As I pointed out yesterday, story can be all about character.
Sometimes the idea of plot can trip us up (“How do I make it interesting? What should I make *happen*?”). But the truth is, write an interesting character, give them some need, put an obstacle in their way, and you need never worry about ‘plot’.
The Prompt
Think of a fascinating character from your life (past or present). Think about what they wanted on a particular day. Write that story.
Tips
- Short stories are about a moment in time, when something changes in a character’s life. What one thing tips the balance for your character today?
- The change doesn’t need to be life-shattering. Sometimes small changes in perspective have a huge impact on the rest of someone’s life.
- For examples of what I’m talking about think of episodic TV. Not every episode deals with the overall arc of the season. Sometimes it’s just a fun story about a day in the life of one of the characters. Maybe Data is trying to learn to sneeze and discovers some truths about life as an android. Perhaps someone goes on a really bad date and discovers that what he really needs right now is to stop dating for a while and hang out with friends.
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Whop-whop, my sotry is up. Have stories for 2 days that didn
‘t show up. Issues on my end most likely. will post them any way soon. See today’s at http://lisawritesfiction.wordpress.com/2013/05/04/missed-by-lisa-combs/
Comments and suggestions welcome.
mayuthewordsflow,
Lisa
Here’s the link to today’s story: I stretched the “character” definition a bit.
http://guptacarlsonshortstories.blogspot.com/2013/05/maps.html
Finally thought of something for mine. 🙂
https://plus.google.com/u/0/114182872348370985785/posts/JBsuEamZV9S
Nice to work on a character. I don’t think I have the knack yet but it’s good to try. Thank you for the prompts and encouragement.
Are we still supposed to post the link here or is there somewhere else? I’m total newbie/techtard and easilly confused…be patient. *flashes winning smile*
Just in case, here’s my bash at it for today. http://wp.me/p3tYWh-k
It’s not you, it’s me. I think I need to streamline things for next year.
You’re welcome to post here, or you can gohere: https://storyaday.org/activity and post an update. You can use the drop-down menu below the update field and select “post to: The VIctory Dance”. That way it’ll show up both in the main ‘activity’ feed and in the Victory Dance group forum.
And you though you were confused before?
not confused anymore. It always takes a few tours around to find out where the bodies (figuratively speaking, of course) are buried. Comes with being a, ahhh, more mature traveler on the interweebs.
Thanks for all the work you are doing here, truly a mitzvah http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mitzvah (yes, I’m experimenting with HTML codes too…such a learning curve…)
But seriously, thank you.
and not doing so good at it…the HTML thing, that is…
Well, this has been a journey in self discovery and it’s only day 3!
I spent the entire day yesterday thinking up wonderful ideas, getting excited, googling them – only to find out they’ve been done, and done well, many times. I realized this morning that I’m far too focused on the end product. I’m trying to see down the road to sharing my writings (and, dare I say it, maybe publish a picture book from one of them). Sheesh. Talk about pressure. Today, I decided that I need to just write. Imperfect, already done, silly, whatever. No one ever has to see those. And maybe, after 30 days, I’ll have a few gems. Stories I’ll want to perfect and submit down the line.
So today I wrote TWO stories, to make up for the one I didn’t get to yesterday.
Sara, that’s great. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for the prompts. I am having a good time with the challenge. Today’s story was actually a story that had a beginning, middle, and end. It came in at almost 1400 words.
Score!!
So far have finished the third story. Thanks ever so for the prompt. My word count is creeping up. Either I’m really short or really long. But this is fun!
That’s interesting. Now that you mention it…
Day 3 done! http://starvingactivist.wordpress.com/2013/05/03/story-a-day-may-3-charlie/
What perfect timing for this prompt! I had gotten sucked into a short story yesterday, one of my own I’d been pondering for a while. I hadn’t put pen to paper yet, but I’d started to find a voice. Then today, viola! To me, this is all about want, and the contrast of the characters. Thanks for another great prompt. You can read mine at the link below.
http://www.hunterthehorrible.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-story-day-may-52.html
hm..? interesting. I’ll need to think about this one for a bit.
It sounded like such an easy prompt, but then I got stuck on who the character making the decision would be. But finally finished.
Thank you.
Well done. It does sound easy, doesn’t it. Of course, I haven’t written my story yet today (a-hem)…
Well, there is the whole day time. Hope you finished.
So far… day 3 story
Ah, yes, they always tell you to live your life as if each day were your last. Wonder if he would have acted differently had he known there were zombies on the lawn… 🙂
This prompt is always both challenging and fascinating. I really enjoyed it last year and it produced a pretty great story, and I enjoyed it just as much this year. There’s something sort of scary and almost invasive about writing someone you know. But its fantastic.
Story finished at around 2500 words. 🙂
Shhh! Don’t tell them I’m recycling prompts. They’ll want a refund!
Haha, I won’t tell! Except…where I just did…but this prompt is so awesome it HAS to be recycled!!
Really excited about tomorrow’s, by the way!