[Prompt] May 30 – The Climax

We’re almost there…but not quite. You might call this The Climax: that moment right before the resolution. So today’s prompt really has to be:

Focus on writing a great climax

The climax is the action the protagonist chooses to take after facing the moment of crisis, where he or she is pushed to the edge with no way out.
–Candace Kearns Read

(If you need to ‘cheat’ and take a previously-written character or plot for this one, that’s fine. If that helps you move through the early parts of the story quickly enough to focus all your energy on writing a great climax.)

This is a great moment to show that thing I’m always banging on about: the journey of the character. How has she changed since the beginning of the story? Or how have we?

Remember, the climax is not the resolution (that comes tomorrow, sob!). The climax is action packed (even if the action is internal, or is, in fact, inaction). No wishy-washy stuff here. This is the moment to let your characters shine.

Go!

[Prompt] May 29 – Make Your Hero Heroic

Congratulations. You’ve been writing stories all month. You’ve written more short stories this month than most writers write in a decade [1. This is not a scientific fact. But doesn’t it seem likely, doesn’t it, what with the elves slacking off?].

My guess is you’re getting pretty good at this by now. Sure some of your stories will be ragged urchins hanging around the door making you feel guilty — with their unfinished clothes and dirty faces. Some will remind you of those relatives you never talk about because…well. But some, oh, some will be your new best friend, shiny and guaranteed to make you feel a flutter inside every time you think of them: grateful they are here, amazed they came to you, flattered that their attractiveness somehow rubs off on you now.

And more than this, you have learned a ton about your own strengths and abilities; your favorite styles; the things you never tried before; the ways you can present a character; and, hopefully, that other people love your stories even in their rough-and-ready StoryADay form.

If you’re still writing at this stage, you’ve already figured out how to not be scared of writing, how to sit down every day and do it, and you’re pretty confident that you can squeeze out three more stories and bask in the warm June glow of victory.

So I’d like you to make things just a little harder for yourself today.

Don’t just write a story.

Write a story with a real, compelling, heroic main character.

Take some time to think about how you will present your main character.

  • Is she more compelling than anyone you meet on an average day? Is she funnier? Weaker? Stronger? More scared? Required to be braver?
  • How will you highlight his strengths and weaknesses? Through inner-monologue? Other people’s reactions to him? Other people’s conversations about him?
  • How will you put your main character through the mill? What flaws will that reveal,  and how will you make the readers still your hero?

Give the world a new hero today.

Go!

[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, Tolkein-style; sardonic observations from your main character; floral imagery, the soundscape or ‘smellscape’ of the world your characters are walking through…). Or perhaps you’ll identify which of your characters’ perspectives we are in by giving your descriptive writing a different tone for each character.

Make us feel, smell, hear, see, touch and taste your world today. But don’t forget to make it a story (beginning, middle, end, action, moving the characters forward).

If you need a little inspiration, read this letter written by an aspiring screenwriter (he got the job).

Go!

[Prompt] May 27 – Dialogue

Today it’s time to work on our dialogue.

Write a story that focuses on writing realistic dialogue

I’m a fan of the podcast Writing Excuses hosted by 3-4 working science fiction/fantasy/speculative fiction/comic authors and occasional guests. Even if you don’t write in these forms, don’t let that put you off. It’s 15 minutes long and almost always inspiring.

The reason I mention this is because of their episode with guest Jon Scalzi who gave an excellent, and kind of hilarious theory of why dialogue often comes out sounding less than realistic. I recommend you listen here, but the embarrassingly-accurate gist is that writers spend a lot of time reading. That means that when it comes time to write dialogue we have a tendency to write it as if we are, well, writing it. We don’t tend to write how people really talk, with all the interjections, interruptions and selfishness of people in everyday conversation.

So lets try to capture some of that in our stories today. Let’s write how people really talk and not how we wish they would.

Go!

[Prompt] May 26 – Dramatic Monologue

Aren’t there times when you wish you could just say your piece without anyone interrupting you? Well, today’s the day — for your protagonist, at least.

Write A Dramatic Monologue

Have your protagonist tell their story out loud, in a self-aware way. Make it clear that they know they have an audience – whether or not you spell out why. (Perhaps they’re telling their story to the first police officer on the scene, perhaps they’re talking to a grown-up grandchild, or recording their story for StoryCorp’s National Archives project). You can have them refer to the reason, or simply ramble on.

Make it clear that this is their story and that no-one is going to interrupt, then let them go.

  • Will your protagonist be scrupulously honest, or portray herself in a good light, her enemies in a bad light? Will that be subtle or blindingly obvious?
  • Will your hero use humor? What emotions will he betray?
  • Does the language your character use tell us something about their personality, their upbringing, their age?

Go!

[Prompt] May 25 – Shifting Perspectives

Today’s prompt is a little different. It’s going to show you just how much difference Point of View can made.

Rewrite A Story From A Different Perspective

Take a story that you have written (either this month or at some other point) and rewrite it from a different point of view. If it was third person, limited, try making it first person, or third person omniscient. What new avenues of empathy does that open up for you? What new language can you use (see this article for useful examples).

You can choose to rewrite someone else’s story for this exercise (as long as you promise not to try to get it published and get yourself — and me — for breach of copyright for producing unauthorized derivative works) but it’s better to try this with one of your own. I’m not actually terribly worried about us getting sued. It’s just that rewriting one of your own will show you just how much the same story, written from a different point of view, changes even when written by the same person.

I strongly suggest choosing a story you are already happy with, for this exercise. If you already love the story, you’re much more likely to enjoy playing with it from a different point of view. Or you might hate doing it, but remember: you’re not deleting anything. You’re just doing an exercise.

Go!