Tag: writing fantasy

Helping Hand

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            Everyone needs a little help now and then. Perhaps while driving on the freeway your car gets a flat. Do you change it yourself or call for help?

            You see a senior citizen struggling with two heavy bags. He smiles and you offer to help. The man’s shoulders relax after you’ve relieved him of his burden.

            How we ask for help, how we react when help is given says a lot about us. Imagine the car driver barking into her phone, demanding a tow truck driver drop everything to come to her aid. What if the senior citizen yelled instead of being grateful? How would these reactions change the giver or receiver?

            Your task is to write a story in which a helping hand is needed or offered. Begin with a plausible situation, perhaps something you’ve experienced somewhere along the way.

Identify your protagonist’s personality, which is the key factor in determining how she behaves.

Establish the setting so that readers know where the event is taking place. Put your characters into motion. Use both description and dialogue to bring the story to life.

Have fun with this one.

Magical Realism

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Magical realism is a literary genre in which the world in which the story takes place, is realistic, with normal beings, places and objects. However, there is an undercurrent of magic or fantasy in which the line between the worlds in blended. For example, magical or supernatural phenomena exist in a setting that the author does not invent.

            Fairy tales are a good example because the characters live in houses, eat food, wear the clothes of the times, but something happens, an invasion of that reality, that changes the overall story arc. Characters have traits such as levitation, telepathy or telekinesis that they employ to get what they want, influence people or outcomes, or entertain and bedazzle others.

            Imagine flying carpets, bowls that dance and ghosts that haunt an occupied home.

            Your task is to write a story that incorporates some degree of magical realism. Begin by choosing what type of magic exists in the world, whether or not it can be controlled, and who, if anyone, can manipulate the magic.

            The story can be serious with potentially deadly outcomes or have a bit of humor when things/objects act in ways that do not occur in the real world.

            Have fun with this one.

The Big Decision

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            You’re most of the way through the novel. The protagonist has struggled over many obstacles and seems to be on the road to success. Suddenly a chasm-sized barrier is in the way. She has two possible choices to make. She can turn around and retrace her steps or find a way across. A decision has to be made that could potentially alter her life.

            What she chooses is determined by the characteristics readers have seen in the individual. A timid person or one with low self-esteem will turn around while the character with tons of self-confidence will plow ahead.

            Your task is to write a scene in which your protagonist is confronted with a choice that would make a huge difference in his life.

            Begin by making a list of possible obstacles. They can be realistic or fantastical, depending upon the type of story that you are writing. Once you have chosen the primary obstacle, add possible solutions. Once again, solutions depend upon the genre you have chosen.

            Your character is proceeding along, the obstacle arises. A choice is made. Make sure that readers will believe the outcomes and that the emotions that your character experiences come through.

            Have fun with this one.

Complete and Utter Chaos

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            There are times when anything that could possibly go wrong, does. It feels like the game when you stack dominoes with the intent of controlling their fall. But then your hand wiggles or someone’s knee jiggles the table or an earthquake hits and down they go, not when you intended, but do to some type of chaotic movement.

            Perhaps your car is due to a check-up. You make an appointment with the mechanic, but before you can get there, something horrible happens. Maybe your car breaks down in the middle of a busy major thoroughfare. Perhaps you get hit by a driver who wasn’t paying attention. Or it could be roadwork that causes a huge delay making you miss your time.

            Things happen, often in a bunch, that derail our activities. Some we can laugh off, but others cause a huge inconvenience.

            Your task is to write a story in which a series of unexpected things happen. How your character reacts will tell readers quite a bit about her personality. Make the events large or small, or a combination of both. Most importantly, allow readers to be there with the character.

            Include sensory details and emotional reactions.

            Have fun with this one.

Fan Fiction

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            Imagine loving a story series so much that you write your own takes on what the characters do. You imitate the settings, clothing, languages and behaviors of your favorites. You find Internet sites dedicated to the stories and submit your versions. Other fans love what you’ve done and so you write more.

            But it’s not just for fans of current stories, but even for fairy tales from long ago. How many versions of Cinderella, for example, have you read? Just about every culture has a Cinderella or Prince Charming. There are contemporary versions in which Cinderella is the rescuer or in which Rapunzel sits down below the window and calls up, asking the trapped prince to let down his hair.

            Your task is to take a known character and story and make it your own. Expand on the story by creating new situations and settings or by bringing an old tale into the present. Or maybe well into the future. Think about what technologies existed during the first writings and what you want your characters to be able to utilize.

            Make sure there is tension, that something happens that places your character in jeopardy. Use both narrative and dialogue. Include those all-important sensory details.

            Have fun with this one.

Letters Written Home

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            Imagine that you’ve been away from home for some time. You miss your childhood home, your family and your friends. You regularly write home, sharing whatever is happening in your life. Most of the time you recount rather boring details, but this time you’ve got something juicy to share.

            Is it something comedic that happened to you or that you witnessed? Did a coworker get caught under the influence or selling drugs? Has someone made a pass at you that ended badly?

Did you accidentally forget to pay for a scarf that you’d draped over your arm?

            There are so many possibilities!

            Your task is to write the letter, telling the strange happenings that either you did or that you witnessed. Try to insert comedy so that readers will get a good chuckle. Things should be bizarre, yet believable. For example, perhaps a tightrope walker crossed from one high-rise to another in a gusty wind. Imagine how the person teeters to stay on the wire. Maybe a gust tears away a piece of clothing which falls in a dramatic way.

            Let your imagination run wild.

            Have fun with this one.

The Old, the Young and the Vulnerable

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            Imagine a culture in which the old are venerated, then think of one in which they are thrown away. These are very different scenarios. In the first, seniors might live with family where they are cared for, loved and treated with respect and dignity. In the second, seniors are ignored, abandoned and left by the wayside, despite an inability to care for themselves.

            Now consider how the very young and the disabled are treated. Are babies nurtured even if they have obvious issues? Are toddlers who are deaf or blind left on a rock in the middle of the forest or is there some system in place to care for them?

            What happens when someone is injured and is then permanently disabled? Does the family provide food, shelter and love or leave them behind when they migrate?

            Your task is to write a scene in which one of these populations takes on an important role. Don’t tackle all three, however. Choose the one that you feel the most comfortable writing about, perhaps one that you know intimately.

            Begin by making a list of possible reactions, both positive and negative. Where will the story start? Choose a point of action designed to establish society’s POV. This might be a tense scene or one of love. It might show someone being abandoned or someone being nurtured.

            Dialogue is important so that readers hear how the community thinks. There need not be total agreement between members. For example, someone might want to keep a disabled child, but the cultural rules forbid that to happen. Conflict ensues.

            Have fun with this one.

Power Sources

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            In the beginning, foot power made things work. Think about women sitting in front of some type of device designed to make something. There would have been a foot pedal to make it spin, twirl or weave. Water then became a source, being used to grind wheat, mash seeds to create oil, or to move logs from one place to another.

            Ponies were attached to a tether and walked around and around all day long, day after day, turning a wheel. Eventually coal was used to power huge electricity generating plants. As time passed wind and solar power were incorporated into the grid. Even nuclear power was harnessed.

            When you’re creating a setting, you must take into account where your world is on the spectrum of possibilities. If burning wood is the only source, only certain types of machinery are able to operate. If nuclear power is used, a wider range is available.

            Your task is to write a scene in which the source of power comes into play. Perhaps it’s just been employed and the characters are terrified, surprised or both. Maybe there’s a breakdown that has the potential to cause catastrophic events to occur. Dialogue and narrative are both critical.

            Have fun with this one.

Rebellion

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            Imagine a scenario where the citizens are upset with the ruling power. They’ve been tortured, imprisoned, forced to work in unsafe conditions and have little to eat. There is no hope for improvement as long as the current leaders are in power.

            Attempts to negotiate have repeatedly failed. Rumor has it that an assassination is in the works, so armed military patrols the streets. It’s a dire situation.

            Many stories have been written using this scenario as a base for sowing discord. Given a chance to write the story, how would yours differ?

            Your task is to develop a scene in which rebellion is looming. Is it coming within the ranks of the aristocracy or from the peasants? Is it in a single city or throughout the empire? Who is leading the rebellion?  Disenfranchised royals? Defecting soldiers?

            What is the desired result and who would step up and be in charge assuming the rebellion is successful? What changes would be enacted, and would those be acceptable to all?

            How many would die and what weapons would be used? Does magic come into play?

            There are many things to consider to make this story stand out.

            Have fun with this one.

Contested Boundaries

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All throughout the history of our world rulers have lead incursions into neighboring countries, seizing land, and changing boundaries in order to seize valuable natural resources or to gain access to water routes. Often the battles have been fierce with both sides losing hundreds of warriors.

To the victors went the spoils which included family treasures, verdant fields and the virginity of women. All was justified under the loose definition of what constitutes victory.

Close your eyes and imagine what that world must have been like: living in fear, burying valuables in the fields, constantly running and hiding. What story comes to mind?

Your task is to write a story in which one army invades a country.  First decide the setting, which includes place and time. Equip your army with weapons of war and then send them on their way. Will your army be victorious or not? Use narrative to describe the scene and the action, but include dialogue as well so readers can understand how your characters are thinking and feeling.

Gore is okay if that’s what you want to write, but a humiliating defeat is just as terrible without blood and guts.

Have fun with this one.