Welcome back to the penultimate day of your month of extreme short story writing.
After setting you free yesterday, I’m putting a few more limits on you again today.
The Prompt
Take a story that you wrote earlier this month, and tell it from a different point of view
The point of this prompt is to show you that sometimes a story benefits from being told in a different way. Noir stories work in first person because that’s what we’re used to. Something set in a Victorian era works well in Third Person Omniscient because that’s how Dickens wrote–it’s what we’re used to.
Use this prompt as an excuse to play with a story and make it richer, through voice.
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I rewrote day 22’s story, where the prompt was to have the MC wake up in an unfamiliar place. My idea, about a global conspiracy involving mysterious cards with numbers printed on them, just did not cohere at all. I flipped the POV to one of the MC’s employees, which somehow allowed me to flesh out the core mystery of the story, and also make it about the ways he admires her, and why that might make her a target. I would say it’s an improvement, but my brain is dribbling out my ears, and I think such judgments will have to wait until June!
Complete. Changed the story from day 8 about conflict, “Hold the Elevator” (two former sweethearts get stuck in an elevator together). Wrote it from the POV of the protagonist this time which was fun. Although I have to say the most fun part of today’s prompt was looking through the old stories… I’d forgotten all about a couple of them!
Thank you for the prompt… ONE DAY MORE (cue the Les Miserables soundtrack)!
Although I have to say the most fun part of today’s prompt was looking through the old stories… I’d forgotten all about a couple of them!
I was going to say exactly this, David! This prompt was a perfect excuse to go through everything I’ve written this month and try to remember them all! (I’d forgotten more than two!) I am really grateful for this trip down memory lane! Also, holy moly we have written a lot! I’m actually really looking forward to dip back into them, polish, and get them out on the market.
That’s a good point, we DO forget about a lot of the stories we write, don’t we? Seems strange to forget them so quickly, but it has been a busy month. Now I feel clever for having put this prompt in there!
Well now THAT’s going to be in my head all day… 🙂
Hi Julie! Thanks a lot for the recommendation of having our small group for the challenge..I’m game, if Tam and Beck are interested? If not, that’s alright too 🙂 I can try out a personal challenge maybe and try and be ready for September. There is the big NaNoWriMo after that too, so it is good to get into a habit starting now, since I couldn’t keep up last year:)
Tam, Beck and Prachi! I feel your pain. I found out about the challenge last October, just after the Sept challenge. I did a self-imposed challenge as well then. It was fun to have the community this May.
Tam I am sure that you will love Julie’s book. I did the same thing and went through the prompts.
Story done for today. I changed the POV from the story from Day 11.
I think I like this version better. It is more concise and I learned some things about the character I wasn’t expecting.
Finished today’s. It’s a long one, but the words just kind of poured out. I rewrote the Start at the End story, except I only wrote the part after it went back to the beginning.
https://fallonbrownwrites.wordpress.com/2018/05/30/story-a-day-day-30-change-your-point-of-view/
Hi to all the new folks!
If you want to get yourself all excited for the prospect of going through the challenge by yourself (or with a small gorup), here’s the webinar I ran before this year’s challenge started:
Top 3 Tips For A Successful StoryADay Challenge: https://storyaday.org/3-tips-webinar-replay/
I’m in the same boat as Beck and Prachi. Found out about this over Memorial Day when looking for a habit kickstarter. Couldn’t find a way to go backwards so i bought one of the books from a prior year. One was $2.99 on Amazon and will do it that way. Not the same as when you have the energy of other writers doing the same hanging in the ether egging you on, but I’ll be viewing it as practice for the September round of Story a day. Hopefully the post person brings it today. Good luck!
Hi Tam!
Glad ot have you here. Maybe you and Beck and Prachi can form a Rogue StoryADay group and go through it together on a different timescale!
You can find all the May prompts here (even if they are in reverse order…) http://stada.me/may2018
And make sure you’re on the mailing list so that I can remind you about the September challenge.
Gosh, I’ve fallen very behind since my first story..its tough, thinking about a story and writing it down:) Daily! But its a challenge too..! I like Beck’s idea..is it ok if I follow your idea too Beck? 🙂
I only found out about Story A Day recently, so after the month ends I’m planning to go back to the beginning to finish the 31 days. What was the prompt for Day 1? I can’t seem to find it. Thanks!
Hi Beck,
Glad to have you here. Sorry you missed the start, but yes, you can do this by yourself or with a small group of friends you gather. (Maybe the other folks here would be willing to swap email addresses and do a group thing)
And you can come back in September, when I’ll be posting prompts again and gathering a new group of Superstars to go through the small-group-based version.
But in the meantime you can find the prompts here:
http://stada.me/may2018
The first of the month’s post is here: https://stada.me/1May18