Tag: Inner thoughts

Random Acts of Kindness

On By Terry ConnellyIn prompt, Uncategorized, Writing promptLeave a comment

            You’re in line at a store, mentally counting your money to see if you have enough to buy the bread and cheese in your arms. You step up to the register, and when the tally comes up, the clerk tells you that the person before you had paid your bill. You burst into a huge smile and feel like dancing all the way home.

            You’re sitting in your car waiting for your turn to come at the toll booth. Behind you is an older car being driven by a little old man. You reach into your purse and pull out an extra five dollars. As you drive away, you’re smiling and nodding.

            Your task is to write a story in which someone executes a random act of kindness. Your character can be the one who reaches out or she can be the recipient. The emotional reactions are most important. Readers are going to want to see the scene through the eyes, heart and mind of the giver and receiver.

            Your recipient does not have to be grateful. In fact, he might consider it an insult. If this happens, then who will he verbally attack? The clerk or the giver?

            Have fun with this one.

Self-Reflection

On By Terry ConnellyIn Uncategorized, Writing promptLeave a comment

If your character took time to reflect about the things she’s done, what would she think about those decisions? Would she be pleased or would she wish she had done things differently?

Self-reflection should be an important part of your protagonist’s life. If he chose to act in a certain way and it backfired, without self-reflection he might continue along the same path, making the same incorrect choices over and over, never learning from his experiences.

Your task is to choose one of your characters to analyze. Make a list of decisions that the character has already faced or will soon face. Next to each decision, record how it panned out for him.

If every decision works out for the best, ask yourself if this reflects real life situations. Unless she is particularly prescient, I seriously doubt that all decisions end up with positive outcomes.

The next step is to consider what lessons the character takes from each decision made. Self-reflection should be a huge part of this step. How can you show her thought processes?

This will not be an easy task, but it will give you insight into the inner makings of your character.

Have fun with this one.