Blog – Page 2 – StoryADay

Something To Hold Onto

Today’s Tiny Task in preparation for StoryADay May is:

Make a list of 10 accessories/physical features you can give your characters.

In a short story it’s important to orient the reader quickly. You don’t want them stopping to remember which character is which.

With main characters you can spend time working on the way they speak, think and act, to make sure that they feel unique.

But you can also ‘cheat’ by giving them (or walk-on/secondary characters) one signature item that lets readers identify them quickly:

e.g: the barrista in Friends with the shock of white-blond hair; The Doctor in Doctor Who‘s extravagantly long-flappy coat (in almost every regeneration!); Columbo’s raincoat; Aragorn’s sword; Captain America’s shield; the red coat worn by a little girl in the otherwise black-and-white Schindler’s List; the Narnia children’s gifts from Aslan…

Note: with an object there is also the narrative possibility of letting the reader know something is very wrong, if we show the item, with the character nowhere nearby…

DISCUSSION

Did you choose a mix of items and distinctive physical features?

Brainstorming Characters Pt 2

Today’s Tiny Task in preparation for StoryADay May is to expand your pool of available characters in a different direction.

Make a list of characters who are unlike you in specific ways.

External features: External features: race, gender, socioeconomic status, job title, role at your work, role in your family, height, weight, athletic ability, hair color…
Internal features: how your character reacts to stress; how they talk to people; their attitude to people who are different from them; their level of courage and fear (not the same things!); their ability to control their emotions; what they would define as a ‘good’ outcome in any situation…

It can help to think of specific people who are very unlike you–whether you admire or despise aspects of their behavior–and make a list of the actions they take, the words they say, the body language they employ, that help you understand how they are different from you (remember that, in storytelling, showing how characters act can be more powerful than simply giving us the narrator/protagonist’s opinions).

Further reading: a writing prompt

Discussion

Are you excited to write about characters who are not like you? Were you able to identify aspects of specific people that are different from you? What kinds of roles will these characters take in a story? (Will they always be the antagonist/bad guy, or did you list some features you admire, too?

Brainstorming Characters Pt 1

Today’s Tiny Task in preparation for StoryADay May is to gather a cast of character you can audition for stories, when an ideas strikes you.

The prompts are great, but it’s going to be up to you to find characters to make them come alive. Remember:

Plot happens outside, but story happens inside

-Donald Maass, The Emotional Craft of Fiction

Create a list of five characters who are quite like you (this makes it easy to write about them quickly, since you only have to look inside for the ‘research’).

Ways they might be like you:

External features: race, gender, socioeconomic status, job title, role at your work, role in your family, height, weight, athletic ability, hair color…
Internal aspects: introversion/extraversion; math ability; reaction to stressful situations; likelihood you’ll stand up for someone in an argument; self-control; preferences for what you like to do in your free time; feelings about people who are different from you; willingness to ‘fit in’ in society…

Bonus points: make a list of ways those things about you a, frustrate and b, delight you. Think about how you might use that to create internal and external conflict, in a story.

Further Reading: Creating Compelling Characters

Discussion

Was it fun to think about writing a character that shares things in common with you? Or did you roll your eyes (do it anyway! It might save you on a day when the writing isn’t coming easily!)

Sneak Peek

at this year’s roster of amazing writers providing writing prompts for StoryADay May 2025.

“How do they do it?”

So many of us think exactly that, when reading stories by writers we admire.

Well, if you’d like a sneak peek in side the brain of a bunch of award-wininng and best-selling authors’ brains, you should sign up for StoryADay May 2025.

This year I’ll be sharing writing prompts from writers who have won Nebula and Hugo awards, been featured in the Best American Short Story collection, been shortlisted for Edgar and Bram Stoker awards, and more.

Be Our Guest

Here are some of the names you’ll see in your inbox this May, when you sign up.

headshots of the authors providing guest prompts for this year's challenge and the words: with writing prompts from P. Djèlí Clark, Mary Robinette Kowal, John Wiswell, Lori Ostlund, Kim Coleman Foote, Sasha Brown, R. S. A Garcia, Jennifer Hudak, Tim Waggoner, Rachel Bolton, Julia Elliot, Kai Lovelace, Anglea Sylvaine, Rich Larson, F. E. Choe,Emma Burnett , Patricia A. Jackson, Allegra Hyde,

P. Djèlí Clark, Mary Robinette Kowal, John Wiswell, Lori Ostlund, Kim Coleman Foote, Sasha Brown, R. S. A Garcia, Jennifer Hudak, Tim Waggoner, Rachel Bolton, Julia Elliot, Kai Lovelace, Anglea Sylvaine, Rich Larson, F. E. Choe,Emma Burnett , Patricia A. Jackson, Allegra Hyde, and more.

Past Performance

For a hint of the kinds of prompts guests have given us in the past, here are some that have been popular:

Roxane Gay Wants You To Be Happy

Mary Robinette Kowal Opens A Portal

Tadzio Koelb Witnesses An Accident

Simon Rich Knows More Than Your Character

Caroline Kim Conjures A Ghost

Pick one and write a practice story this weekend. And don’t forget to sign up for the challenge: https://storyaday.org/signup.

Keep writing,

Warm Ups For April

What to write, how to write it, and where to talk about it…

Get ready for StoryADay May with these warm-up tasks in April PLUS: hear about the wonderful writers who have sent us prompts for this year’s challenge sign up at: https://storyaday.org

Get Started on Settings

Today’s Tiny Task in preparation for StoryADay May is to make another list, this time of places where you might set your story.

Answer these questions quickly, without thinking too hard:

List 5 Big-Picture Settings (e.g. Contemporary USA, Mars settlement in the early days, cargo ship in the age of sail, cargo ship in the far future when space travel is relatively routine, fantasy kingdom with dragons…)
List 5 Close-Up Settings (e.g. the engine room, an open-plan office, the back of an Uber, the throne room, walking the Yorkshire dales).
For each, write down what thrills you about that setting, what possibilities do you see (could be: ‘I don’t have to do any research, or ‘I can mash up Star Trek and The Expanse’ or ‘I finally get to hang out with Heathcliff’)
For each, write down one physical detail that springs to mind about your setting
For each, write down one detail that might not be so obvious on a first glance.

Circle (or highlight) the three that you think will work best for the fast-drafting world of StoryADay May (hint: the ones that require lots of research might slow you down too much).

P. S. Check out this roster of wonderful writers who have already given us writing prompts for StoryADay May, with more to come!

with writing prompts from guests: P. Djèlí Clark, Mary Robinette Kowal, John Wiswell, Lori Ostlund, Kim Coleman Foote, Sasha Brown, R. S. A Garcia, Jennifer Hudak, Tim Waggoner, Rachel Bolton, Julia Elliot, Kai Lovelace, Anglea Sylvaine, Rich Larson, F. E. Choe,Emma Burnett , Patricia A. Jackson, Allegra Hyde, and more...

Guest prompters include: P. Djèlí Clark, Mary Robinette Kowal, John Wiswell, Lori Ostlund, Kim Coleman Foote, Sasha Brown, R. S. A Garcia, Jennifer Hudak, Tim Waggoner, Rachel Bolton, Julia Elliot, Kai Lovelace, Anglea Sylvaine, Rich Larson, F. E. Choe,Emma Burnett , Patricia A. Jackson, Allegra Hyde, and more…

DISCUSSION

Did your choices have more to do with your current life, or your current reading tastes?