2019 Day 11 – Description

How did you get on yesterday? Did you write a story? Remember, set your own rules, and stick to them. If you miss a day, don’t try to catch up. Just keep moving forward! The Prompt Write A story centered on description Don’t forget to still have a story with character, desires, conflicts, but play … Continue reading “2019 Day 11 – Description”

[Prompt] May 18 – Description

Today we are going to focus on description. Yesterday’s dialogue-heavy prompt probably resulted in very little descriptive language (unless your characters were poets). Today we’re going to remedy that. Write a story where you concentrate on descriptive language. Pick a tone and try to stay with it throughout the story (rich, natural metaphors lathered on, … Continue reading “[Prompt] May 18 – Description”

Does Your Writing Cut The Mustard?

The first restaurant I worked in was an American-style family restaurant – pretty exotic for the southwest coast of Scotland in the 80s, a place festooned with fish’n’chip shops, where ‘chicken tenders’ sounded like a new language. One of my jobs was to set out bowls of condiments before the customers came in…and not just … Continue reading “Does Your Writing Cut The Mustard?”

I, WRITER Affiliates

Here’s more information about the course and some copy you can swipe: Short Description The I, WRITER Course is a 6-week journey through short story writing designed to strengthen your narrative storytelling skills and help you build writing into your life, no matter how busy you are. Sample Email Script Do you have stories you’d … Continue reading “I, WRITER Affiliates”

[Write on Wednesday] – Touch

Touch is a sense that some writers naturally use often and others, hardly ever. I mean obviously if you’re writing a romance, there’s going to be some touching, but there are other ways to use this sense that will pull readers into your story. Let’s give it a try. The Prompt Your main character has … Continue reading “[Write on Wednesday] – Touch”

[Write On Wednesday] – Taste

This month is all about encouraging you to engage with the setting of your story by using your senses. Last week I asked you to use sounds in your descriptions; the week before that we explored the close association between smell, memory, and emotion. This week your story is going to explore taste. The Prompt … Continue reading “[Write On Wednesday] – Taste”

[Write On Wednesday] Sound

Last week’s prompt encouraged you to describe everything in terms of smell. It was tough, wasn’t it? But I’ll bet you discovered some things about your go-to style of description and how you could branch out a little. This week is, I think, a little easier, focusing as it does on sound. It’s a sense … Continue reading “[Write On Wednesday] Sound”

[Writing on Wednesday] Smell

One of the most common (and most overlooked) pieces of writing advice is to use the five senses. This month I’m going to use the five weekly writing prompts to encourage you to get more sensory detail into your writing by focusing on one sense per week. The Prompt Write  a story in which a … Continue reading “[Writing on Wednesday] Smell”

193 – Goals or Getting From Here To There

In this episode I look at goals and why it’s so uncomfortable getting from where you are now to where you want to be…and how you can make it happen.   The 4 Steps to Reaching Your Goals 1. Set a theme for the year and prioritize 1-3 goals 2. Get clear on why they … Continue reading “193 – Goals or Getting From Here To There”

178 – A Writing State of Mind

What’s the most important skill in writing? Is it plot, character arcs, dialogue, description, pacing? In this episode I argue that the thing that will dictate your level of success is your state of mind. Links: Eric Platenberg: http://stada.me/eric Seth Godin: http://stada.me/seth StoryADay September Sign up: http://stada.me/sept2020 Ready to write today, not “some day”?

Why It’s OK That You Didn’t Submit That Story

This past weekend we celebrated StoryFest, here at StoryaDay.org. StoryFest is our annual ‘recital’, our celebration of the work we did in May. Some of our writers shared stories, others liked, commented and posted on social media about them. Others…didn’t. And that’s OK. Because not everyone was ready. Perhaps you weren’t ready to engage in … Continue reading “Why It’s OK That You Didn’t Submit That Story”

Your Author Bio and Story Summary: Write Them Without Fear

Of all the terrifying things we do as writers (writing stories, sharing them with critique partners, revising, submitting to publications, enduring rejection, grappling with sudden success…) most people rate ‘writing my bio’ or ‘summarizing my story’ up there with death and public speaking as ‘fun things to do on a Saturday afternoon’. They are, however, … Continue reading “Your Author Bio and Story Summary: Write Them Without Fear”

[Write On Wednesday] Speak, Don’t Tell

Continuing this month’s theme of Show, Don’t Tell, today I want you to focus on how you can do that in dialogue.  Missed the first prompt on this month’s theme? Find it here. The Prompt Write a story set in a particular time or place and use dialogue to show us where we are, rather … Continue reading “[Write On Wednesday] Speak, Don’t Tell”

[Write On Wednesday] Pull Readers into Your Story

This month’s theme at StoryADay is “Show, Don’t Tell”, that pesky little piece of writing advice that sounds so easy and will actually take us the whole month to unpack. It’s more than simply ‘showing’. It’s about using all our senses to immerse the reader in a moment, and it come more easily to some … Continue reading “[Write On Wednesday] Pull Readers into Your Story”

[Reading Room] No More Than A Bubble by Jamel Brinkley

The opening “It was back in those days. Claudius Van Clyde and I stood on the edge of the dancing crowd, each of us already three bottles into one brand of magic brew, blasted by the music throbbing from the speakers. But we weren’t listening to the songs. I’d been speaking into the open shell … Continue reading “[Reading Room] No More Than A Bubble by Jamel Brinkley”

2019 Day 29 – The One

How did you get on yesterday? Did you write a story? Remember, set your own rules, and stick to them. If you miss a day, don’t try to catch up. Just keep moving forward! The Prompt Write The Story You’ve Been Waiting To Write I’ve been making you jump through hoops all month, but there … Continue reading “2019 Day 29 – The One”

2019 Day 12 – Dialogue

How did you get on yesterday? Did you write a story? Remember, set your own rules, and stick to them. If you miss a day, don’t try to catch up. Just keep moving forward! The Prompt Write A story centered on dialogue This is an antidote to yesterday’s description-heavy story. Make sure to make your … Continue reading “2019 Day 12 – Dialogue”

[Write On Wednesday] Can You Remember?

Today’s post comes to us from gifted memoirist Jane Paffenbarger Butler. You can read more about Jane, below, but in the meantime, enjoy mining your memories for Story Sparks! – Julie When I was a child, my mother and sisters and I spent hours making our clothes at home. The memory of those long quiet … Continue reading “[Write On Wednesday] Can You Remember?”

[Reading Room] Useless Things by Ariel Berry

Since we’re all about Flash Fiction here at StoryADay during February, I’m going to be highlighting some flash stories here in the Reading Room. This story comes from 100WordStory.com, a project from NaNoWriMo’s Grant Faulker, and partners. Useless Things by Ariel Berry caught my eye because of its mix of big ideas and mundane moments in life. It … Continue reading “[Reading Room] Useless Things by Ariel Berry”

[Write On Wednesday] Write To Read

This evening I’ll be going out to another short story reading event, and it’s got me thinking about the audiences we write for. Tonight’s story is adapted from one I wrote a while ago. I’m very happy with how it reads on the page, but when it comes to reading it aloud, I found I … Continue reading “[Write On Wednesday] Write To Read”

[Write on Wednesday] Cataloguing

Today’s prompt kicks off a month of Write On Wednesday short story prompts that focus on odd or very specific formats of stories. Remember when Elaine from Seinfeld got a job writing for the J. Peterman catalogue? Every entry was a tiny short story, usually ridiculous, about the fantasy character who would wear/carry each product. … Continue reading “[Write on Wednesday] Cataloguing”

[Reading Room] I’d Rather Go Blind by Jabari Asim

From A Taste of Honey – Stories by Jabari Asim, Broadway Books, 2010, ISBN 978-0-767679-1978-4 I knew a man who only read non-fiction because he “didn’t see the point” of fiction. Would it surprise you to know that this man was one of the least empathetic I never knew? I firmly believe that fiction is more powerful … Continue reading “[Reading Room] I’d Rather Go Blind by Jabari Asim”

[Write On Wednesday] Make It Flash

This month at StoryADay we’re all about Flash Fiction! Flash fiction is loosely defined as being between 250 and 1200  words long, but it is so much more than that. The best description of Flash Fiction I’ve ever seen goes like this:

Settings – A Writing Prompt from Josh Barkan

Writing exercise: (20 minutes) Choose a place that you know well, which you have strong feelings about. Describe that place, first when you are in a happy mood. (10 minutes) Then describe the place when you are in a sad mood. (10 minutes) What difference did you note? Writing exercise: (30 minutes) What is described … Continue reading “Settings – A Writing Prompt from Josh Barkan”

Sumptuous Settings – a writing prompt

Today I encourage you to make your prose as purple as you like, in a quest to find out how much description you really need. The Prompt Write a story (set in your novel’s world) that makes sensation a priority. Use all five senses. Tips Don’t be afraid to write ridiculously floral prose today. You … Continue reading “Sumptuous Settings – a writing prompt”