Let's practice some emotional showing! For this prompt, pick a location from your story that a POV character visits more than once, feeling differently in each scene. Who's the character? How do they feel? Write each scene paying particular attention to describing the setting and the other characters and what's going on through the primary … Continue reading Scene Prompt #34: The Filter
Author: Megan
Scene Prompt #33: A day in the life
Pick a character, any character. It could be your main character, but it doesn't have to be. Pick someone who could use a little TLC from their creator (that's you). What does the reader need to know about who this character is (or was) before events pull(ed) them into the story? How did they think? … Continue reading Scene Prompt #33: A day in the life
Scene Prompt #32: The Obsession
What's driving your character? This could be (and ultimately should include) stakes, the avoidance of something unwanted, but for this prompt I'm more interested in the motivation: What goodies are in it for your character? What good stuff can they get from going through the obstacle course that is your story? How will succeeding make … Continue reading Scene Prompt #32: The Obsession
Scene Prompt #31: Ghosts
Is your character haunted? I mean metaphorically, but literally works too. They could be haunted by a person, past or present. Or an event past or present. Or a regret, something that didn't happen that they wish had happened. This prompt might seem similar to The Secret, but it doesn't have to be. This character-haunting … Continue reading Scene Prompt #31: Ghosts
Scene Prompt #30: Location, Location, Location
What's your story's setting? Is there a place--a city, a building, a park--the characters keep coming back to? For this prompt, think about the main or recurring setting. What's its history? How long has it been around? What was it before? Who used it before? What interesting things, big or small, happened there? When? Why? … Continue reading Scene Prompt #30: Location, Location, Location
Scene Prompt #29: The Secret
Do any of your characters have a secret? Let's see if we can add/deepen some secrets. No promises this is going to prompt a scene, but it could prompt several scenes. You may already know your story's secret, but if you don't . . . When I don't know what I'm doing, I generally fall … Continue reading Scene Prompt #29: The Secret
Scene Prompt #28: Love me, Hate me
Does your main character have any vanishing allies? For this prompt, we're looking for shifting characters. Characters who seem to be on your main character's side, but are ultimately serving some other cause. How might your protagonist find out that this character has betrayed them? Does the shifting character confess? Does some other character let … Continue reading Scene Prompt #28: Love me, Hate me
Scene Prompt #27: Hate me, Love me
Does your main character have any frenemies? A foe who becomes a friend? For this prompt, we're looking for shifting characters. One of my favorite types of show episodes is when the main character's antagonist--not Big Bad, usually, but an antagonist--becomes the character's friend. The main character gets taken hostage in a bank robbery with … Continue reading Scene Prompt #27: Hate me, Love me
Scene Prompt #26: The Meet-Ugly
Is this a thing? Google says it is, but in a way that's different from where I was going to go with it. Maybe I should instead call this the meet-tense. The meet-bad? Well, whatever. We're doing the scene where the main character and the bad guy first meet. I'm thinking it probably has a … Continue reading Scene Prompt #26: The Meet-Ugly
Scene Middles: Middle = Conflict, Part 3
Still doing conflict. Two weeks ago was the Why and the What. Last week was How much and How to add it. Today is How to optimize conflict and What conflict isn't. Here we go . . . Conflict works best when: It's presented on stage . . . "Conflict is a fight at some … Continue reading Scene Middles: Middle = Conflict, Part 3
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