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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 decides to start a garden in their backyard and uncovers an ancient artifact in the dirt that certainly doesn’t belong there. How did it get there? What will they do with it?

2. Write a few pages about a character preparing for a dinner party when an uninvited guest shows up early—and it’s the last person they wanted to see.

3. Imagine a character finds an old velvet couch in the middle of the woods while on a hike one day. When they sit down on it, they find themselves suddenly transported to a different world. Where do they go? Write a few pages telling us what they do there, and maybe how they get back.

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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. The most valuable takeaways from a story are those that stay with us for hours, days or even years after reading. Contemplating what you can recall from a story is a useful tool to better analyze which aspects of the writing are effective and make an impact.

3. 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?

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