[Write on Wednesday] Why Would You Say That?!

Communication

It happens all the time:

  • You say one thing, your boss hears another.
  • Your kid’s teacher tells him to finish an assignment by Friday, he tell you Monday.
  • He says he’s busy, she hears “I don’t love you anymore”.

Miscommunication is part of life. It can lead to hilarity or it can be tragic. Crises can be averted, or opportunities can be missed. A story based on miscommunication can be frustrating or poignant.

The Prompt

Write a story where two characters misunderstand each other.

Tip

  • Try to make the miscommunication something that couldn’t easily be solved if the characters simply ‘fess up and talk like adults. Keep them apart, have someone interfere, find another way to make the miscommunication believable.
  • Make sure your story travels from start to end: don’t just write a scene, make someone or something change between the first word and the last.

The Rules:

1. You should use the prompt in your story (however tenuous the connection).

2. You must write the story in one 24 hr period – the faster the better.

3. Post the story in the comments — if you’re brave enough.

4. Find something nice to say about someone else’s story and leave a comment. Everybody needs a little support!

Optional Extras:

Share this challenge on Twitter or Facebook

Some tweets/updates you might use:

Don’t miss my short story: miscommunication  #WriteOnWed #storyaday http://wp.me/p1PnSG-ym

This week’s #WriteOnWed short story prompt is all about miscommunication #storyaday http://wp.me/p1PnSG-ym

Come and write with us! #WriteOnWed #storyaday http://wp.me/p1PnSG-ym

See my story – and write your own, today: Why Would You Say That?  #WriteOnWed #storyaday http://wp.me/p1PnSG-ym

[Write On Wednesday] Changing Seasons

Sprinkler

I don’t know about you, but where I live, the season has definitely changed.

A month or so ago, the weather was changeable, spring-like and hanging on to the old season. Now we are fully into the next season: hot, humid, and surrounded by school-free kids running wild through the backyards.

The Prompt

Set a story on a day when your character notices the season has changed.

Include details in your story that let the reader know how this new season expresses itself in your character’s setting. (And, if you’re writing something futuristic, on a space station, it can be the turning of a new season without any reference to weather at all. Humans have a way of dividing up time and marking it off on the calendar.)

Use the change of season to echo some significant change in your character. Be as subtle or obvious as you please.

Tips

• Make sure your story travels from start to end: don’t just write a scene, make someone or something change between the first word and the last.

The Rules:

1. You should use the prompt in your story (however tenuous the connection).

2. You must write the story in one 24 hr period – the faster the better.

3. Post the story in the comments — if you’re brave enough.

4. Find something nice to say about someone else’s story and leave a comment. Everybody needs a little support!

Optional Extras:

Share this challenge on Twitter or Facebook

Some tweets/updates you might use:

Don’t miss my short story: Changing Seasons  #WriteOnWed #storyaday http://wp.me/p1PnSG-yh

This week’s #WriteOnWed short story prompt is all about change #storyaday http://wp.me/p1PnSG-yh

Come and write with us! #WriteOnWed #storyaday http://wp.me/p1PnSG-yh

See my story – and write your own, today: Changing Seasons at #WriteOnWed #storyaday http://wp.me/p1PnSG-yh

[Write On Wednesday] Passages

Just a number

Today is my birthday!

It’s a big one too: one of those round numbers that everyone finds so significant. The big four-oh.

When I saw it coming I decided to emulate a friend of mine and and throw myself a party. Another friend is running away to a secluded beach when her time comes next month.

 

We humans love to mark our lives with milestones like this: New Year, birthday, anniversaries, this-time-last-year-s. The milestones can be happy or sad, full of surprise or deeply disappointing.

The Prompt

Write a story in which a character reaches, anticipates or reminisces about a milestone. 

How does she react? Is it as meaningful as everyone said it would be? Does he run towards it or shy away from it? Does it change anything?

 

Go!

 

The Rules:

1. You should use the prompt in your story (however tenuous the connection).

2. You must write the story in one 24 hr period – the faster the better.

3. Post the story in the comments — if you’re brave enough.

4. Find something nice to say about someone else’s story and leave a comment. Everybody needs a little support!

Optional Extras:

Share this challenge on Twitter or Facebook

Some tweets/updates you might use:

Don’t miss my short story about milestones!  #WriteOnWed #storyaday http://wp.me/p1PnSG-ya

This week’s #WriteOnWed short story prompt is all about milestones! #storyaday http://wp.me/p1PnSG-ya

Come and write with us! #WriteOnWed #storyaday http://wp.me/p1PnSG-ya

See my story – and write your own, today: Passages at #WriteOnWed #storyaday http://wp.me/p1PnSG-ya

[Prompt] Picaresque

I first came across the term “picaresque” when I was about 13 and assigned “Catcher In the Rye” to read for school.

It meant, I learned, a story about a journey: literal or figurative, or ideally both.

Today I’m traveling to New York for Book Expo America 2012 and while I’m taking a literal journey, your assignment is to

Write A Story In Which Your Hero Takes A Literal And Figurative Journey

Go!

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[Prompt] May 31 – Best Friends and Endings

Today is the last day of StoryADay!.

I don’t know about you but I’ve had a blast – not just writing but meeting up with old friends and making new ones. And now the challenge is ending. So I decided to make the prompt celebrate both those things:

Write a Story Featuring Your Best Friend

and

Give It A Kick-Ass Ending

This can be a fictional version of your real life best friend, or it can be a story about best friends, but make us love the hero as much as you love your very best friend ever.

Put problems in her way, kick him when he’s down, then let him rise up towards a kick-ass, crowd-cheering, fist-pumping ending. Make us care and make us cheer. Imagine the best, funniest, more heart-warming, most satisfying ending you would want for your real-life bestie, and let your character live out the dream.

Go!

(But don’t forget to come back and for StoryFest,  to read a whole bunch of StoryADay short stories. Bring your friends!)

[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!