 Short Stories: March 27, 2019 Issue [#9461] |
This week: Working with Prompts Edited by: Jay's debut novel is out now!  
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| Do you have trouble working with story prompts for contests and anthology calls? Here are some ideas. |
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One of my favorite ways to write short stories is to react to a given prompt, like a contest or anthology guideline. It can be hard to figure out if your story is lining up with the given prompt sometimes, though, especially if it's not a straightforward "use this word or phrase" type of prompt. (I'll talk a little bit about how to write to those prompts in a bit, but they definitely adhere to a different set of rules than other types of prompts.) Prompted contests are one of the most popular formats on here for a reason--they help stimulate you to write something you otherwise wouldn't have written.
So, first and foremost, if you're setting out to write a story to meet the needs of a prompt--be sure to check if there are any other guidelines or parameters you need to meet, like subject matter or wordcount, and make a note of the deadline and follow it! It's possible the expected genre of the story might be defined for you already; if that's the case, you might want to check it out, if it's not a genre you've read before, to find out if your story idea is treading over common ground in that genre, for example. You want your story to stand out, and you'd be surprised how often "follows all the guidelines" really does stand out!
Once you're sure you know the rules of your target contest or publication, taking a few minutes to shape something that will stand out can be as simple as making sure that what you have come up with is a full story rather than simply a vignette. Does it have a beginning, a middle, and an end that all make sense? Does your story concept use the given prompt material in an interesting way?
There are certain times where this is complicated--for example, like in the above, where you have a list of words to fit into your story, how can you use those words in the most interesting way? I often like to come up with a few possible sentences or scenes in which to include those words--and bold them in my word processor so I don't accidentally delete them!
For a prompt that's based on genre or theme, rather than a specific word criteria, it can be more challenging to be sure that your story adheres to what the contest is requesting. Additionally, since the taste of the judge or anthology editor is still rooted in human nature, there's only so much you can do there to ensure your work is seen in the best light.
One of the ways I try to check myself when it comes to meeting the prompt for a contest or anthology is by asking myself three questions:
*Does the story rely on, depend on, or expand the meaning of the prompt given?
*Does the story work as a story with or without the prompted elements?
*Do the prompted elements help or hinder the story?
Sometimes it can be helpful to deconstruct the prompt a little bit and look for something that interests you in it; I have had stories emerge from things that were as simple as the suggestion of a genre I hadn't tried before, and other times I have needed to dig deep and pull something out by the roots and examine it to see if it still fit the specifications of what the instructions said to write in order to find something I was interested in. Those examinations can be useful.
Google or the search engine of your choice is your friend here; searching out topics can lead you to related articles that might spark something you otherwise might not have thought about, if you're trying a new genre or subject matter you haven't written about before, helping you add realistic detail or looking at facets of something new.
Sometimes even when you try your best to stay on task or on topic with a story you'll end up with something that has nearly nothing to do with the story prompt you were given, or something entirely too long, or too short for your needs. It happens! It's totally normal. It's still worth entering, even if you have lowered expectations for your own performance.
I feel like a lot of prompt-written stories have a tendency to languish once their time has come and gone, and that's rough. It might be that the story isn't worth retrofitting into something new, but I wish there were more applications for some of these stories, beyond simply gussying them up for contests aimed at rejuvenating old pieces. (It's a built-in feature of the community, though, that so many folks focus on creating new things, and that's important and healthy for writers, too.)
All in all, though, the important thing is to keep at it. Every story is practice for the next story.
Until next time,
Take care and Write on!
All the best,
Jay
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Lucinda Lynx  writes:
You can write! Putting these in action may be harder, but you can make it clear what a writer has to do.
Thank you! I'm glad this newsletter was helpful for you--it's always so good to hear that! Character motivation is a tricky thing to master, so keep practicing!
BIG BAD WOLF is Howling  writes:
Could always start of with a line that runs counter to the prologue. In "Villains By Necessity" by Eve Forward, the prologue, which talks about how Good had defeated Evil and ends with "All was done, all was finished, all was well, all was Good. All was...."
"Boring!"
That's one way to do it!
Quick-Quill  writes:
This is a timely NL for me. I watched Crimes Against Grindwald last night and thought I was the oddity. After talking to my niece on the way to work, who has way more interest than I do, she explained things I didn't even know were wrong with the movie. Characters. Why do authors screw up characters or change them for no reason? JKR is no GRR Martin, but she did not fact check her characters. This movie never gave the characters time to develop and left the viewer to walk out of the theater shaking their heads. What just happened? She should have written the book(s) first and made the movies later. TMI in this movie and it wasn't good. Don't subconsciously tell your reader, "Keep reading, it will all be explained in the end." What if they don't read to the end because the characters' actions just don't make sense.
Character decisions need to make sense, it stresses me out when decisions are so blatantly just made to engineer a specific plot! I have heard enough negative reviews of the Eddie Redmayne era of Wizarding World movies that I am repelled and likely won't get around to watching them--I just don't have that kind of time, but I'm sorry you had the experience you did!
Christopher Roy Denton  writes:
Thank you for an insightful examination of character motivations. But, come on, please. Spill the beans! What's the Netflix show you're dissing? *Laugh* Also, thank you for plugging my story in your newsletter.
You're quite welcome! I really don't want to say, in case it's someone's favorite show ever out there, but having finished the whole thing and been... not impressed with it, I can say it was Umbrella Academy. A lot of the key plot points made no sense and the writers so frequently leaned on "I don't want to talk about it" as a major plot device that I felt like I was watching something written by middle schoolers.
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