In this month of stealing worlds, characters and ideas (from yourself and others), this prompt encourages you to take another look, from a new angle.

The Prompt

Tell a story in someone else’s universe, from the perspective of a secondary, overlooked, or unnamed character

Tips

• Think about a grand, sweeping story you love (written by someone else). Think about all the characters who inhabit that world but who never get to take center-stage in the story. Tell a piece of their story.
• There’s a great episode of Babylon 5, written from the perspective of the janitors. The main characters still walk through the scenes, but everything is told from the perspective of the unnoticed maintenance workers. You could try something like that.
• Think about who inhabits the worlds you love. Who makes it possible for them to run smoothly. Who maintains the trash compactors? Who makes the elaborate gowns? Who services the race cars? What would a pivotal moment in their day look and feel like?
• You could write this as a flash fiction piece, like Steve Almond’s Stop.
• You could write a longer short story, something that threatens to become a whole novel.
• Try to write something you can complete in 24 hours so that you get the thrill of finishing a story!

Writing the stories of the forgotten characters will help you when it’s your turn to world-build for your story (whether you’re writing realistic contemporary fiction or epic fantasy, there is always some element of building the fictional world for your reader).

If you share you story somewhere (and here’s why you might not want to) post a link here so we can come and read it.

Leave a comment to let us know what you wrote about today, and how it went!