Julie Duffy's Blog, page 168
May 2, 2014
[Guest Prompt] Mary Robinette Kowal
Work the words vermillion and musky somewhere in the next 250 words you write.
Mary Robinette Kowal is the author of the GLAMOURIST HISTORIES series of historical fantasy novels, and the 2011 Hugo Award-winning short story “For Want of a Nail.” Her short fiction appears in Clarkesworld, Cosmos and Asimov’s. Mary, a professional puppeteer, lives in Chicago. Visit her online at maryrobinettekowal.com.
[Writing Prompt] 640 Words
So how did you get on yesterday?
Did you write? Did you leave a comment on the blog post, or do your Victory Dance?
Hooray, you’ve made it to Saturday. I hope you’re one of those lucky people for whom Saturday means a break from the regular responsibilities of the week. But likely you’re not. So: tough. We’re writers and we write whether we’re on ‘vacation’ from real life or not 
Today we’re striking a happy medium between the lengths of story we’ve played with already.
The Prompt
Write A Story of 640 Words
Tips
This is about the length of a newspaper column (remember them?). Enough room to tell a story but not much room for florid language.
Pay attention as you write, to how long it’s taking you to write, on average. This will help you set realistic goals about how much time you really need to set aside to produce good creative work.
Pay attention to your writing style as you write today. Which length of story has felt more comfortable to you?
Make sure you finish all your stories this week. Even if you have to write “[FILL IN DETAILS HERE LATER]“, try to get to the end of the story every time. Have you been finishing your stories? What has this taught you about getting to the meat of the story quickly?
Go!
(And don’t forget to celebrate when you’re finished, by commenting below or doing your victory dance.)
May 1, 2014
[Guest Prompt] Therese Walsh – Magnetic Words
THERESE WALSH is the author of The Moon Sisters and the cofounder of Writer Unboxed. She lives in upstate New York with her husband and two children.
The Prompt
Imagine your protagonist has just opened a large magnetic poetry kit. Which words call to him/her? Will s/he put these words on the refrigerator in a random scattering or compose a sentence? Share your words and sentences here.
Tips
If you don’t have a magnetic poetry set (what?!) you can play online
You can write a whole story based on the words you select or you can show the scene where they select words.
GO!
[Writing Prompt] 100 Words
So how did you get on yesterday?
Did you write? Did you leave a comment on the blog post, or do your Victory Dance?
Whatever you managed yesterday, congratulations and I’m glad you’re back for more!
Continuing the theme of ‘assuming you have more than one idea of a time’ this week, I’m giving you another length-based writing assignment.
The Prompt
Write A Drabble (A Story Of Exactly 100 Words)
Tips
Just because you’re limited to 100 words, don’t think this is going to be any less a creative exercise than any other story you write this month.
Allow as much time for this as you would for a longer story.
Don’t be surprised if you find yourself writing more and then paring the story back.
It’s very common to cut out lots of words from the start of short stories. Sometimes we have to write a lot to figure out where the story really starts. Don’t be afraid to ‘start late’.
You can’t explain much in a 100 word story. Allow the reader to fill in some blanks. Stories of this length are very much a collaboration between reader and writer.
Go!
April 30, 2014
[Writing Prompt] Guest Prompt from Neil Gaiman
Welcome To StoryADay May 2014!
To kick off our 5th Year of writing a StoryADay in May, I have a special treat for you: a guest prompt from the fabulous Neil Gaiman.
On the day I contacted him he was, sadly for him, stuck in an airport. The prompt he suggested for us was pretty heartfelt:
The Prompt from Neil Gaiman
Getting Home
Tips
This is a wide-open prompt. You could use it to write tragedy, comedy, satire, slapstick, sci-fi, fantasy, realistic fiction….anything you want.
Think of a character desperate to get home. What is stopping them? What is their most basic reaction? (Frustration is a wonderful way to strip away a character’s layers and show us what they are like at their core. In Mr Gaiman’s case I would suggest that he is basically a generous and decent human being. Instead of responding to my request, he could just as easily have cursed, deleted my email and put me on a list of spammers… What will your character do?)
For the first day of StoryADay May I always suggest writing a really short story. It’s a great way to warm up, and it’s all too easy to get lost in the beginning of a story and find yourself heading into a 3,000 word behemoth. You’ll never be able to sustain that pace for the whole month, so start small. Start with a victory.
Aim to write no more than 1200 words. That gives you 300 words to establish the scene and your character, 700 words to make things happen, complicate things, create a crisis/climax, and 200 words to wrap it all up.
GO!
When you finish your story today, leave a comment below, or join the Victory Dance group in the community and share you thoughts about the first day, there. (Haven’t joined the community yet? Join here
Thanks again, Mr Gaiman. I hope you got home all right…
[Writing Prompt] 1200 Words
Welcome to StoryADay May.
It’s Day 1. You’re nervous, you’re excited, you’re full of ideas…(you are, aren’t you?), so I’m not going to tell you WHAT to write, only how much.
(And of course, you should remember that these prompts are entirely optional. If you want to write a 10,000 word novella today, you go right ahead. Just remember to save some juice for tomorrow!)
photo used by permission of Norlando Pobre
The Prompt
Write A Story Of Around 1200 Words
Why write a story of 1200 words?
This is the perfect length for the start of this challenge because it’s manageable (not too long, not too short, doable in an hour or less if you sit down with some ideas ready to go).
Think about it. You have:
About 300 words to establish your setting and your character in his/her ordinary environment,
700 words to fit in some conflict, development and a nice rich crisis that can only resolved by your character confronting some kind of demons (inner, outer, literal, figurative, all of the above…),
200 words to wrap things up and leave us wondering what that character might go off and do next.
(I’ve already written 206 words here!)
Take your best story or character idea. Choose a moment that provides conflict for your character and …
GO!
When you’ve finished your story, leave a comment below or join the Victory Dance Group in the community and tell us about your writing day.
Ready, Set…StoryADay May Is Almost Here!
It’s Almost Here! The 5th Annual StoryADay May starts tomorrow, with a writing prompt from award-winning novelist Neil Gaiman.
In the the last few hours before the challenge lots of people hear about it, lots of people sign up, and lots of people start giggling nervously and thinking “what have I done?”. Here are some reassuring words before we get started:
You can do this.
Nobody dies if you don’t write 31 fabulous stories next month.
(But really, you can do this.)
Now for some practical words on Writing During The Challenge and Planning Ahead (yes, even after May starts, you’ll still have planning to do).
Writing During The Challenge
Here’s some news and some answers to the most frequently asked questions by new recruits (welcome!):
Writing Prompts – I provide optional writing prompts every day. You can use them or ignore them, whatever suits your style. If you want to get emails every morning with that day’s writing prompt, make sure you are on this list.
Guest Prompts - On days when a celebrity guest provides a writing prompt, you’ll still see a prompt from me, too. You can write to either prompt (or none).
Who are the Guest Prompters? Guest writing prompt providers this year include: Neil Gaiman ; Heidi Durrow ; Therese Walsh ; Mary Robinette Kowal ; Debbie Ridpath Ohi ; Angela Ackerman ; Elizabeth S. Craig ; Becca Puglisi (and possibly more as I check my inbox. These professional writer types, it turns out, are generous and supportive! We like them! Sadly, there’s no guarantee that any of them will have time to come and hang out and read our stories. They have their own writing to work on!)
Where do my stories go? If you want to post them on your own blog or Tumblr or whatever, you can share a link in the community (maybe in The Victory Dance) BEWARE: if you post a story online some people consider that ‘first publication’ and that piece may not be eligible for submission to certain markets or publications, even if you revise it substantially. If you think you’re going to want to use your StoryADay pieces for contests or other publications, you probably shouldn’t post them online. You can, however, post excerpts and invite fellow StoryADay folks to come and comment on them.
Have more questions? Check out the FAQ and resource sections.
Planning For The Month
Here are some tips from a veteran (me!) on how to get through this month of extreme creativity:
Pledge to collect Story Sparks every day, wherever you are (Story Sparks are not outlines, but rather things that pique your interest as you go through your day; things that make you go “Oo, I might be able to use that in a story!”)
Even if you’re using my prompts, most of them are intentionally vague, allowing you to customize them to your own interests. Why not sit down today and write some lists: people who annoy you, things that scare you, places you wish you’d been, things you wish you were brave enough to try; memories that stick with you… Mine these for ideas.
Plan ahead – Use the Creative Challenge Workbook to work through where how and what you’re going to write this month. If you’re having trouble making time to write, consider picking up the Time To Write workshop.
I strongly recommend that you spend some time thinking about what kinds of characters, settings or themes you might look at for the first few days. Having a list of ‘possible things to write about’ makes it much easier to get to work each day, than simply sitting down and waiting for inspiration to strike. Make an appointment with yourself (put it on your calendar!) to sit down each week of the challenge and brainstorm 7-10 Story Sparks that you might use.
Watch The New ‘How To’ Videos on how to navigate (and get the most out of) the StoryADay online community. There are some very lovely volunteers hanging out in the community who will help make you feel at home. I’ll be introducing them soon!
Spread The Word – The more people who take part, and the more people you tell about StoryADay, the more effective the peer pressure! Take some time today to post this image on your social media network of choice, and tell people you’re taking part in StoryADay. If you know anyone who’s always saying they wished they wrote more, challenge them to join you. Spread the word. Use #StoryADay. (And no, I don’t get rich if you do, it’s just that this is one of those times when the adage “the more the merrier” really does apply!)Set Your Own Rules – you may know right now that you’re only going to be able write six days out of every seven…and that’s fine. Set your own rules now — just make sure they seem on the challenging side of ‘manageable’.
Eat well and get as much sleep and exercise as you can. It’s amazing what sleep, exercise and eating-your-veggies can do for the creative brain. (Your grandmother was right!)
Do a little warm-up writing today. Check out today’s writing prompt: Fear!
I’m SO glad you’re coming along on this crazy adventure. You’re going to be amazed at how much you write next month and how creatively free you become. Sure there will be bad days, but you’ll be immensely proud of yourself if you just keep turning up. And you will definitely write some stories that we can all be proud of!
Onward!
April 29, 2014
[Writing Prompt] Fear
Tomorrow it all begins. StoryADay May 2014. Are you nervous? I always am. (This is the fifth May since I launched the challenge!!)
The Prompt
Write A Story In Which Fear Is A Driving Factor For One Or More Character
Tips
Focus today on writing a quick, dirty first draft. You’re going to need that skill in the 31 days ahead.
Ask yourself who you’d be interested in writing about today. Pick a person, age, gender and defining characteristic (i.e. A beautiful actress; a harassed mother; an ambitious starship captain).
Ask yourself what that person wants from life and what they would be afraid of.
Consider what/who might get in this character’s way. What might frighten this secondary character? How does that affect his relationship/interactions with the protagonist?
Ask yourself what your protagonist needs to do to overcome his/his opponent’s fear. Will you let your protagonist succeed?
What happens if they give in to fear?
What do they feel as they try to overcome it?
GO!
Did you write today? Did you finish this story? Did any of your own fears creep into this story? Tell us in the comments, or join the discussion in the community.
