It’s not just your protagonist who must change!
In a story your protagonist faces the possibility of change before they can solve the problem they face, win their true love, or defeat their enemy…in short, achieve their heart’s desire.
Funny thing is: as writers, we face that moment of decision too.
That’s what I’m talking about on the podcast this week.
All the prompts this month are designed to stand alone or support your novel habit! Use them to spark standalone stories or to unstick your work-in-progress.
Just because it’s short doesn’t mean a story can’t be complex.
Write a story in which the protagonist and antagonist are two sides of the same coin.
Restricted and augmented lifestyles in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic may have us writer-types writing more than ever–a silver lining.
But have you stopped to consider how your protagonist(s) might respond to a similar situation?
In the midst of an emergency situation, whom would they seek to protect? How would they behave if confined?
If sharing close quarters with others, what might be said or done that otherwise might not be, and what might be the repercussions?
How might the situation bring out the best in them all–and the worst?
If the exercise brings up interesting ideas, can you create an emergency situation as a part of your story in order to bring your characters to that place organically?
Therese Walsh is the author of The Last Will of Moira Leahy and the cofounder of Writer Unboxed. She lives in upstate New York with her husband and two children.
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 to let us know what you wrote about today, and how it went!
Continuing our week of prompts aimed at creating rich backstory for novelists and short story writers alike, today we create an alternate story for your protagonist.
There is a moment in every story where a protagonist has to make a choice: to take up the challenge of the story or to turn away. Everything else flows from that.
Today, write a story in which your protagonist makes the other choice.
Don’t forget to leave a comment, or do your Victory Dance in the community.
Continuing our series of prompts to help novelists as well as short story writers, today I encourage you to move forward a little in your protagonist’s timeline, but still stay before the main story.
Write a story about the days leading up to the beginning of your novel, or your story’s big incident. Alternatively, write a journal of those days from your protagonist’s point of view.
Don’t forget to leave a comment to let us know how you got on.
This week I’m focusing on prompts that novelists can use. If you’re novelist, I don’t want you to feel like you’re wasting your time here at StoryADay May. While short story writers can easily use these prompts, too, you novelists will find much in them that enriches your work-in-progress.
Let’s dive in:
The Prompt
Write a story that investigates a turning point in your protagonist’s past.
Tips
Today we’re moving on to another element of story: your protagonist
Write a story with the flawed protagonist
This is kind of a cheat because every protagonist should have a flaw, but today we’re going to focus on that.
Characters are interesting for many reasons. They can be interesting because we identify with them, because we don’t like them, because they’re better than us at something, because they have some special gift, many reasons. But they are not interesting if they are perfect.
Think about Luke Skywalker, the hero of the Star Wars original trilogy. He has a gift, but is really annoying at the beginning of the story. He’s whiny. He’s immature. He’s rash. He puts other people in danger, all because he’s bored. All of which means that he has an interesting character arc on which to travel.
In the Amelia Peabody mysteries Amelia is ahead of her time: a brilliant Egyptologist, she’s rich, she has a fabulous husband, she’s very confident… she’s also hysterically self delusional, and fails to admit any of her own faults, while pointing out those of everyone else, at all times. She is a fun character, not because of the stuff she’s good at, but because of the stuff she doesn’t even realize she’s bad at.
Who can you write about today? Write a list of their attractive qualities and then give them one big weakness. It doesn’t have to be a fatal, heroic flaw that’s going to cause their downfall, although it can be if that’s what you want to write. It could be something as simple as Hermione Granger, being a bit of a pain in the neck, even though she’s so clever. In the first Harry Potter book, that flaw isolates her from her friends at the very moment when she needs them.
Concoct a scenario for your character where they get to show off their good talents but where their flaw is going to cause them problems. Then, write your way out of it.
If you get stuck at any point simply start a new paragraph with the words “And because of that…” and continue writing. Do this at least three times, then resolve the situation and you’ll have a complete story.
Remember, use these tricks, and then clean them up in the rewrite. It’s not like you got anything else to do in the month of June, is it?
Leave a comment to tell us what flaw you chose for you protagonist. Got any tips on how to keep writing as we head in to the middle of the month? Share them here!
A 6-part journey through the short story.
Starts July 28, 2023
