50 Exercises for Story Writers. English 50 – Intro to Creative Writing: Exercises for Story Writers Basic Theory: What is a short story? As soon as someone delivers a definition, some good writer will write a story that proves the theory wrong. About the only thing we can say for sure is that short stories are short and that they are written in what we call prose. Some attributes, however, seem to show up more often than not. Short stories have a narrator; that is, someone tells the story; have at least one character in them; have some action occur (or perhaps fails to occur); take place somewhere; that is, there is a setting for the action; and someone either learns something or fails to learn something (theme).With these five characteristics in mind, we can create an almost endless supply of exercises to help sharpen our techniques of story telling.
Narrative Voice Twenty or so years ago, voice was the "rite of passage" into a successful writing career. If you've written a story in third person, try it in first. Journal Writing Prompts. Prompts. Generate Great Content. Need … more … post … ideas!. It’s no secret that I’ve been saying (here on Write To Done and elsewhere), over and over again, that the secret to my success at Zen Habits — and the secret to any blog’s success, actually — is to consistently create amazing, useful, interesting content. That’s a pretty simple idea, in theory, but much harder to implement on a regular basis. I know because I sometimes struggle with it myself. I think I do a decent job at creating great content on a regular basis, but just like anyone else, I have trouble from time to time trying to keep the quality and frequency of my content at a sufficiently high level.
When I face those dry spells, I go back to the basics — I remember the things that got me where I am today, and they work every time. Here they are, in no particular order: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. The (nearly) Ultimate Guide to Better Writing Fill out the form below and get your copy immediately! Problem Words and Phrases. Emotional Synonyms. Character Motivations. Characters. If you're enjoying the content here, check out our new site, Thoughtcrime Games. Thanks for visiting! If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting! I don’t know about you but when I sit down for a one-shot game with a pregen character, I can’t always come up with a unique and interesting personality on the fly. Using the Generator is a snap. Motivation: What is it that really gets your character’s motor running?
Instinct: What is your character’s first reaction to a threat (physical or otherwise)? Approach: What archetype is your character best known for being? Now just because every character in D&D is combat-capable does not necessarily make them all warrior-type personalities. Carrion, Tiefling Earth WardenMotivation 3 (Information); Instinct 4 (Protect Others); Approach 10 (Disciplined Commander) Though the city of Bael Turath stands in ruins, much of the Tiefling heritage lies buried ignobly around the Known World. Serious Skills Aquatic Adventures.