May is far from over! Don’t give up now. And if you’ve just discovered StoryADay May, it’s not too late to jump in. Here’s today’s prompt, and you can find a new episode of the podcast here: Is It Time To Quit? (spoiler: no!)
The Prompt
Tell A Story ‘Direct To Camera’
This is probably going to be in first person.
Write as if you’re writing to your best friend, or talking directly to a police officer, or relaying this to a room of strangers.
if all else fails, stand in front of your phone and tell the story. Tell a real story or a fairy story. See what this does to your writing.
Leave a comment and tell us how it went today!
Julie, I’ve really enjoyed this challenge. I did come across a glitch, however: when trying to click on the link for day 18, the link automatically led me to the prompt for day 19 (day 19’s prompt is correct).
Sorry about that, Jennifer, and thanks for alerting me. I’ll correct it.
Today was a bit busy / tricky logistically, but I had an idea that I’m really happy with, a sort of a riff on the whole artificial nature of the voiceover technique that’s often used in movies aimed at teens. I had to wait until the end of the day to write the story, but I’m really happy with the result, a sort of surrealist piece that draws attention to the weirdness of that V/O convention.
Thanks for the prompt!
Complete. Wrote a story in the form of a thank-you letter to an author whose work had a very positive impact on my life. On the one hand I was able to get the words out really fast, just like if I were sending a personal email. On the other hand, I felt like I wasn’t very creative; I had opportunities where I could have been but instead I mostly just wrote facts. That said, it makes me want to experiment more with 1st person POV. I feel like if I can focus on getting into the character’s head, as if I’m telling my own story, then I can write from that character’s perspective more easily.
Thank you for the prompt!
Finished today’s story. I have Jonas giving a report to his brother, a cop, about something that just happened in his story. There were a couple breaks from him telling the story because his brother kept interrupting.
https://fallonbrownwrites.wordpress.com/2018/05/19/story-a-day-day-19-report/
Julie Duffy, Thanks for providing this forum. I’ve found that different types of stories appeal to different readers, and so, a writer may have diffferent audiences. I terms of the prompt, here’s a few comments:
I’ve tried using this ‘direct to camera’ in dead of night. First time, the work had a ‘beat’ built in, like Da Da – Da Da (know that seems absurd) but the sound matched the ticking of a kitchen clock; anyway, writing at night can lead to dark text after midnight; however that short ‘sense’ piece led to a published short story, Keys to Heaven. Recently, did free writing, again.
I focused on ‘dreams’ (not a dream) and how repetitive roads may appear, with obstacles or dead ends. It was a rambling dirge; however, later I used the text in combination with a film prompt, ‘creating a villain’s voice’, and added action at start of ‘dream’ text: the motive for a villain in planning an escape into his mind. This piece (Day for Night) also had a ‘beat” but it was not a sound, it was the ‘blink’ of a digital clock showing time. In each case, passing of time gave a built-in structure to a story.
Gml
Point is that a writer can find that darkness emanating from an inner voice (you knpw, it often ‘feels’ like a downer), and every once and a while, come up with a story, by integrating a story idea/plot into the midnight beat.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Fascinating!