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[Write On Wednesday] The Group

Spring Tea Party

Ever been forced to be part of a group project? Ever joined a community group because you felt like you ought to? Ever been part of a voluntary group that you loved?

Today’s prompt encourages you to mine those experiences to create a story with an ensemble cast.

The Prompt

Write A Story Centered Around a Group of People Trying To Achieve One Goal

Tips

  • This is still a short story, so you’re not going to be able to spend a lot of time going deeply into any characters except your protagonist (and to some extent the antagonist).
  • This prompt offers you the possibility to have some real fun with supporting characters.
  • Remember that supporting characters exist only to show the reader something about the protagonist. If your protagonist finds Perky Susie unbearable, what does that tell us about your protagonist? Why does she find Perky Susie so awful? Who does Susie remind her of? What does Susie point out about your protagonist’s short-comings. (You don’t have to put all that on the page, but you should know it, so that you can give the reader hints, that make your protagonist seem ever-more real).
  • Make sure the group has a purpose, a SOMETHING they’re trying to achieve. That will give you an automatic plot: there is a goal, there will be obstacles (whether external, internal or a mix of both) and there will be antagonists with their own reasons for torpedoing the group’s progress.
  • Is your group diverse? Homogenous? Is there one outsider, or is everyone in the group a quirky individual?
  • You can start and end this story anywhere, but try to center it around the biggest crisis in the group’s efforts to complete their project.

Leave a comment and let us know what kind of group you chose, what they were trying to achieve, and what moment your story teetered on.

 

Photo Credit: Caroline Apollo (CC By 2.0)

2 thoughts on “[Write On Wednesday] The Group”

    1. This was lovely, Prachi. I particularly liked how the trials of the evening ended up creating an even more meaningful meeting.

      My only suggestion is that it might be a bit more immediate if there was more conflict, more at stake in the story. yes, things are going wrong and she’s frustrated, but I’d love to know more about why. Obviously if it had been her first meeting we’d have understood the stakes were high, but she had a year of successful meetings under her belt. Wouldn’t her friends be understanding? Perhaps we need to know about sources of conflict between the women or from a little voice from Keira’s past that is always running her down. And then the fact that she triumphs and the meeting is even more special will feel so much more of a victory. Just a thought.

      But the portrait of the women and the place were vivid. Well done.

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