Your Prompts and Tips
Some free resources to help you write better and achieve the success you deserve
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Prompts:
1. Write a few pages set on a beach, where a character’s metal detector turns up a valuable but disturbing item.
2. 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?
3. Write a few pages in which two characters, who are vastly different and not particularly fond of the other person, get “trapped” somewhere—at a snowed-in cabin or an accidentally locked closet at work, for example—and start to see the other in a different light.
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Tips:
1. 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?
2. Reading a story requires patience and paying attention to detail. With so many available distractions, we can sometimes miss important aspects of a story we’re reading, especially if we’re multitasking or face interruptions. A quiet, distraction-free environment is ideal, but no matter where you’re reading, try to focus on the story alone. There is no shame in re-reading either!
3. Whenever there are fantastical elements, such as magic, present in the story, it is useful to consider their purpose. Why did the author choose those specific elements of magic? Ask yourself what they bring to the story and imagine how the story would differ without them. If it wouldn’t change significantly, then they are not essential to the story.
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TO DO LIST:
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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:
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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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