Writing Forum

This exercise should help you think about what your protagonist's personality is like, i.e. what sort of person they are. It should help you think about writing from a definite point of view and about “showing” the action rather than “telling” readers what is going on.


Write a Fantasy or SciFi scene with a protagonist who needs to get some information regarding an important artefact they need from an innkeeper or bartender. The innkeeper/bartender is reluctant to give up the information. He/she gets increasingly hostile.

         1. Write it from the protagonist's point of view (either first-person or close third-person)

         2. Show the inn/bar through the eyes of the protagonist, dropping in bits of description throughout the scene to build up a good picture of the place.

         3. Resolve the scene with either -

         a) the protagonist gets the information but now there is a new, bigger problem
         b) the protagonist fails to get the necessary information so they need to form a new plan of action for getting it.


Post your scene either directly in a post in this forum or as a {bitem:XXXXXX} so everyone can critique it.