[Writing Prompt] Shelter

This week I’m providing you with something your character needs. Your job is to create someone who needs this thing, REALLY needs it. Not wants it. NEEDS it.

And then torture them.

According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, security (of the body, of employment, resources etc.) is pretty high on the list of basic human needs. Today we’re working with one of them:

The Prompt

Today your character needs a secure place to shelter

Bothy

Tips

This can be as simple as someone out walking in a storm, searching for a place to get out of the rain.

It can be someone whose house is being foreclosed on, or bombed, or overrun by zombies.

It might be someone who has challenged themselves to build a tiny house that they can live in

After you decide on the specifics of the NEED that will make this interesting for you, you must then figure out why the character NEEDS it so, so badly. What is there, in his history, that is driving him to find or protect or build this home? Why does it matter on a psychological level as well as a physical one? You don’t need to be explicit about this in the story, but you should know enough to slip in a few clues.

Next, think about some ridiculously challenging ways that the bad buys/the weather/the forces of evil or indifference can thwart your character’s plans. Make him really squirm. (NB This is why he must have an unusually strong desire for this shelter at the start. He’s going to have to overcome some interesting things. If he doesn’t want it badly enough, he’ll just give up).

 

Go!

[Writing Prompt] The Little Old Lady

Today we’re concentrating on a character: in particular the kind of person who would have been known to me, when I was a child, as “a little old lady”.

CL Society 208: Old lady shopping

The Prompt

Write a story featuring a little old lady

Tips

  • Remember, in the days before hair dye and facial peels and gym memberships and HRT—in the days of hard physical labor from dawn to dusk—being a ‘little old lady’ could start at any age from your mid-forties! Those days were NOT that long ago…
  • Feel free to use your little old lady to play to type (cast her as a fairytale witch or a helpless old woman) or against type (have her, I don’t know, swimming from Florida to Cuba without a shark cage…).
  • The interesting part of this story is going to be perhaps less about how this character changes, and more about how our perception/expectations as readers are changed during the story.

Go!

[Writing Prompt] Twilight Zone

I’ve been binging on Twilight Zone recently. Things I have noticed:

  • The stories often, but not always, have a twist at the end
  • The weirdness is not constrained by the need for an explanation (last night I watched “Living Doll”. The story was about a creepy talking doll. The ‘how’ was never explained, but the character exploration was priceless nonetheless)
  • No matter how mundane or unusual the setting, the stories are always rooted in character. The opening scene paints a broad-stroke picture of one trait we’re going to be observing in the main character, and then throw something new at them. From there we follow the character until the consequences of his encounter with that ‘something new’ plays out.
  • Endings are not always happy. And sometimes that’s just fine.

The Prompt

Write a story featuring someone with a strong (or problem) character trait.
Throw a wrench into their nice, everyday routine.
See what happens.
Don’t feel the need to explain the ‘how’ if something unusual is happening (i.e. talking dolls, houshold objects that activate themselves; out-of-body/time experiences). Just focus on what it means for your character.

Special Announcement

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Important note: If you are still concentrating on building up your writing skills and don’t yet have anything to market, don’t get distracted. Don’t click on this link. Back to your writing, wordsmith!

Back To School

OK, so I know it’s not back to school time everywhere (or for everyone), but we’ve all had that clean slate, back to school feeling: starting a new project that is all promise and no disappointment yet; sharpening your new pencils; buying new notebooks; making timetables.

The Prompt

Write a Back To School Story

Tips

  • This doesn’t have to be a traditional ‘back to school’. Use this prompt to write any ‘fresh start’ kind of story
  • “Back To School” doesn’t always bring a sense of optimism.
  • Go beyond the obvious ideas. Dig deep. Try to write something with a rounded character or distinctive voice, or with a twist.

Go!

[Writing Prompt] 500 words

Time
Brevity is the name of the game this week.

The Prompt

Write a story that is exactly 500 words long.

That means you have about 50 words to set things up, 100 words send your character out on their adventure, 200 words to introduce a complication, 125 words for the crisis and climax, and 25 more words for your pithy summing up.

If you need a theme, use this: your character needs to do something/get somewhere quickly.  Time is brief, as is your word count.

Go!

[Writing Prompt] Journeys

steam train
photo by K. J. Duffy

I’m reading an autobiography written in the 1830s — when steam travel was the new big thing. The author (a mother of small children) just gave a vivid and opinionated account of a trip she took from Philadelphia to Baltimore. With very few words she conjoured the layout of the carriages and the hot, smoky atmosphere inside — heated as it was by a coal-fired, iron stove in the middle of the carriage (no health and safety, clean air regulations in the 1830s!). She told an amusing story of an encounter with a fellow passenger, while she was at it. I feel like I was ON the train with her.

The Prompt

Tell The Story Of A Journey

Use any transportation technology you can dream up, but include details to allow us to see, feel and perhaps even choke on the atmosphere.

Don’t forget to make something happen, and then resolve it (or leave it unresolved).

Give us a character we can root for (or against).