In this fourth week of StoryADay May 2020 I talk about the importance of celebrating every win in your writing life.
LINKS: NaNoWriMo YWP Flash Fiction Workshop with Julie Duffy: https://youtu.be/ecYq1CHqArw
Day 23 – Monique Cuillerier Mixes & Matches
The Prompt
Write outside your comfort zone with a random genre, weather type, and errand. (see below)
When you are stuck for new ideas, working from specific suggestions can open up new possibilities. They can also take you out of your normal way of working and help you explore different approaches. You never know what sort of story will result.
Roll a die for each category. (Don’t have a physical die? Google can do that for you.)
Then, write a story in your genre, with the particular type of weather and errand.
(Bonus: choose a favourite childhood character as your main character.)
Genre
- mystery
- romance
- fantasy
- political satire
- science fiction
- thriller
Weather
- snowstorm
- light rain
- heat wave
- extreme cold
- strong wind
- sunny and warm
Errand
- buy groceries
- return library books
- make a bank deposit
- pick up a child from an extracurricular activity
- deliver a birthday present
- renew a piece of government identification
The Author
Monique Cuillerier lives in Ottawa, where she writes fiction, long and short, when she is not procrastinating on Twitter at @MoniqueAC or sporadically posting at notwhereilive.ca. You can read one of Monique’s stories in the anthology Bikes, Not Rockets
Read A Book, Support An Indie
This year’s StoryADay May official bookseller is Reads & Company, a privately-owned indie bookseller in Pennsylvania. Any purchase from the site this month supports Reads & Co.
Leave a comment and let us know how you got on and how you’re celebrating!
Day 22 – Grant Faulkner is Playful
Welcome to Week 4 of StoryADay! Can you believe you’ve made it this far?
I can tell you from past experience that if you have made it this far, you’re going all the way!
You’ve already spent Week 1 on the “Write” part of the WRITER Code, and Week 2 on “Refine”, concentrating on what was working and what you could let go of in yoru writing and your writing practice.
Last week was all about “Improve”, as you tackled different parts of the story writing craft.
This week’s theme is: “Triumph!”.
This week I want you to make a conscious effort to put a tiny celebration in place whenever you do something that furthers your journey as an author.
- Got to your desk? Punch the air and say “yeah!”.
- Finished your story? Give yourself a gold star (literally! Put one in your journal!).
- Read the prompt and spent the day noodling on story ideas? Take one hand and pat yourself on the back with it.
- Didn’t get your story written and decided to let it go, but come back tomorrow? Do a little dance, celebrating your ability to overcome disappointments.
There is some serious behavioral science research behind these silly tactics.
When you celebrate, you feel good, and when you feel good, you want to do more of the thing that makes you feel good.
That’s why some of the things we’ll never be, at StoryADay, are somber, judgmental or unrealistic about the challenges of living this writing life!
The Prompt
Be playful.
Playfulness can open up an expanse in confinement.
So… write a story in 26 sentences, with each sentence beginning with a sequential letter of the alphabet, starting with “A.”
The Author
Grant Faulkner is the Executive Director of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and the co-founder of 100 Word Story. He has published two books on writing, Pep Talks for Writers: 52 Insights and Actions to Boost Your Creative Mojo, and Brave the Page, a teen writing guide. He’s also published a collection of 100-word stories, Fissures, and Nothing Short of 100: Selected Tales from 100 Word Story. He’s also the co-host of the podcast Write-minded. His next collection of short stories, All the Comfort Sin Can Provide is forthcoming from Black Lawrence Press in July 2021.
Read A Book, Support An Indie
This year’s StoryADay May official bookseller is Reads & Company, a privately-owned indie bookseller in Pennsylvania. Any purchase from the site this month supports Reads & Co.
Grant Faulkner,
Leave a comment and let us know how you got on and how you’re celebrating every success this week!
Day 21 – Dr. Lanae St. John Wants To Know About Your First Time
The Prompt
Write About Your First Time – this could be your character’s ‘first time’, a kiss or something more.
(If you don’t want to write about a romantic relationship you can still talk about the excitement, build-up, and connection aspects of going through any experience together for the first time.)
Listen to my podcast conversation with Dr. Lanae St. John
The Author
Dr. Lanae St. John, DHS, CSC, ACS, is a board-certified sexologist, relationship coach and parent to two daughters. She is the author of the book Read Me: A Parental Primer for ‘The Talk’. You find out more about Lanae at her website, themamasutra.net
Read A Book, Support An Indie
This year’s StoryADay May official bookseller is Reads & Company, a privately-owned indie bookseller in Pennsylvania. Any purchase from the site this month supports Reads & Co.
LANAE ST. JOHN, READ ME: A PARENTAL PRIMER FOR ‘THE TALK’
Leave a comment and let us know how you got on and what you’re writing about
Day 20 – Premee Mohamed Has A Question
The Prompt
Premee Mohammed dug into her a short story stash of ideas to share one with us.
‘Superheroes, community service/non-jail punishment for crime, a secret society.
In a world where superpowers are real, a convicted criminal is spared a prison term… If he agrees to do community service, enforced by an unknown league of incognito superheroes. But how can he skip town while he’s always under their surveillance?”
After our recent podcast episode we discussed this prompt. She suggested that a short story is “an answered question”. This is an insight that REALLY helped me, as I thought about how to start, and end, short stories.
This is raw from the from the index card and I asked Premee to tell us how she would take something like this, a note, and start to think about turning it into a story.
The initial phrase that I sent is a setting or a premise, rather than a plot; it’s the setup.
I would probably start by trying to figure out who might be involved—a reasonable number of people for a short story—and how they could conflict with each other, or how their needs could conflict with each other.
I’d make sure I set up some decision points to answer. The question should be set up at the start, you know, because like a short story is really an answered question, right?
I find it useful to have that question at the start instead of having it develop sort of midway through, because then the whole story can be guided by that.
Premee Mohamed
The Author
Premee Mohamed is an Indo-Caribbean scientist and speculative fiction writer based in Canada. Her short fiction has appeared in a variety of venues and her debut novel, ‘Beneath the Rising,’ came out from Solaris Books in March 2020. She can be found on Twitter at @premeesaurus.
Read A Book, Support An Indie
This year’s StoryADay May official bookseller is Reads & Company, a privately-owned indie bookseller in Pennsylvania. Any purchase from the site this month supports Reads & Co.
PREMEE MOHAMED, BENEATH THE RISING
Leave a comment and let us know how you got on and what you’re writing about
Day 19 – Seanan McGuire Asks “What If?”
The Prompt
When the square-cube law is rescinded, internal combustion becomes impossible. How is travel impacted? How are daily lives changed?
(e. g. What if cars and other engines couldn’t exist? – JD)
THE AUTHOR
Seanan McGuire (http://seananmcguire.com/) was the winner of the 2010 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and her novel Feed (as Mira Grant) was named as one of Publishers Weekly’s Best Books of 2010. Her short fiction widely published and available on her Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/seananmcguire
Read A Book, Support An Indie
This year’s StoryADay May official bookseller is Reads & Company, a privately-owned indie bookseller in Pennsylvania. Any purchase from the site this month supports Reads & Co.
Seanan McGuire, That Ain’t Witchcraft
Leave a comment and let us know how you got on and what you’re writing about
Day 18 – Simon Rich Knows More Than Your Character
THE PROMPT
A character who knows less than the reader tries their best to deal with a problem they don’t fully understand.
THE AUTHOR
Simon Rich is is an American humorist, novelist, and screenwriter. He has published two novels and three collections of humor pieces, several of which appeared in The New Yorker
His message to the StoryADay community: “God speed everyone. Let’s keep writing if we can.”
Read A Book, Support An Indie
This year’s StoryADay May official bookseller is Reads & Company, a privately-owned indie bookseller in Pennsylvania. Any purchase from the site this month supports Reads & Co.
SIMON RICH, Hits & Misses: Stories
Leave a comment and let us know how you got on and what you’re writing about
Day 17 – Gregory Frost Plays with Point Of View
The Prompt
Think up a narrative about some form of travel—anything from setting out on an adventure, to a school trip to somewhere, to crossing a border, to an accident on the way, (a train wreck perhaps).
Begin this in the voice of a collective first person: “We.”
How does a group consciousness describe the experience?
Consider both Karen Russell’s “St. Lucy’s School for Girls Raised by Wolves” and Ayșe Papatya Bucak’s “The History of Girls” as examples of this voice. Note that both authors introduce the element of the individual “I” at critical points among the we. See if you can identify in your story idea where the individual “I” might intrude or take over. (500 words and up)
THE AUTHOR
GREGORY FROST’s most recent novel-length work is the Shadowbridge duology from DelRey. It was an ALA Best Fantasy Novel pick. His latest short fiction will appear in the September/October 2020 Asimov’s Magazine and in an upcoming issue of Weird Tales.
His collaborative novelette with Michael Swanwick, “Lock Up Your Chickens and Daughters, H’ard and Andy Are Come to Town,” won an Asimov Readers Award. His short stories have been finalists for the Stoker, Nebula, Hugo, and Theodore Sturgeon awards.
Read A Book, Support An Indie
This year’s StoryADay May official bookseller is Reads & Company, a privately-owned indie bookseller in Pennsylvania. Any purchase from the site this month supports Reads & Co.
GREGORY FROST, SHADOWBRIDGE
Leave a comment and let us know how you got on and what you’re writing about
168 – Give Yourself The Gift of Writing (Badly)
We’re heading into Week 3 of StoryADay May 2020. What can you do this week to make the most of all this creative energy? I have some suggestions…
Day 16 – Tobias S. Buckell Thwarts Your Characters
The Prompt
Think about three different characters going into a situation who need three different things to happen in it. Now, all of these things will conflict with the other needs. Think about how they will ally with each other and thwart each other in conversation and subtly trying to influence each other. But only one character can get what they want. Now… go!
The Author
Born in the Caribbean, Tobias S. Buckell is a New York Times Bestselling author. His novels and over 50 short stories have been translated into 17 languages and he has been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, Prometheus and John W. Campbell Award for Best New Science Fiction Author. He has a fabulous Patreon campaign where you get original stories once a month. He is also the author of one of my favorite new writing guides, It’s All Just A Draft, which I talked about in this podcast episode.
Read A Book, Support An Indie
This year’s StoryADay May official bookseller is Reads & Company, a privately-owned indie bookseller in Pennsylvania. Any purchase from the site this month supports Reads & Co.
TOBIAS S. BUCKELL, IT’S ALL JUST A DRAFT
Leave a comment and let us know how you got on and what you’re writing about