are we ready?
Today is Day 1 of a StoryADay 2021.
Today's prompt is first for a couple of reasons.
One, it it's just a fabulous prompt.
And the other one is that I once took a class class from Fran Wilde and
I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to start this out here for you.
Fran is a wonderful short story writer among other things, and she
writes weird little stories, but weird little stories that win awards.
So, yeah.
Let's pay attention to what she's asked us to do.
She has asked us to write a story where your character is on a bridge.
And I think that's such wonderful, full metaphor for where characters
are in short stories in an old, you might see them approaching the bridge.
You might see them leaving the bridge.
A short story can be just that moment on the bridge where they have
to do, they can see what they want and they know where they've been.
But they have to do something.
They have to do something they probably don't want to do to get to the next
step, to get where they want to go.
And using this image of a character on a bridge.
It's just, it's so layered.
Your character, once something and it's over there, something is stopping them.
If they're the three Billy goats gruff, it's a troll.
If they are you know, if it's a fantasy novel, maybe
there's thieves on the bridge.
If it's an adventure novel, maybe the bridge is rickety.
If it's a family drama, maybe their spouse is trying to tell
them not to go any further.
And they're having an argument on the bridge.
So many possibilities, you can go with this prompt, but all of them will keep
you focused on the fact that in a short story, a character has a choice to
make and they have an action to take.
And all the story needs to be is about that.
You don't need to do much setup.
You don't need to really tie it up with a bow.
You just need to tell us what happens and why it matters.
So good luck with day one, this is a fairly meaty prompt, but
day one, you've got lots of energy you've planned for this.
You haven't used up all of your good ideas yet.
That actually is never going to happen, but you might feel like it might.
So day one, Go out there and get your teeth into this prompt.
They're not all going to be like this.
There's going to be shorter ones and meatier ones and all kinds of stuff.
Lots of great guest prompters coming up for you.
And you can also see down below, there is a link to on a friend's books.
Hopefully if I've got that sorted out and you can buy that from a local bookstore
and support indie bookstore at same time, if you're interested in that.
So.
But your character on a bridge, first of all, to say who your character
is, what kind of character they are drag out your short story formula.
If that's helpful to you and put your character on the bridge and think for
a while about why they're there, where they want to go, what's in their way.
And then, you know, if you, if it's early in the day, you can go off and do
stuff and just let yourself mull it over.
But if it's later in the day and you're up against a deadline, just
start writing, you'll be fine.
I have faith in you.
All right.
That's day one.
I'll see you back here tomorrow, but stop by and let me know what you
wrote, how it went and just leave a quick comment for us when you're done
today and good for you for showing up.
I'm very proud of you.
Keep writing.