Author: Terry Connelly

Terry Connelly is a retired high school English teacher. She earned her BA and Single Subject Teaching credential from California State University of the East Bay, in Hayward, California. Her short story "The Visitor" was published in the Noyo River Review after winning first place at the Mendocino Coast Writers Conference in 2019. Another short story, "Swept Sway" is in the CWC Literary Review. She taught for 18 years at Newark Memorial High School in Newark, California. She was gifted to work with both College Prep students and those with learning disabilities.

Secret Places

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Most of us have places where we go when we yearn for quiet. For young mothers, it’s often inside the locked bathroom.  At work, it might also be the bathroom or a bench outside the office.

For writers, it could be a coffee shop with free internet access. For readers it might be a quiet corner of the library or an unused room in the house.

Think of one of your established characters. Imagine him seeking quiet. Where would he go? What would he do there?

Make a list of possibilities. On one side, list the places. On the other, the activities. Match up a few of them, putting the information into a sentence.

For example:

Martha loved to read, but seldom found a quiet place when her busy children were awake, so she kept a book in the bathroom.

See how it works?

Your task is to come up with a few plausible secret places for your character, then turn one of them into a scene.

Have fun with this one!

Story Starters

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These will work if you are blocked and can’t think of anything to write.

Choose one of the following settings:

  1. A futuristic house with windows only on the west side of the building.
  2. A barren landscape except for a strange patch of green in a circular pattern.
  3. A store that sells a strange variety of merchandise: costumes, switchblades and blueberry pie.
  4. A remote country town in which everyone knows everyone and there seems to be some kind of secret binding them together.

Now all you have to do is come up with your characters and set things in motion.

 

Have fun with this one!

 

The Arrogant Character

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Have you ever known someone who believed that he was better than everyone else? Someone so arrogant that it is uncomfortable to be around him? I think we can all call someone to mind.

Close your eyes and picture that person. The way she walks, holds her head, sneers when you talk. The way she turns away from you when you approach. The way her eyes scan your clothes, your body shape, the style of your hair.

Think of a coworker who knows everything, even information that is out of his area of expertise. Imagine how he reacts when you make a logical suggestion. How he fiddles with his pen when you speak. How he always sits right next to the boss and leans over in comradery when you submit an idea for discussion.

Think of the parent who shows up at every class party and outing. Picture him carrying in a box a cupcakes from a well-known bakery. Think of how the kids react when they see all that colorful icing piled up on top.

This is the person that your character meets.

How does your character handle the interaction? Does he hurriedly walk away? Slink into the background. Look down or turn away? Flush crimson?   Stammer?

This is your task. Write a scene in which your character encounters a perfectly obnoxious person. Make sure that your character reacts in a way that is appropriate for her personality.

Good luck with this one.

Suspense is Critical

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Story revolves around suspense. From the first page, there needs to be a compelling story developing. Tension. Argument. A chase of some kind. A search for something important. And possibly even a dead body, be it human or animal.

Recently I picked up a book that sounded interesting. The youngest daughter had been implicated in the murder of her father and the near death of her mother, but the boyfriend was found guilty on circumstantial evidence. Sounds compelling, right?

The problem is that the story moved too slowly. It felt as if the same thoughts and actions happened over and over. Worry about the youngest daughter moving back home. The accused being released from prison on a technicality. The oldest daughter, once a thriving mother with tremendous potential, now wallowing at home.

I kept waiting for something to happen. Some action that brought renewed fear into the protagonist’s life. A window found open. A bloody knife left in plain sight. A note or call that threatened. But none of that ever happened.

As a writer, you have an obligation to engage your readers with suspense, even if your story is not a murder mystery or thriller.

How do you do this? Your protagonist has to interact with others, animate or inanimate. This interaction brings up a strong emotional response. The character reacts, either by confronting the “thing” or by running away or by putting it out of mind. This leads to more tension as the “thing” comes back again and again to haunt the character, spurring the character into action once again.

Your job is to take something that you’ve written, that perhaps you find less than compelling, and reread, looking for spots where the story bogs down. Where there is a pronounced lag.

As you discover these places, fix them either by eliminating them altogether or by turning them into scenes with dialogue, action, tension.

This will not be easy as we often do not like to rewrite our pieces, but you must.

Good luck on this one.

Bigotry in the World

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Bigotry seems to be running rampant in the world. Little or no reason is necessary to hate someone. It could be the color of the skin, a disability that impairs movement, religion, the way someone dresses or even income. A bigot hates because he/she can and feels no obligation to justify the emotion.

Characters that are prejudiced are not pleasant to read about, unless, of course, the reader believes in the same ways.

Imagine that your character comes in contact with someone who is prejudiced against people like himself. What might occur? What types of hurtful things might be said?

How might your character respond? Your character might try reasoning with the bigot, giving examples to counter the misguided beliefs. Your character might simply walk away, as quickly as possible, but not be able to shake off the image.

There might be physical contact: a little pushing and shoving. One of them might have a weapon of some sort and flourish it about. There might be injury, either through a fall, a nick of a knife or a bullet.

Think about the story you are going to write. First make a list that describes your protagonist’s qualities. Then a list for the antagonist.

Choose a scene in which they are likely to come in contact with each other.

Put the characters in the scene and set things in motion. Keep in mind where you want it to go. Do you want violence? Death? Hurtful words exchanged? As you write, guide your characters in your chosen direction.

This story might feel contrived, but stick with it anyway. Bring things to a head, and then a conclusion. Then go back and rewrite, adding in details that add to the description.

Good luck with this one.

 

Transitions

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As we grow, we pass through many transitional points in our lives, none as dramatic as those of a child. From the time of conception, the changes are rapid and dramatic. There are too many to name, but think of those that mark milestones.

For example: rolling over, sitting and crawling, first tooth, standing, running, potty training.

Once we are able to process the spoken word, then comes enjoyment of books, games, rhymes, stories.

At last we hit school age where we learn to socialize with peers outside of our home. We master puzzles, learn to draw and color within the lines, and form beliefs in magical beings. We wish on stars and dream of being astronauts.

Your task is to think of a time of transition that either you have gone through or your character is going through. This does not have to be a children’s story, but it can be.

Write a scenario in which the character, after many trials, masters the skill. Include description and emotion. There can be frustration, failure and elation.

Have fun with this one!

Good luck.

The Issue of Health

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There is no such thing as a complete healthy human being. We all have issues, of some sort or another, varying in intensity from mild to severe.

Even young children are afflicted with something or other. For example, it is not uncommon for kids to have ear infections or to suffer the flu.

Teens might struggle with bladder infections, cramps or the common cold.

Then there are sprains, strains and broken bones.

As we age, we run into even more difficulties. We might need glasses or hearing aids. We might have difficulty swallowing or lose some degree of balance.

The challenge this week is to write a story/scene in which your protagonist has some type of health issue. Before you write, think about how it affects his/her life. Does it mean sitting in the front row in a classroom? Walking with a cane? Using a walker or wheelchair?

There needs to be conflict to make the story interesting, so use the health issue as an impetus for the conflict. Perhaps people get tired of shouting to be heard or maybe the character is color blind and so runs a red light.

Your task, then, is to add complexity to your character. Make her real, dealing with actual issues that all of us struggle with at one time or another.

Good luck with this one.

The Electricity Goes Out

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Imagine life without electricity in the contemporary world. We would be angry, frustrated and bored. We could not access our landline phones, television or radio. We could not cook and keeping things cold could be a serious problem. Those of us lucky enough to own electric cars could not charge them.

This is the problem that arises in your next story. This does not take place in the past when rugged individuals knew nothing about the joys of electricity.

Set up your scene and introduce your character in an interesting way. Then the power goes out and stays off not just for hours, but days. Think of the passage of time and how the character feels as each minute, each day passes with no change.

Describe the emotional state of your character as well as what the individual does to survive. Think about the senses. Smells. Sights. Taste. Touch.

Have fun with this one.

Good luck.

Consider Nature in Your Writing

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Nature is a force that we cannot ignore in our stories. It can be kind and gentle, as when it brings storms that refresh the earth, allowing plants and trees to grow. It cleanses our air and turns the grasses green.

It can also bring tornadoes and hurricanes that cause destruction and take lives.

Mudslides sweep down hills, taking down buildings, bridges, roads and making it impossible for people to get through to safety.

Earthquakes bring down buildings, often trapping people and pets inside.  They destroy houses of rich and poor alike.

Trees fall when their root systems become weak. If we are lucky, they come down in forests and do no further damage. But they also fall on cars, killing passengers, and on houses, injuring sleeping children.

Droughts eat up the water, making it a precious commodity that has to be rationed. But not everyone saves water. Stories abound about the wealthy who ceaselessly water their green lawns while the poor look at dried brown grass and collect used water in buckets.

Your task is to write a story in which weather plays a part. You need to decide whether it’s a force for good or destruction. Whether someone gets hurt or not.

Be descriptive in your telling. Use the senses to allow your readers to be there, experiencing the same things that your characters go through. The reader needs to be able to feel the force of the wind, the sting of the rain, the shaking of the earth, the strength of the wind.

Have fun with this one.

Good luck.

The Storm

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Imagine that it is raining. Not a soft, gentle rain, but a downpour that rattles the windows and creates floods of water overflowing banks and filling gutters.

Imagine your character inside, sitting by the window, watching it all happen. She sees leaves torn from trees that bend, almost touching the ground. She sees branches break and tumble across the lawn. She watches people who run with newspapers over their heads, getting soaked as they dash from the shelter of one building to the next.

In your story, worse things happen. Think of the news stories that you have seen on television. Recall the devastation that follows. The homes destroyed. Cars carried away. Lives lost.

Write that story from your character’s point of view. You can choose first person, if that works for you. Describe the emotions your character feels as the storm impacts his life. What goes through his mind. What he wants to save and what he chooses to leave behind. Be careful not to make a list. Instead, weave it into the description, piece by piece, paragraph by paragraph.

This will not be an easy to story to write as we don’t like to write about those things that we fear. Tackle it anyway, for it will push you beyond your comfort zone.

The important thing to remember is that bad things happen to good people and those stories deserve telling.

Good luck!