The Prompt
Write a stroy about a character who is desperately trying to catch a flight, but who has been stopped in airport security because of some unusual items in their carry-on luggage. This exercise is an opportunity to practice revealing character through physical objects. The items in the character’s carry-on—and the character’s defense of those items—will provide information about the individual in question.
This scenario is also an opportunity to practice making a scene, in a literal and a figurative sense. There is a conflict baked into the initial premise: the character needs to catch a flight, but their need is blocked by an obstacle. This offers a tremendous possibility for escalating tension and narrative surprise. How can your character’s decision making both move forward the story and move forward a reader’s understanding of your protagonist?
Allegra Hyde
Allegra Hyde is the author of the story collection THE LAST CATASTROPHE, an Editors’ Choice selection at The New York Times and a finalist for the Ohioana Book Award. Her debut novel ELEUTHERIA was named a best book of the year by The New Yorker, shortlisted for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Prize, and featured on Late Night with Seth Meyers. Her first story collection, OF THIS NEW WORLD, won the John Simmons Short Fiction Award. Hyde has also received four Pushcart Prizes and the O. Henry Prize. She currently lives in Massachusetts and teaches at Smith College.
For more, visit: https://www.allegrahyde.com/
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Here’s your next Game Piece. save the image and share on social media with #storyaday
Prefer paper crafts? Here’s the cut & paste version
Oh, this was pretty fun! I had a protagonist of one of my favourite game series (Yakuza/RGG) run into trouble at the airport for taking some of his absurd inventory onto a flight, and also managed to incorporate some gameplay elements to push the plot forward.
Make a cute and fun conversation with a plot twist that will introduce the story.
My 862-word story was partially based on a true event. My husband forgot to put his Swiss Army knife in with the checked baggage. My female character only has a carryon bag with the last gift her father gave her, a small decorative pocketknife.
I only wrote an opening scene followed by a little exposition, but I managed to convey from the contents of her searched luggage that the MC had a deceased mother, was one of several siblings, that she was capable of flashes of temper, and that she had (probably) ADHD. Definitely not one of my better-written pieces, but a valuable exercise.
Joyfully checked this box today.