My current story opens with the main character have made camp in a terrain feature like this… Spoiler …and I’m having difficulty finding a name or brief description that conjures the proper image. “Cave” seems like something the reader would imagine as narrower and deeper, “overhang” doesn’t feel enclosed enough, and the official term I’ve found (rock shelter) might not register as cavelike or natural to a casual reader. So does anyone know another word for this feature or have ideas for descriptions?
I believe that's what's known as a grotto. Just sort of a scooped-out half-cavern, often manmade, or begun by nature and finished by man.
So i have this exact same structure in my WIP but its behind a waterfall. @Catriona Grace and her husband helped me out! I dont know if theybare called the same thing when there is nonwater involved. Ill update my comme t whe. I locate my notes! Update: "alcove" and/or "hallow"
Hmm.... although this looke more like a "grotto" to me... (alcove and grottos are basically the same thing, right?)
Thanks for the suggestions, everyone! A little more digging also turned up “abri”, which seems like the most accurate description of what I had in mind, though maybe too obscure for most audiences.
