build a life that builds the world.
Write about a character witnessing or participating in something which reminds them of a similar moment in their childhood. Let the present action inspire the character’s emotional response as they remember a time past, and discover how that emotion effects how they perceive the present action. This tale could really weave itself like a French … Read more
Dust off one of your old prose stories and turn it into a poem. Maybe you have a short story you can adapt into something structured more in verse and metaphor. Perhaps you can take a character and put their life into a poetic nutshell. Here’s a way to get inspired: listen to poet Gwendolyn … Read more
Write 1,666 words today. That’s how many words one needs to write per day for thirty days to hit the goal of 50,000 words during National Novel Writing Month, or “NaNoWriMo.” I don’t care what your 1,666 words are about and neither should you. Instead, just keep writing and writing. Write it up, and keep … Read more
Close your eyes and think of a place you know well in the day time and write about what it’s like in the night time (or vice versa). Maybe your favorite donut shop by day is meeting grounds for an anarchist organization by night. Perhaps your garage by night is a child’s lemonade stand by … Read more
Write a story in which one character persuades another character to their point of view. Maybe it’s a YA tale of peer pressure, or it’s an election yarn of choosing candidates, or perhaps some doomed soul begs for their life at gunpoint. Let emotion guide the actions of the story and consider choosing to write … Read more
Write a scene in which two characters either meet for the first time or say ‘goodbye’ forever. In the story, choose a backdrop of weather for the scene and see how it affects the characters and/or theme of the story. Maybe a man and woman meet for a first date and the rain draws them … Read more
Write about luck. Maybe it’s your character’s lucky day, or maybe their luck has run out. Perhaps someone down on their luck all their life is getting a break, or they don’t believe in luck no matter how much of it is thrown in their face. However you approach it let “luck” feed your story, … Read more
Write about a character’s experience involving technology. Maybe they remember the world before it seemed like most everyone carried an iPod or a cell phone. Perhaps they our having their first experience using a computer or figuring out how to program the family VCR or DVD player. Or maybe they’re taking their first online college … Read more
Write a story in which time is running out. Let the ticking clock be the impetus, not the focus, for why your characters feel the way they do. Let your reader understand the stakes involved because your characters show how they feel emotionally through their actions. Let the story lead up to the moment that … Read more
Write a story that takes place in the future. It could be five minutes from now or five-hundred years from now. Make your vision of the future unique; try to avoid all the different futures you’ve seen in TV and the movies. Perhaps go a subtle route – everything’s the same except we now have … Read more