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 sees a strange message written in fireworks during a 4th of July show. What does it say, and who is the message intended for?
2. Write a few pages about a time-traveling romance. Maybe the characters are from the same time period but meet while jumping ahead to the future, or maybe your protagonist travels back in time and falls in love with someone there.
3. Write a few pages about a new principal at school who is hiding a secret from their past, but one student or teacher is on to them.
For more prompts, please Sign in or SET UP A GUEST ACCOUNT if necessary.
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. Beyond the title, the first line of a story is the author’s one and only chance to grab the reader’s attention and prompt them to keep reading. Make sure yours piques their interest enough. It can pose a question, bring up a conflict or provoke thought of some kind. If it doesn’t, is there another line, whether the second or the twentieth, that might make for a better hook?
3. From if a character will have a happy ending to how a romantic interest will play out, we all make predictions while we are reading, often without even realizing. Read a story and pay attention to the guesses you make along the way. Once you finish reading, compare your predictions with what actually happened. Did you find it too predictable? Or, would you have never guessed how it would turn out?
For more tips, please Sign in or SET UP A GUEST ACCOUNT if necessary.
CLICK A TAB TO USE WILL.POWER
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,
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,
ADD DO
Show Dones
Metric:
ADD
Words
Minutes
Click anywhere to close / cancel