposition.
About Writing Desk
Years ago, I gave up blogging for good. But I changed my mind and here we are. Aside from maintaining a consistent writing practice, my goal is to build a live space outside social media for content that supports the creative process, free of mindless, addictive, and AI-generated distractions.
May your visits here be frequent but brief. The idea is to offer something that will light a spark, not distract from your writing. For this reason, I don’t post Writing Desk on social media. Thanks for stopping by!
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Found Words
“I saw a new world coming rapidly. More scientific, efficient, yes. More cures for the old sicknesses. Very good. But a harsh, cruel world. And I saw a little girl, her eyes tightly closed, holding to her breast the old kind world. one that she knew in her heart could not remain.” – Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go
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Leah Ranada 
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