Nothing adds interest like an old acquaintance showing up.
Imagine standing in line t buy theater tickets when a voice from the past interrupts your thinking. You don’t recognize them at first as it’s been quite a long time since you last saw him/her. What happens? Who speaks first?
What does your character do when recognition blooms?
Your task is to write a story in which someone from the past, hopefully a long lost friend appears.
Have fun with this one.
You’ve got your protagonist planned out. You know your setting and the premise of your story. Perhaps you’ve written a good portion, with tension and a perfect adversary.
Then you bogged down, not knowing where to go next.
One way is to insert an old acquaintance from the character’s past.
This person needs to be a bit quirky or argumentative or a bully. She could have stolen the protagonist’s love interest or bested her in a competition.
Perhaps he’s the ex-boyfriend or husband, moving back home.
Write the story of what happens as soon as your character is aware of this person’s reappearance.
Use narrative and dialogue. Include emotional reactions: think sweaty palms, heart palpitations, trouble breathing.
Ramp up the tension. Perhaps there’s a nasty interaction, or your character overhears him saying nasty things about her.
Have fun with this one.
We’ve all been surprised when someone that we haven’t seen in a while calls. At first there’s a bit of shock. You shake your head in wonder, asking yourself if this is an imposter or the real person?
Once the identity has been verified, you might be annoyed, thrilled or scared, depending on how the relationship ended.
Stories of former friends finding each other and discovering they’re still in love, warm the heart.
Your task is to write a story in which someone from the past calls your character. Establish, in your mind, what the relationship was like. For example, if they weren’t best friends, the reaction might be quite different than if they were. Or if there’d been tension between them, then does that tension still exist?
Have fun with this one.
Have Fun with This One 