Personality Traits

Today’s Tiny Task to prepare for StoryADay is to

Make a list of 5 or more personality traits that drive you absolutely crazy

This exercise is slightly different from the other character brainstorming we’ve done this week, because it’s not so much about an internal or external feature, but more about the actions a person takes, without thinking.

I’m asking you to list traits that drive you up the wall, because accessing strong emotions is a good way to make sure that you put conflict and emotion into your story.

You don’t have to write a miserable story just because you include a personality trait that drives you batty. You can use this trait as a starting point for a character who is going to be reformed, or as comic relief, or as a cautionary tale.

Bonus points: list 3 ways each trait could be subverted, changed, used for comic relief, or otherwise turned around.

Discussion

Are you keeping all your notes during these prep-sessions, in a place where you’ll easily be able to access them during the challenge? Share your ‘system’ (such as it is) here, to inspire/warn others. Then, if you haven’t thought it through yet, pick a place (physical or digital) to store all your notes, and then write yourself a big, physical sticky note to remind yourself you did it. Leave a comment to let us know you’ve done it!

Something To Hold Onto

Today’s Tiny Task in preparation for StoryADay May is:

Make a list of 10 accessories/physical features you can give your characters.

In a short story it’s important to orient the reader quickly. You don’t want them stopping to remember which character is which.

With main characters you can spend time working on the way they speak, think and act, to make sure that they feel unique.

But you can also ‘cheat’ by giving them (or walk-on/secondary characters) one signature item that lets readers identify them quickly:

e.g: the barrista in Friends with the shock of white-blond hair; The Doctor in Doctor Who‘s extravagantly long-flappy coat (in almost every regeneration!); Columbo’s raincoat; Aragorn’s sword; Captain America’s shield; the red coat worn by a little girl in the otherwise black-and-white Schindler’s List; the Narnia children’s gifts from Aslan…

Note: with an object there is also the narrative possibility of letting the reader know something is very wrong, if we show the item, with the character nowhere nearby…

DISCUSSION

Did you choose a mix of items and distinctive physical features?

Brainstorming Characters Pt 2

Today’s Tiny Task in preparation for StoryADay May is to expand your pool of available characters in a different direction.

Make a list of characters who are unlike you in specific ways.

  • External features: External features: race, gender, socioeconomic status, job title, role at your work, role in your family, height, weight, athletic ability, hair color…
  • Internal features: how your character reacts to stress; how they talk to people; their attitude to people who are different from them; their level of courage and fear (not the same things!); their ability to control their emotions; what they would define as a ‘good’ outcome in any situation…

It can help to think of specific people who are very unlike you–whether you admire or despise aspects of their behavior–and make a list of the actions they take, the words they say, the body language they employ, that help you understand how they are different from you (remember that, in storytelling, showing how characters act can be more powerful than simply giving us the narrator/protagonist’s opinions).

Further reading: a writing prompt

Discussion

Are you excited to write about characters who are not like you? Were you able to identify aspects of specific people that are different from you? What kinds of roles will these characters take in a story? (Will they always be the antagonist/bad guy, or did you list some features you admire, too?

Get Started on Settings

Today’s Tiny Task in preparation for StoryADay May is to make another list, this time of places where you might set your story.

Answer these questions quickly, without thinking too hard:

  • List 5 Big-Picture Settings (e.g. Contemporary USA, Mars settlement in the early days, cargo ship in the age of sail, cargo ship in the far future when space travel is relatively routine, fantasy kingdom with dragons…)
  • List 5 Close-Up Settings (e.g. the engine room, an open-plan office, the back of an Uber, the throne room, walking the Yorkshire dales).
  • For each, write down what thrills you about that setting, what possibilities do you see (could be: ‘I don’t have to do any research, or ‘I can mash up Star Trek and The Expanse’ or ‘I finally get to hang out with Heathcliff’)
  • For each, write down one physical detail that springs to mind about your setting
  • For each, write down one detail that might not be so obvious on a first glance.

Circle (or highlight) the three that you think will work best for the fast-drafting world of StoryADay May (hint: the ones that require lots of research might slow you down too much).

P. S. Check out this roster of wonderful writers who have already given us writing prompts for StoryADay May, with more to come!

with writing prompts from guests: P. Djèlí Clark, Mary Robinette Kowal, John Wiswell, Lori Ostlund, Kim Coleman Foote, Sasha Brown, R. S. A Garcia, Jennifer Hudak, Tim Waggoner, Rachel Bolton, Julia Elliot, Kai Lovelace, Anglea Sylvaine, Rich Larson, F. E. Choe,Emma Burnett , Patricia A. Jackson, Allegra Hyde, and more...

Guest prompters include: P. Djèlí Clark, Mary Robinette Kowal, John Wiswell, Lori Ostlund, Kim Coleman Foote, Sasha Brown, R. S. A Garcia, Jennifer Hudak, Tim Waggoner, Rachel Bolton, Julia Elliot, Kai Lovelace, Anglea Sylvaine, Rich Larson, F. E. Choe,Emma Burnett , Patricia A. Jackson, Allegra Hyde, and more…

DISCUSSION

Did your choices have more to do with your current life, or your current reading tastes?

Start Collecting Story Sparks

Writing a story a day for a month is exhilarating…and a little exhausting.

That’s why I send you writing prompts, but the prompt is just the start.

You have to take that idea and develop it into something that interests YOU, and hat can be hard to do every day, when you’re in a time-crunch.

So let’s do some prep this month.

Start Colleting Story Sparks Today

What is a Story Spark?

Read all about it and download your free Story Sparks Catcher here.

Start collecting three Story Sparks a day today, and you’ll have enough details to draw from throughout the whole month of May

Discussion questions: have you used Story Sparks in past challenges? Did they help? What advice do you have?