#GetWriteOnIn to Your Word Count with This Story Prediction #WritingPrompt

If you are stuck on your storyline on day 5 of National Novel Writing Month, I have the prompt for you.

If you are stuck on your storyline and you are not on day 5 of National Novel Writing Month…

I still have the prompt for you.

I’ve also got you for setting and character prompts, but not today.

Today, we are going to talk about story predictions.

Almost a week in, how has your story changed, if at all, from what you’d thought before you began?

Do you think it will change before the end of the month?

Are these changes you’re allowing and embracing openly, or ones you’re trying to fight off?

The story takes on a life of its own after a while, and there’s nothing wrong with that in a general sense.

You’ve just got to be careful to prevent it from getting too far off track.

But make some predictions, have some reflections, and then get write on in to your story.

See you tomorrow!

My Response:

So far, this story has just been a wild ride from the start. Everything about it has been kind of shocking to me, but all in a good way. Now that I’m finally able to really get into the story and explore it, I’m finding that it’s shaping itself pretty closely to my expectations, if not perhaps exceeding them just a little bit. I didn’t realize how much Piranesi was going to end up influencing this, but it has definitely made a mark on the writing of this story. It excites me that it isn’t all blowing up in my face, considering what I’m doing.

There are times, though, when I’m having a harder time connecting with what’s going on. My character, and all of the characters with him, can’t see anything. That’s fun in some ways, because I feel like I’m developing the characters through their energies instead of their physical traits. It’s just difficult because I have to paint a picture without actually using any color. I watched a lot of blind videos before I started this, so I’m hoping it’s helping, but I’m really interested to see how that develops throughout the rest of this book.

I embrace every change that comes along the way. It’s weird, any time I think there’s something that’s changing from the original, I head back to my chapter-by-chapter analysis and find that it hasn’t really changed at all. Writing it out like that in the first place got me connected to it on a deeper level. That connection makes subconsciously writing it all that much easier. Hopefully I feel the same way by the time this is all finally over.

Practice This #WritingPrompt to #GetWriteOnIn to Character Interviews

Getting into the mind of your character can be a bit tricky sometimes.

If you tried out the character journaling prompt the other day, it may have helped you connect with the mind of your character.

Today, we’re going to tweak that exercise, just a little bit.

Pick a character — perhaps a side one you haven’t spent as much time with for this one — and put them in the hot seat.

Play a detective and interrogate your character.

Ask them the questions to the answers they won’t offer themselves.

Dig deep into their psyches to see what makes them tick.

Sometimes, in journals, even when you act as your character, there are aspects of ourselves that remain in denial.

This is an exercise to “sit your character down” and have a chat with them.

Depending on the theme, mood, and character, this can vary in intensity, of course.

But talk some things out, get some answers you might be struggling with, then get write on in to your story.

See you tomorrow!

My Response:

Character: Runavan

Me: Why aren’t you telling me what you know?

Runavan: *After a shrug* I have told you what I know. It’s not my fault you don’t want to believe me. My memory isn’t what it once was, and it isn’t my fault.

Me: Aren’t you afraid of what’s going to happen?

Runavan: Of course I am. But what else am I to do? The future is always scary, but sometimes so’s the past.

Me: I feel like there’s more to this that you’re not telling me.

Runavan: Of course there is, but why would I tell you more? Wouldn’t that take away the fun of the exploration?

Me: But I feel stuck sometimes. I feel like I don’t know where to go because I feel like I don’t know how to connect to people like you. People who know more than they let off.

Runavan: You aren’t as right as you think. While I know plenty somewhere deep within me, neither of us know how to unlock that yet. Until you go forth and explore, neither of us will ever know the answer.

Use This #WritingPrompt to Help You #GetWriteOnIn to Setting Connection

If you are anything like me, bringing the “setting” of your to life can be challenging.

I’ve recommended before to think of your setting as a living being, and that is our focus for today's three-paragraph prompt.

Any"where" you are in this journey — whether it be NaNo 2020 when this comes out or anytime thereafter — put a focus on the main location of the story real quick.

If the city, town, cruise ship, etc, that your story takes place in could talk, what would it tell you?

Choose one event that has shaped the history of your setting, and embellish on it.

The fifteen sentences today should see you exploring a war.

Or surviving a storm.

Examining the first civilization.

Or the maiden voyage.

Anything you want.

Think about everything your setting has been through, and write out some cool history, just for the fun of it..

Then get write on in to your book.

See you tomorrow!

My Response

The city of Raelevarre wasn’t always known for the darkness found within its borders now. Before the likes of men came around, the landscape was the most attractive part of this city. In fact, the beauty from the mountains caught the attention of men in the first place and encouraged them to inhabit the place. If Raelevarre were a person, she would say she loathed the day she was tainted by human kind. That she would have been better off if she’d stayed remote for the rest of time.

If Raelevarre were a person, she would cry over the blood that was spilled across her story. The wars that occurred, the battles that strung out over her land. Men fought over things like gold here, things that shone in the rays of the sun whenever they caught in the best light. Raelevarre, as a living being, does not understand all of the pain and torment created over things that glint in the sunlight. If she were ever to have any control, she’d have stopped this madness.

And yet, beneath this city, in tunnels and caves spread out into a spiderweb beneath her, people lay trapped. Bodies rot into skeletal dust as pain and torment permeate every corner. If Raelevarre were a person, she’d beg for the freedom of the people trapped within her. She’d plead for the injustice that occurred within her out of her control. She’d do everything in her power to free every captive.

Plot Got Your Tongue? Try Out This #WritingPrompt to Help You #GetWriteOnIn

When you’re writing a book, sometimes the hardest part to get into is the actual plot.

Is the story interesting enough?

Do you have any gaping plotholes you’re not aware of?

Have you thought out every possible arc?

What if there was a better way to tell this story?

If this character took this path, or that character took another one.

Today, if you’re having a hard time getting into your writing — whether you’re on NaNo day two when this is posted or anytime on your storyline of writing -- try purposefully writing out a bad subplot.

This may seem counterintuitive, but if you spend some time — three paragraphs, fifteen sentences, to be exact — writing out a plot you know is bad, you’ll get it out of your system.

You won’t have to worry about it sneaking back and ruining a perfectly bad first draft.

Let out the crap, flush it down the toilet, and get write on in to your story.

Happy writing, everybody.

See you tomorrow!

My Response:

When Vaeda explores the caves that have him trapped, he stumbles upon a yeti and a dragon coupled together. The yeti, it turns out, is pregnant, and the dragon is tasked with protecting the cave from intruders — like Vaeda. The dragon, however, is unable to breathe fire, and clipped his nails before Vaeda arrived. The dragon tries to fight off Vaeda, but is unsuccessful. Vaeda is able to remain invisible to enemies.

The yeti knows how to brawl, and isn’t afraid to fight. Pregnant or not, she attacks Vaeda when the dragon proves unsuccessful. Vaeda, of course, doesn’t have anybody else in the cave with him, because they’ve all abandoned him and left him to die. He runs through the halls of the cave, chased by the yeti, who screams at him in some foreign language. He does everything in his power to calm the beast down, but to no success. 

At last, Vaeda outruns the beast. He doesn’t know where he is, obviously, because he’s pushed himself further into a cave, but no matter. He’s escaped the jowls of the beasts that wanted him for dinner, and he was on to live to see another day. It would be nice to find a friend or two, but he remained grateful of his ability to stay alive on his own. He just hopes his luck sticks out with him for the rest of his life.

Read the first chapter of The Fight to Save the Future here.

#GetWriteOnIn to Character Development with this Character Journaling #WritingPrompt

Sometimes starting your writing session is the hardest part.

Whether you're at for the actual start of your book, or if you’re just having a hard time starting out today, try out some character journaling.

If you’re starting fresh, what’s your point of view character’s life like before it’s about to change?

Do they know what’s about to happen?

What do they normally care about, and how might the upcoming events change or influence them?

Just three paragraphs here, five sentences per paragraph should do.

Feel free to go wild and do as much as you would like, even if this counts for your daily 1,667 word goal.

I did it once where I alternated characters daily for about a week and color-coded who was up.

Have fun with this, don’t stress yourself out, and get write on in.

My Response

Vaeda

Sometimes I don’t remember what it was like to be a child. Various memories drift in and out of my mind at random, but I struggle to grab hold of any memory and make it tangible. When I close my eyes and try to think of the path that has led me to my present, I feel nothing. There are times when I wonder if that darkness is a part of me, keeping me in balance. There are others when I feel like it defines me and controls my life.

I long to reconnect with that part of myself. The freedom of childhood, always taken for granted, never to return or repeat. I wonder about the mistakes I’ve made, bitter pangs of agony and torment that annihilate my insides as I try to piece together their happenings. Why have I always kept myself so distant from my own identity? Why was I always so scared to simply… step into the light?

It’s hard to explain where I feel the makings of truth. There are layers within me, parts of myself I have yet to access that will accelerate my very being. How am I meant to feel about that? How am I supposed to be strong, rise to the occasion, when nobody cares? What can I do to make a difference when nobody is even here to listen?

Read the first chapter of The Fight to Save the Future here.