Julie Duffy's Blog, page 93
May 27, 2019
2019 Day 28 – Closing Line
How did you get on yesterday? Did you write a story?
Remember, set your own rules, and stick to them. If you miss a day, don’t try to catch up. Just keep moving forward!
The Prompt
ENDING LINE: As the sun went down that night, I knew it would rise, tomorrow, on a very different world.
Think about this line and what kind of mood you would like it to convey. What kind of mood do you want your story to take today?
Sometimes our stories can veer off track: we feel like writing a funny story and suddenly we’re crying over our keyboards; or we want to write Gothic Horror and somehow end up with Clueless.
Starting with the end in mind, can help with that.
(Feel free to change the syntax and pronoun in this, to fit your story.)
Go!
So how’s it going this week? Are you tired or have you caught your second wind?
The post 2019 Day 28 – Closing Line appeared first on StoryADay.
May 26, 2019
2019 Day 27 – Opening Line
How did you get on yesterday? Did you write a story?
Remember, set your own rules, and stick to them. If you miss a day, don’t try to catch up. Just keep moving forward!
The Prompt
OPENING LINE: NEVER TELL ANYONE YOUR REAL NAME
Start your story with that line today.
Go!
So how’s it going this week? Are you tired or have you caught your second wind?
Are you desperate to get back to novel-writing? Or have you discovered a new love for the short form?
What parts of this month’s successes will you take forward into your other writing?
The post 2019 Day 27 – Opening Line appeared first on StoryADay.
May 25, 2019
2019 Day 26 – Two Directions
How did you get on yesterday? Did you write a story?
Remember, set your own rules, and stick to them. If you miss a day, don’t try to catch up. Just keep moving forward!
The Prompt
Two Different Directions
Today’s story should feature two characters or factions who want to go in different directions. Lots of room for character desire and conflict, here!
You can take this as literally or figuratively as you like.
Go!
Check back every day for more prompts, and don’t forget to come back and leave a comment to celebrate your writing successes, every day!
The post 2019 Day 26 – Two Directions appeared first on StoryADay.
130 – Short Story Framework
A popular resource at StoryADay is the StADa Short Story Framework.
Now it’s available to everyone as a download: https://stada.me/framework
Also in this episode I talk about the upcoming events at StoryADay after May finishes, including the Critique Week and StoryFest and, of course, StoryADay September!
It’s another new episode of the StoryADay Podcast
The post 130 – Short Story Framework appeared first on StoryADay.
May 24, 2019
2019 Day 25 – Assembly
How did you get on yesterday? Did you write a story?
Remember, set your own rules, and stick to them. If you miss a day, don’t try to catch up. Just keep moving forward!
The Prompt
Write A Story Featuring an Assembly or Crowd Scene
You can tell the story of a song or simply use it in the story.
Normally I caution against having too many people in a short story, but today I want you to practice filling the scene with a crowd…but still focusing on your main characters.
There’s lots of potential for noise, color, and action in this one!
Go!
Check back every day for more prompts, and don’t forget to come back and leave a comment to celebrate your writing successes, every day!
The post 2019 Day 25 – Assembly appeared first on StoryADay.
May 23, 2019
2019 Day 24 – Song Title
How did you get on yesterday? Did you write a story?
Remember, set your own rules, and stick to them. If you miss a day, don’t try to catch up. Just keep moving forward!
The Prompt
Write A Story Inspired by A Song Title
You can tell the story of a song or simply use it in the story.
Here are a couple of resources
An A-Z of Song Titles – if you feel the need to pick randomly
– for those of you who like to play fast-and-loose with the rules
Go!
Check back every day for more prompts, and don’t forget to come back and leave a comment to celebrate your writing successes, every day!
The post 2019 Day 24 – Song Title appeared first on StoryADay.
May 22, 2019
2019 Day 23 – A Picture
How did you get on yesterday? Did you write a story?
Remember, set your own rules, and stick to them. If you miss a day, don’t try to catch up. Just keep moving forward!
The Prompt
Write A Story Inspired by This Painting
Richard Norris Brooke (American, 1847 – 1920), A Pastoral Visit, 1881, oil on canvas, Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase, Gallery Fund) 2014.136.119Unless you’re an expert in the time period, don’t try to write the historically-accurate story of this picture.
Instead, look at the details, the people, the expressions and see what it suggests for you.
Write about a family of laborers terraforming the first, off-planet colony, and entertaining a local dignitary for dinner
Write the story of a woman (any woman) whose husband brings home his boss when she’s had a full day at work and has just changed into her sweatpants and pulled her hair back into a messy bun, and she was in the middle of yelling at the kids for dragging in a stray kitten from goodness-knows-where and she’s just called out for pizza…
Tell the story of the bowl on the table. Where did it come from? Where will it end up, three generations from this moment.
The wonderful thing about using paintings as a prompt is that they represent one moment in time…just like short stories!
Our lives and our personalities are shaped by an accumulation of tiny moments. Never think that an idea or a moment is too small to be the spark for a worthy story.
Start practicing that belief with today’s story!
Go!
Check back every day for more prompts, and don’t forget to come back and leave a comment to celebrate your writing successes, every day!
The post 2019 Day 23 – A Picture appeared first on StoryADay.
May 21, 2019
2019 Day 22 – Word List
How did you get on yesterday? Did you write a story?
Remember, set your own rules, and stick to them. If you miss a day, don’t try to catch up. Just keep moving forward!
The Prompt
Write A Story Containing These Words
distinct, weak, volunteered, slow, coming,
time, duress, suspected, shimmy, listened.
If you’re feeling brave, post the story in the comments, or on your own blog and link to it (like so many of you have been doing already).
Underline or bold the key words, or just let us read the story without noticing them.
This is a silly exercise designed to lower the bar on your expectations. But you may be surprised at what you manage to do with this prompt!
Go!
Check back every day for more prompts, and don’t forget to come back and leave a comment to celebrate your writing successes, every day!
The post 2019 Day 22 – Word List appeared first on StoryADay.
May 20, 2019
2019 Day 21 – One-Sided
How did you get on yesterday? Did you write a story?
Remember, set your own rules, and stick to them. If you miss a day, don’t try to catch up. Just keep moving forward!
The Prompt
Write A Story Where We Only Hear One Side of The Conversation
Like yesterday’s epistolary story, this story takes the form of a conversation.
Only this time we only hear one side.
(Think about Bob Newhart’s telephone conversation skits or Neil Gaiman’s story “Orange”)
It can be a telephone conversation, one side of a text conversation, or a series of letters from a correspondent, where we never see the answers.
Leave gaps for the reader to fill in.
Go!
Check back every day for more prompts, and don’t forget to come back and leave a comment to celebrate your writing successes, every day!
The post 2019 Day 21 – One-Sided appeared first on StoryADay.
2019 Day 20 – Epistolary Story
How did you get on yesterday? Did you write a story?
Remember, set your own rules, and stick to them. If you miss a day, don’t try to catch up. Just keep moving forward!
The Prompt
Write A Story In The Form Of Letters
An epistolary story is one that is written in:
letters, memos, texts, voicemail messages, video messages…anything that is communicated directly to another character, not in real time.Make this conversation between two or more characters.Make sure to give everyone a distinctive voice, Think about how we communicate in writing vs in dialogue and how a character’s voice might change in writing, when they are in no danger of being interrupted and can explain themselves fully.
Go!
Check back every day for more prompts, and don’t forget to come back and leave a comment to celebrate your writing successes, every day!
The post 2019 Day 20 – Epistolary Story appeared first on StoryADay.
