Tag: writing fantasy

Spin the Globe

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

            Imagine spinning a globe, dropping your finger on wherever it stops, then declaring that’s your next vacation destination. Hopefully you’re going someplace you’ve always wanted to see. But what if it isn’t?

            Would you pretend that your finger didn’t hit that spot? Choose the one you really wanted? Or stay with the original?

            Now place that globe before your protagonist. Why has she chosen this method for planning a trip? Is she adventurous? Foolhardy? Has she already gone everywhere she’d hoped to be and so is open to new, random choices?

            What does she do if she’s pleased? If she’s disappointed?

            Is this enacted in the privacy of her home or does she make a big production in front of family and friends? Doing so in public allows for tension, dialogue, comradery, and banter.

            Include both description and dialogue, but especially emotions. After all, this requires seeing the emotions flash across her face.

            Have fun with this one.

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

            After searching for a new shirt, you find one in your size that fits. You carry it to the register, already picturing how wonderful you’ll look wearing it. You hand the clerk your card. It fails to go through.

             The payment is due on your car insurance. You use your credit card. It supposedly has insufficient funds.

            Embarrassed is too mild a word to describe how you feel.

            Your task is to write a story in which your character attempts to spend money using a credit card, but is denied. This story needs to shows the range of emotions that she goes through. There might be disbelief at the beginning, followed by hopefulness. Possibly anger. Frustration. Definitely embarrassment.

            Begin with the setting: place and time. Readers need to be there as he selects the items for purchase or is waiting in line to pay at a service center. The story could take place at a supermarket, car repair shop or insurance office.

            There will be dialogue between your character and whoever is processing the payment.

            Have fun with this one.

Monster Attack

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            Do you remember the first movie you saw in which a monster arrived, creating havoc wherever it went? Most likely you were both horrified and entranced. Your eyes were glued to the television as the monster destroyed buildings, tossed cars and grabbed people off the street.

            Today the horror genre is incredibly popular. Moviegoers seem to eagerly await the next new monster, whether it comes from sea, air or land. There’s something intriguing about a foreign entity spewing drool and fire as it crushes a famous city.

            Your task is to write a story in which a monster invades a city that you know well. By choosing a known setting, you can include realistic concepts such as existing buildings and street names.

            Your protagonist can be the monster or the hero who fights to save the world. Descriptions is important so that readers can visualize your monster as well as the place, time and actions taken to fight it.

            Include dialogue as well so that readers understand what’s going through your protagonist’s mind.

            Have fun with this one.

The Interview

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            When needing to fill a job opening, employers interview prospective candidates. They ask about relevant experiences and training, interests and hopes in terms of longevity at the place of business, strengths and weaknesses, in order to gauge how well the individual will fit.

            Imagine that, instead of being interviewed for a job, that your character is being asked personal questions, such favorite food, preferred social activities, types of books read and movies watched and where he likes to spend free time. Such questions delineate personality, and if used to form the character’s perspective, allow readers a deeper understanding as to how a character might react in a given situation.

            The answers might never show up in story, but they could. Perhaps a new play opens, one that she has been looking forward to seeing. She might ask a friend or two to go with her. She might stand in line for tickets. She might get dressed up for a dinner date before the show.

            Your task is to interview your character asking the types of questions that reveal deeper thoughts and interests. Record both questions and responses.

            Write a scene in which the character is presented with an opportunity to participate in a preferred activity. Who does he invite to share it with? How does he invite the person? What happens before, during and after?

            Use a combination of narrative and dialogue. Include some friction so that the story has tension.

            Have fun with this one.

Hidden Images

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We don’t always see what’s right before our eyes. We’re distracted by our phone or by conversations with friends as we walk. We might be rehearsing in our minds what we’re going to say or thinking about an upcoming event.

Because we’re not paying close attention, we miss things happening around us. There might be a senior citizen trying to cross the road, a starving dog cuddled up in an empty store front or a magnificent holiday display in a nearby square.

Your task is to write a story in which your character misses key elements in the scene. Make the items or issues large enough, in terms of importance, that not seeing them impacts the story arc.

Description will be critical as well as dialogue. Keep your character talking so that readers can see, through words, what’s happening in the scene.

Have fun with this one.

Hike in the Woods

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            You’ve made plans to join friends for a hike in the woods. You’ve never been there before, but one of your friends claims to have been there several times before and so knows the trials. What could go wrong?

            Think of all the possibilities, from mundane to terrifying, that could happen. Stalked by a wolf? Injured by a hunter who mistook you for a deer? Lost when you went down an unfamiliar path? Slipped on a treacherous hill and careened over the edge? The list is endless.

            Your task is to write a story in which your hike goes wrong. Begin by looking at photos of forests to get an idea of how tall the trees are, how deep the forest, how narrow the path. Become familiar with the types of trees, edible plants, poisonous fauna. Research building shelters, finding shelter in caves, overhangs and amongst briars.

            Create your hiking group. Include a variety of personalities: the overconfident, the narcissist, the timid, the follower. How they interact will impact the flow of the story arc.

            Set the story in motion. Remember to build up tension as your characters walk along.

            Have fun with this one.

Unfulfilled Desires

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            Do you remember when you were a child and your birthday was approaching? You anxiously awaited opening presents and not finding the gift you’d hinted about for weeks. You experience a range of emotions, from shock, disappointment and anger. Visualize your face and body as those feelings wash over you.

            Make the stakes higher. A dream position opens up and you believe that you are most qualified for the job. You’ve got more experience in the areas needed than anyone at the company. You’ve got a good relationship with the boss, or so you think, that will make you the number one choice. The problem is that the boss created the position for his nephew.

            Perhaps you’ve been house-hunting and the perfect one appears. You go to the open house and fall in love. You put in a bid, believing that you’re the best qualified since you’ve got a pre-approved loan. What you didn’t know was that everyone was bidding way over the ask price. The person who gets the house offered one million more than the market value.

            In each case unfulfilled desires have the potential to drag the person down a long, dark road.

            Your task is to write a story in which your character yearns for something, believes she is going to get it, then doesn’t. Make the stakes high enough that when things fall apart, the character spins out of control.

            Use both narrative description and dialogue.

            Have fun with this one.

Reality Check

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A reality check is utilized as a means to clarify or correct a misconception. If properly delivered, it can you makes the individual recognize the truth about a situation, especially by countering any difficulties and challenges that seem to prevent success.

Imagine wanting to lose weight. You research dieting techniques, go shopping for the recommended foods, tell yourself that tomorrow you will begin. Tomorrow comes and for lunch you order an ice cream sundae with the works. By the time you’ve finished it, you’re stuffed and miserable. You tell yourself that you failed, that you are a failure and will always be a failure so there’s no hope.

Taking time to reflect might allow you to see that it was just one slip up and that the rest of the day is open to success. One failure does not doom the plan.

That’s the benefit of a reality check. It helps us to step back and evaluate our performance as just one part of a whole.

Your task is to write a story in which your protagonist needs a hefty reality check. Begin by narrowing down the area that you feel most comfortable writing about. Make the stakes high enough and the desired outcome large enough that the character has to want to succeed so badly that he is willing to work at it. Put the story in motion, then have the character experience a failure and disappointment.

Include both narrative and dialogue.

Have fun with this one. 

Fruitless Search

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            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.

In the Listings

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

            The next time a flyer for an open house arrives in your mail, save it. Look at it carefully, studying the layout, the furniture, the decorations. If it’s within driving distance, go take a look. Check out the neighborhood. How far apart are the lots? How close are the nearest schools? What types of businesses are nearby?

            Attend the open house so that you can walk through the rooms and step into the backyard. If photos are displayed, check them out. Who lives here? A family? A group of friends?

            What stories would they tell if you could interview them?

            Using your imagination, write an interesting story that takes place in this house. Is it a murder mystery? An invasion of pests? A romantic-comedy? Ghosts floating about?

            There needs to be tension for the story to be interesting. Begin by mapping out your characters. What do they want? How hard are they willing to work to get it?

Include both description and dialogue. Maintain a good pace so that the story does not get bogged down.

Have fun with this one.