Writing 50,000 words is intimidating, whether you're writing a novel or interconnected short stories. Heck, it's intimidating if you're writing a grocery list. And when writing short stories you might be starting from scratch daily, or more than daily. This is why I plan have to use a series of prompts as the month goes by. And I'm going to post the prompts here because they might be useful for other writers.
The prompts won't be just for short stories. They're general enough that they may be bent to any kind of NaNoWriMo or non-NaNoWriMo project.
Monday - Field Trips
Every week I plan to head to a location and seek out a story. Either by people-watching, visiting museums or art exhibits or just reflecting on my own experience, these field trips are an attempt to keep my mind from getting stressed and stuffy. These trips could be interpreted specifically, ie. Victoria Train Station, or taken very broadly, ie. "some kind of public transport station." I'll make sure they're easy to do no matter where you are.
Tuesday - Reunions
I want to revisit old characters. Taken from other stories and novels I've written, these will be people I want to write again, people with a backstory or a future I'm interested in telling. I recommend choosing your own characters to revisit, but I'll also put a quick character sketch up every week as a prompt for those who might be stuck. It'd make me very happy to find out one of my characters made it into someone else's NaNoWriMo novel!
Wednesday - Photos
I will pick a photo from flickr and use it to inspire a story. I'll post the photos here. It'll be fun to find out how different our stories can be from the same photo.
Thursday - Genres
I love writing Mysteries, but just the thought of other genres like Science Fiction or Western can inspire new ideas, particularly if I mix that with a revisited character. I'll post which genre or genres I'm trying in case someone else wants to give it a go.
Friday - Settings
Every week I'll post a new place, whether it's a specific country or city, or just a general type of setting, like "Beach House." A story could take place there, a character could reference it, or it could be adapted into another field trip (if you're lucky enough to live on the beach!)
On the weekend you're on your own. But I recommend the NaNoWriMo Adoption Society forum where you can find characters, opening and ending lines, dialogue, and all sorts of other bits of stories to use in your writing.
There's nothing to say that any of these prompts must be used, even by me, the person creating them. I might cheat every day of the week. But I'm determined to keep brainstorming so I have no excuse for giving up my short story marathon.
Good luck with whatever plan (or lack of plan) you have for November! It will be great fun, whatever it is.
I do admire writers of short stories, constantly thinking up new ideas and plots. I have the luxury of spending six months on one novel.
ReplyDeleteI love spending that long on a novel too, but honestly I also love writing short stories, especially flash fiction where they appear from just one writing session. It's a little catharsis and very satisfying.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to the prompts Jen and good luck!
ReplyDeleteThanks Danielle! Same to you. :)
ReplyDelete