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. What if the first day of fall marked a day when something other than leaves fell, all around the world? Whether people, coffee cups or clouds, write a few pages about a global falling of some kind.
2. 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.
3. Plants may respond to music, but imagine they could actually talk. What would your house plants have to say? What about the grass on your lawn? Write a few pages about a character who is the first to communicate with plants.
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Tips:
1. There are seven primary types of conflict in a story: person vs. person, person vs. self, person vs. fate, person vs. nature, person vs. society, person vs. technology and person vs. the unknown. Each one brings with it its own unique challenges. When you read, think about which types of conflict characters are facing and how they drive the narrative forward.
2. Toss Perfectionism. Or, as Voltaire candidly quoted in his Dictionnaire Philosophique of 1770: "Il meglio e l'inimico del bene": the great is the enemy of the good. Excessive self-editing sabotages creativity and completion. Free yourself up on your first draft. Revision is your ally!
3. All writers draw from the same well of arts that are created by others. When you read, you probably notice that some stories and characters remind you of others that you have read about. Perhaps they are even an outright reimagining of them. Pointing out those connections can help us understand a story on a deeper level.
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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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Show Dones
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