We’d like to feel that even the most hardened criminals feel remorse for crimes committed. That they would look back at what they had done and think, for just a moment, that there were better options that they wish they had taken. Instead of killing/robbing/brutalizing their victims, they had walked away.

But is this true? Could it be that there are those among us who never regret a single thing that they have done? Such people are often classified as sociopaths.

This is the dilemma for every writer. All humans do things for which they have the potential to regret. It might be harsh words spoken to a family member in anger. Criticism handed out to a boss that ended in disciplinary action. Slipping a two dollar candy bar into a coat pocket. Forgetting to send a card in thanks for an act of kindness.

Some of us apologize immediately, while others of us internalize the problem and think it through, analyzing it from every angle.

Your task is to look at one of your characters and decide what type of person she is. She has done something that has caused pain, either emotionally or physically. How does she react? Is this just one of many such actions? Does she feel any qualms about what she has done, or not?

You have to decide.

Write a scene in which an offense against another is committed. It could be a slight, such as not inviting someone out to lunch, or it could be a criminal act. Once the act is completed, then have your character think about what he has done, and then react.

How your character handles the situation gives the reader insight into the character’s personality.

When you are finished, reread. Are you satisfied? Does the reaction fit the crime? If not, was this intentional on your part?

Good luck. Have fun with this one.

 

We are not solitary figures. From the day of our birth until the day we die, we belong to one kind of group or another. Family comes first, and in many cases, last.
School, which occupies many years, depending upon how far we go. While at school, we might join the choir, learn to play an instrument as part of an orchestra, or be a part of an athletic team, all in elementary and middle school.

Once in high school, our options blossom. We can act, advocate, dance, collect and motivate. We can play chess or video games, cheer for our teams, and act out a court of law. We can debate hot issues, build and compete with rockets and robots, save the planet and work in the science labs as docents.

Even if we don’t join an organized group, we are still part of a family of students. We have our cliques, no matter the name, to which we cling for support and encouragement.

Beyond high school, we spread out our options. There are junior colleges, four-year colleges, trade schools, and specialty institutions of learning. Once there, we are again presented with a variety of group choices.

My point is that we tend to congregate with those who share a common interest.
Your characters must also be a part of something bigger in order to be complex beings.

When you develop your characters, think about what they might like to do. Perhaps they join a mystery readers book club, participate in Zumba classes or work with scouting groups. Maybe they volunteer at a local food kitchen, build houses for the homeless, or repair benches at an inner-city church.

Your task is to make a list of those things that interest your character. From that list choose a few that you can work into a story. Be careful, though. Too few groups and your character falls flat. Too many and your character is overwhelmed. Unless, of course, that is what you want to happen.

Put on your thinking caps. Remember that each character is unique and so has interests that are different from other characters. There may be some overlap. For example, maybe they come together once a month to play poker, but the rest of the time they pursue their individual interests.

Good luck!

Without the professionals that we come in contact with on a daily basis, our lives would be vastly different. We need our doctors, pharmacists, wait staff, car repairmen and mail deliverers. Plumbers fix our leaks, gardeners trim our lawns, clerks tend to our needs.
How we react to these professionals says a lot about us. A haughty person might be disdainful and rude, while a humble person might show gratitude. When a service is offered, some of us say please and thank you, while others don’t recognize the presence of the server.

In our working life, we were professionals as well. Think about how it felt to be treated with disrespect. How hurt you felt. How you stewed about the words said for days or even weeks. Think about what you wanted to do in response as opposed to how you really acted.
The characters in our stories also run into professionals. What they say and do tells us quite a lot about them. Think about a villain who cuddles a tiny dog. While the villain may be cold-hearted toward his victims, he shows tenderness toward animals. He takes his dog to the vet on a regular basis and keeps the dog current on all shots.

Think about a cat lover who feeds seven strays that roam the neighborhood. That individual obviously cares about the cats, working hard to keep them from starving. On the other hand, she is creating a nuisance situation for the rest of the neighbors. The strays may be aggressive toward other pets, may move into garages and leave behind a mess, or may carry fleas and other diseases. The cat lover can’t afford to provide medical care for all the strays and so begs for financial assistance from agencies that help the needy with their pets.

Your task is to have your character interact with at least one professional. Maybe she eats in a restaurant or has a maintenance man come and repair an electrical problem in the house. Maybe he sees a dermatologist who removes pre-cancerous spots or goes to a gym and works with a trainer.

You decide what type of interaction there will be and put things into motion. Remain true to your character’s personality when there is dialogue. Consider how the setting affects what happens. Your scene needs to be a complete unit.
Good luck!

Owning a pet is a fairly common practice. Pet stores flourish because they offer sad-looking dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, and various amphibians.

What kind of pet chosen is often determined by spur-of-the-moment decisions, brought on by the appeal of large brown eyes and drooping ear. Such stores cater to those of us who walk in just to have a look and then end up leaving with pet in hand.

For many of us, type of pet is determined by previous experience. If, as a child, a cat scratched your arm, leaving a long, painful gash, you are not too likely to want a cat. If you grew up on a farm, however, where cats are welcomed residents due to their ability to keep rodents out of the crops, then your attitude might be different.

Choice is also determined by how emotionally needy the owner is. Cats tend to be independent, often remote, and not always welcoming to petting and cuddling. Dogs are pack animals that seek the approval of the leader. As owner, you command that position, and so are the recipient of licks, rubs, and wagging tails.

Some pets do not evoke that loving feeling. A tarantula, to me, is not cuddly. Neither is a snake or lizard. Guinea pigs squeal to get attention, but they often are not litter box trained. What a mess!

My children once borrowed a rat from a pet lending library. While the rat was calm and accepted being carried about, I did not like having it in my house. It gave me goosebumps any time it was out of its cage. I was glad to see it leave.

Characters in our stories can be pet owners as well. When you select a pet, consider that the choice will often give clues into the personality of the character. Let’s say that you she has a show dog. Now she has to deal with grooming, training and cost of registration. Handlers might be needed to actually show the dog. Is this what your character needs and wants? Or is your character the type to bring home a stray, one that is perhaps a little odd shaped and bordering on ugly?

What if your character is disabled and needs a helpful companion? You’re not going to give him a cat. Instead you’ll look for a dog that can open and close doors, pick up things off the floor, notify the owner when bells ring and so forth.

Your task is to write a short story in which your character has a pet or is in the process of choosing a pet. Think about what this pet does, how it interacts and behaves. How does your character respond? Do they go out jogging together? Have picnics and share food? Cuddle on the couch?

Is the dog a trained search and rescue animal that finds people buried or lost? That would make quite a story!

Have fun with this one.

As the holidays come to a close, it is appropriate to think about how gatherings affect our characters.

In every group, there are those who are arrogant and annoying. Whose views are outlandish or selfish or ill-formed. Who criticize everyone and everything that does not match their personal views. When such people are present, tension consumes the very air, making it nearly impossible to breathe.

Fortunately, the majority of those who come to celebrate with us are like-minded. They arrive, hoping for a good time. For warmth and shared stories. Good food and drink. Hugs and kisses and welcoming words.
For this task, you must create a gathering and people it with real-life characters. It cannot be a completely harmonious group, as then there would be no conflict.

Write a scene in which someone creates a bit of a stir. Either he drinks too much or bad-mouths a missing relative or starts an argument. Or perhaps she refuses to acknowledge someone who speaks or brings a dish that no one is able to eat or has wrapped gifts for everyone but one.

First, think of the setting. Then the conflict and the characters. After that the story will fall into place.

Good Luck!

Our lives are full of people without names. They enter our lives for a few minutes and then are gone, yet they often play important roles. For example, when going to a fancy restaurant, you may ask the valet to park your car. You hand him your keys and trust that your car will be well taken care of, returned to you in its original condition. Yet you never know the man’s name.

Likewise the countless people that work in offices. You check in to see your doctor and the receptionist does an excellent job processing your information. What is her name? You might have read her nametag, but after walking away from the counter, you do not remember. She plays an important role because, without her assistance, your doctor would not know that you are there.

When writing a story, you have to decide which characters need to be named. If they are only passing through the story and contribute a small bit of information, then it might be best to keep them nameless. The reader does not need to know the name of every clerk at the store or every student in the class. Naming too many secondary characters pulls the reader away from the story.

If, on the other hand, the character will play an important role later on, then give her a name. Let’s say your main character is a spy in search of an elusive piece of data. He has to infiltrate a clandestine organization in order to gain access to the computer files. He cannot get past the locked door without the handprint of an employee, so he recruits someone to get him in. That character needs a name.

Your job is to write a scene in which your character interacts with a variety of people Say somewhere between five and seven. At least one of them plays a vital role that contributes to the plot of the story. The others come and go, perhaps sharing some tidbit of information that helps your character, but not in a way that alters the plot.

This will not be an easy task. Our inclination is to give everyone a name because we enjoy the recognition ourselves. Hold back, though, remembering that not all characters contribute equally to the story.

Get writing!

Humans keep track of time through recalling important events in their lives. For example, the young boy who fell out of a tree and broke his arm at the age of eight will always remember that incident as a changing point in his life. There is before the fall and after the fall.

Imagine being hospitalized for an asthma attack. During those days you thought you were not going to live. You prayed for release, to be able to draw a breath without pain, day after day. When the tightness in your chest relaxed, you knew then that you were going to live. So there is before the attack and after the attack.

Before the attack you might not have kept your house as clean as the doctor wanted. After the attack you hired a housekeeper who comes in and removes the dust. Before the attack you thought you were allergic to live fir trees, but had one anyway for Christmas. After the attack you bought a fake tree.

Your characters keep track of time in the same way. There is before the robbery and then the capture, trial and jail. There is before the monsters came and then the destruction caused as they swooped over the village and killed hundreds of people. There is before the military coup and then the restrictions that are put into place after the general took charge.

This prompt asks you to write a section of a story in which something happens to your character that changes her life. Something that is large enough to be remembered years after it took place. Nothing is too small or too big. It can be before asking the girl for a date or after the divorce. Before the car accident in which a loved one died or after the prolonged illness of a relative.

So, write down several different life-changing events. Think of as many as possible and save the list for future reference. Choose the one that you think will tell the most compelling story. Then write.

The vast majority of the time we stay within our comfort zone. We leave our house or apartment to go to work, trading one place we know well for another that we accept. We understand our job duties and how to complete tasks either independently or with coworkers. When the work day ends, we go to the theater we most enjoy, to the restaurants we like, to the stores that we respect and feel respected.

Even when we travel, we tend to return to those places that we have found the most enjoyable. For example, I love going to New York City and seeing plays on Broadway. While I don’t know all the ins and outs of the city, I am comfortable enough to ride the subway, walk the streets, find places to go and things to do.

Rarely do we step outside of our comfort zone, and when we do, we often feel a degree of anxiety. We check and recheck maps, go online to find out the ratings of restaurants and stay on major highways. I have been lucky enough to go overseas several times, but only by utilizing the services of a trusted tour company that makes all the arrangements, ensuring that I have a clean and safe place to spend the night.

Some might consider my life boring. Or understand that I am older and somewhat set in my ways.

Your task is to take one of your characters outside of his or her comfort zone. Have her strike out for places unknown, try out new restaurants, visit countries that she has never seen. Have him encounter strangers on these excursions. What happens? How does he react? In fear? With curiosity? Does she accept whatever advice the stranger gives? Go out for a drink together? Walk down the city streets at night under dim lamps?
What is the impact of this journey on your character’s personality? Does he feel emboldened? Frightened to the point of desiring only isolation? Proud or more timid than usual?

This is what you have to explore. Write a scene that challenges your character to step outside of the norm.

So many basketball fans are in awe of Stephen Curry and would give anything to have just half of his talent. But what if they could switch bodies and be him for just one game? Think how thrilling that would be.

If I could, I would love to switch with someone whose body was in better shape, who did not carry the excess weight that I have dealt with for most of my life. Would I like this to be a permanent switch? Maybe not. I already know all the flaws of my body. All the broken bones and knee problems. I have looked at this face as it aged and am not embarrassed by the changes that have taken place.

These are all superficial changes, however. What if you looked so much like someone else that you could walk in the same shoes, wear the same clothes, speak the same language and assume the same roles? Would you do it?

Many fantasy stories have dealt with this issue, but have you?
Your task is to write a story in which two people switch places. It can be an accidental switch, such as one person stepping through a closing door as the other is stepping out. Or it can be an intentional switch. One person deliberately searches for a look-alike, contacts that individual, and then the two of them agree to change places for a set period of time.

For some of you, this will be a real stretch, but that is what writing is all about. Exploring new topics in order to find our niche.

Have fun with this!

In the writing of thrillers, some believe that the adventure begins in the first paragraph. But is that an ironclad rule?

What if the story begins with a tension-filled moment, such as a near-miss on the highway or a look from an unsettling character? Is this enough to entice the reader to continue on? Or does there have to be a murder?

It depends upon the genre. In some cases, such as police procedurals, the death happens early, and in many cases, often. The original crime leads investigators on a hunt for the killer, which then turns into additional murders and so forth.

In psychological thrillers, the novel begins with an event that leaves the reader uncomfortable. From there more and more events unfold, each more tension-filled than the last, until the culminating event occurs.

Your task is to write one of the above scenarios. In your short story, you either begin with a murder or slowly build tension. To begin, you must first choose your characters. Are they thieves? Housewives? Families? Bankers?

Then choose the setting. A car ride to visit relatives? A forest at night? An art museum or brokerage firm?

The culminating event comes next. Murder? Kidnapping? Car chase? Shooting? Holdup?

Now, write the story. When you are finished, go back and look for the most tension-filled part. Does it occur soon enough to bring in the reader? Is there enough to hold the reader entranced? If so, then you have accomplished your task!