One-Story Challenge

“Show, Don’t Tell” Edition

INTRODUCING:

If you’re a writer who feels like you could be writing more, if only you could focus, or writing better, if only you could master one more craft skill, then I want to invite you to join us in the

StoryADay One-Story Challenge
(with a special focus on the often-annoying, but always powerful advice: “Show, Don’t Tell”.)

I’ll lead you through a month of prompts, inspiration and lessons that will give you the focus and space to:

create a single, complete story, and
master of one of the most essential writing skills there is: pulling readers into your writing.

You’ll spend the whole month working on a single story with bite-sized tasks each week, that help you write, even if when you’re busy.

With written content, captioned videos and worksheets, this challenge supports your desire to improve your skills and complete stories, no matter how busy you are or how you like to learn.

INTODUCTORY OFFER during
2024

~~reg $97~~ special: $67
(save $30)

But, what IS the one-Story Challenge?

The One-Story Challenge: Show, Don’t Tell Edition

It works a little bit like the regular StoryADay May challenge: I provide inspiration and assignments every day, only this time you’ll create and refine a single story over 30 days.

- In Week 1 you create a quick draft of a story – fast and messy, just telling ourselves the story.

- In Week 2 we dive into what “Show, Don’t Tell” means, and identify place in your stories where each technique would work better.

- In Week 3 we practice ‘making a scene’ in those parts of the story where ‘show’ definitely makes the most sense. We’ll think about character, pacing, tension, senses, and refine our ability to speed through the narrative sections that keep readers turning the pages.

- In Week 4 we talk about things like revision strategies, ways to reinforce your success, and next steps for keeping the momentum going.

At the end of the month you’ll have a complete, polished story and a deeper understand of why, when, and how to use ‘show’ and ‘tell’.

It’s a much slower-paced challenge than StoryADay May, so don’t panic if you have other demands on your time.

(You’re always going to have other demands on your time. Might as well learn to write through them, right?)

What Are people saying about it?

Lots of people loved the idea of spending the month in focused practice, working on one story.

“Love, love, love this idea!” – Christina
“Going deep on technique and taking time to develop a piece sounds wonderful to me.” – Elizabeth
“Yes for the one story idea! “ – Yvonne
“ I have had a hectic summer and really could use some motivation in September to focus on my craft.” -Sukie
“Oh I simply love the idea. Of course I do understand how important it is in a story but yeah, I need a lot of practice.” – Riana
“I love the idea of focusing on a single story over the course of a month” – Daryl
“I love trying to show, not tell, and welcome practice and information! I’m in!” – Melanie
“I somewhat understand but would love the practice.” -Sheila
“ I definitely need more help in showing more than telling.” – Leslie
“ It will be a good exercise in trying to finish and polish one good story.” – Prachi
“It would be great to have the prompts and feedback to guide us instead of letting us wander around.” – Mike
“Any opportunity to improve or develop the skill is very welcome.” – Caroline
“I’m in!” – Neha

Other people had strong feelings about ‘show, don’t tell’, itself:

“The logical part of my brain knows the difference between the two, but the creative part doesn’t always know which would work better while drafting” – Michele
“To be (very) honest, ‘show don’t tell’ is a phrase that gives me the ick…Perhaps re-branding in some way would be useful.” – Katie (btw, I love this suggestion- JD!)
I don’t think I quite understand when it’s better to show or tell. ..82% of the time, I will over-describe…” – Taryn
“I have a love, hate relationship with ‘show don’t tell’ because sometimes telling is the best practice for the scene and other times showing is.” – Taylor (Totally agree – JD)
“Show-don’t-tell has led me to create some agonizingly dull prose..I get the concept but still struggle to find the right balance.” – Shan
“I’m a very verbal person, and showing/not telling doesn’t come easily for me, so I’d really appreciate some examples and tips for how to do it better.” – Elizabeth
“ Sometimes the rule can be used as an unhelpful bludgeon in critique.” – Walter
“I understand ‘Show, don’t tell’, but find it more difficult with shorter word counts. I’d be interested in learning more about how to do that.” – Pat

INTRODUCTORY OFFER during
2024

~~reg $97~~ special: $67
(save $30)

You will have access to all course materials for 60 days

Writing Dates

3 x writing dates during StoryADay Sept. Write with Julie Duffy and the StoryADay Superstars in our private Zoom room.