Your Prompts and Tips
Some free resources to help you write better and achieve the success you deserve
This is a selection we've harvested from our archives, RELOAD THE PAGE for more!
Prompts:
1. Write a few pages about a character who finds an ominous—or romantic—note written in red ink.
2. Write a few pages set at a local café where a character overhears a conversation that they can’t pretend they didn’t just hear.
3. Write a few pages about a character with an extreme phobia. It can be one we know, like the fear of heights (acrophobia) or leaving the house (agoraphobia), or one you make up (like someone who is literally afraid of their own shadow).
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Tips:
1. Whether a one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple people-eater or a candlestick that can talk, anytime an author successfully gives life to an inhuman character, it is a feat. When you read one such story, think about how the author brought the being to life. Do they humanize it? Or, do they embrace it as a different kind of creature entirely?
2. When analyzing the conflict of a story, it is valuable to examine the stakes that each character faces if the outcome is not in his or her favor. When you are reading, weigh the stakes. Ask yourself what they have to lose: is it a tangible object like a beloved family heirloom, simply their time, or even a friendship?
3. The words the writer chooses to put in the title carry heavier weight than any other word in the story. They are meant to entice us to read the story while also representing a theme, symbol, etc. It is always good practice to ponder the title for a moment before you read, and once again after you’ve finished the story to see if you come to understand it in a different way.
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PRIVATE JOURNAL:
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TRACKING:
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TO DO LIST:
Add tasks to your sortable list, then revel in checking them off.
SCRATCHPAD:
Cache your gems as they fall in this always accessible place.
PRIVATE JOURNAL:
Reflect on your process — good, bad and ugly — in your dated diary.
TRACKING:
Measure your progress with key writing metrics, automatically,
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