Tag: prompt about a search

The Search

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

            You lost your glasses. Look for them everywhere. Retrace your steps. A friend drops by for a visit. Sees the frantic look on your face. Laughs. Points to the top of your head.

            Let’s make it something more serious, say the memory card from your camera that holds all the photos from your last vacation. You took it out of the camera and left it on the computer desk. Thinking it might get lost (after all, it’s quite small) you put it someplace safe. Then don’t have time to download photos for a couple of weeks. You open the drawer where you keep things, but it’s not there. A frantic search begins, opening drawers, getting rid of junk, but can’t find it. You’re despondent. A week later, looking for something entirely different, you find the memory card in a small, clear bag, in the drawer where you keep important things.

            We lose all kinds of things, some more important than others. The search can be rewarding if we find it right away, but frustrating if we don’t.

            Your task is to write a story in which you have misplaced something or someone extremely important. Write the search, including the emotional ups and downs.

            Have fun with this one.

Free the Monstrous Enemies

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

            A spell has held the monsters inside their personal prisons. The world has been safe and at peace for as long as anyone can remember. But underneath, behind the scenes, so to speak, the evil lord has been plotting and planning.

            Nothing makes a story more interesting than a monster or two set free. Think how mesmerized the world has been with the concept of King Kong, the giant gorilla who terrorized New York City and appeared to kidnap a beautiful woman.

            Or the evil shark in the movie Jaws who indiscriminately attacked and ate a how variety to humans. Even the music, that steady beat, beat, beat, told viewers that Jaws was coming, putting them on the edges of their seats.

            Your task is to write a story in which at least one monster is set free or escapes its bonds. Depending upon the length, you might want to have only one monster, but make it evil enough for an entire army.

            Create an interesting setting, a place where the monster can cause the most terror. Decide upon the protagonist. The young, the olders, and those with disabilities are the most vulnerable, the ones most likely to win sympathy. Decide how the monster gets free. It can be by accident or by intent, but make sure that it causes plenty of fear and havoc.

            Have fun with this one.

Fruitless Search

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

            Have you ever spent a great amount of time looking for something only to find that it wasn’t there? What emotions did you experience? Anxiety, frustration or perhaps even relief if what you searched for wasn’t something you really wanted to find.

            Every writer knows that their protagonist has to want something from the onset of the story. The goal is to find it, buy it, unveil it, at all costs. During the search, the character goes through a series of trials, some benign, others quite dangerous. The vast majority of stories end with success. Whatever it was that the character wanted at the beginning has been secured.

            But what would happen, how would the story change, if instead of achieving his goal, the character fails? If he was optimistic as he set off on his search, what is he feeling at the end? If he was pessimistic at the onset, not really wanting it but setting off on the quest anyway, is he relieved when it eludes him?

            Your task is to write the story of the dead end. Your protagonist wants something so badly that she immerses herself in the search. Trials appear that slow her down. At the end, she cannot find that which she desired.

            Description is important, but to be able to understand what your character wants, include dialogue. He has a companion on his journey, or she meets up with friends and shares her exploits.

            Have fun with this one.