Crawlspaces
Crawlspaces are a narrow area or corridor behind the walls of a house or building. Fictional crawlspaces may only be a few inches in width and large enough only for a rat or mouse to crawl though, or they may be a few feet across and contain a passage large enough for a person to walk in. They may be hidden passageways in old houses or in haunted houses. They may contain wires, pipes, dust, rat nests, spiderwebs, timber beams, and peepholes. They may connect to the vents, the rafters, or a hidden room. They may connect to the usual spaces of a house through secret doors, an air vent, or through a mouse hole. The space may be home to spiders, rats, and people who live in the walls.
| Synonyms: the space between walls |
| Example Mythonyms: the Secret Corridor |
Designing Fictional Crawlspaces
Archetypes
Overview
When designing space between walls it may be useful to sketch out a layout of the house or structure. Consider if this space spans multiple floors and keep in mind interruptions of the space due to doorways between rooms.
If your space is wide enough for a person to move about, consider why it was built this way in the first place. These passages may be old servant’s corridors, may be bootlegger tunnels, may have been built as an escape route, or simply may have been designed by a mad architect.
What rooms does this space connect?
