Friday Five

Character Question of the Day #1

You can answer some or all of the questions for your character(s) or write a piece that incorporates some or all of the questions.

Have you ever thought about the end of your character's life?

Do they grow old or die young?

How do they go?

Do they have time to prepare or is it sudden?

Who is most affected by their loss?

Is anyone glad they're gone?

Do they believe in an afterlife?

Do they believe in reincarnation?

What sort of legacy will they leave behind?

Sunday Sparks

Sparks of inspiration can come from anywhere.  I am constantly viewing the world through a storyteller’s eyes, and my ideas are inspired by everything from the most commonplace situations of daily life to the most unexpected occurrences.  

This blog’s Sunday feature is Sunday Sparks, a series of prompts to help get you thinking in new directions about your characters and their lives and interactions.  These prompts will be broad and non-specific on purpose, The challenge will be to use your creativity in interpreting them and to craft a story or a scene inspired by them. 

This week’s prompt is:  one character proposes something to another

Thoughts for Thursday

Imagine your character going somewhere for the first time.  Perhaps it’s their first day at a new school or their first day on the job. Maybe they’re meeting a friend’s parents and are entering the family’s home for the first time.  Where they go is up to you!

Here are some things to consider:

Why are they going to this place?

Do they want to be there?

What is your character thinking about as they enter the place? 

How are they feeling? 

What do they imagine the place will be like? 

Are they anticipating any problems or do they expect an uneventful time?

How are their senses being engaged? How does the place look and sound? Are their any unique scents?

Think of a place for your character to go, and describe their thoughts and feelings about going there and their impressions of the place. 

Character Question of the Day #3

You can answer the question for your character(s) or write a piece that incorporates the question.

Has your character ever broken a bone? More than one? If so, how did this happen?

Character Question of the Day #8

You can answer the question for your character(s) or write a piece that incorporates the question.

What is your character's economic status (destitute, poor, lower middle class, upper middle class, wealthy, ultra-rich)? Has this changed over time? If so, how and why? If not, how would your character react to a sudden change in their economic status?

“Someone Says” Saturday

This week's dialogue-based writing prompt is:

“You can’t blame it on me this time.”

"The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless." - Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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If you like to use your imagination, and if writing and character development is your thing, you're in the right place!

There are a lot of "OC Questions" blogs, and in my opinion there can never be too many of those, but I wanted mine to be a little different. This one will have character questions, but it will also have writing prompts, writing challenges and creativity exercises that I hope will help people get the proverbial creative juices flowing. I may also reblog writing tips or memes from time to time.

While the content of this blog will be aimed mainly at writers, many of the things may also be used by artists, animators and other creators. Everyone is free to use and share it.

You can answer the questions or do something with the prompts on your own, you can reblog and share them, or you can tag your friends and followers to do them with you. Use this content in whichever way feels most comfortable for you!

For the time being, I am creating all the content myself, but I will eventually open the ask box for contributions. I will do that on a schedule and I'll make sure I give plenty of notice.

Crediting me is not necessary, but if you do decide to use any of these prompts or questions, I think it'd be nice to be tagged so I can see what you create.

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My goal is to have daily content, organized in the following categories:

Character Question of the Day

Sunday Sparks (writing prompts)

Monday Monologue (prompt for writing in first person)

Two Characters Tuesday (writing prompt with two characters)

Wednesday Who's Who (character questions)

Thoughts for Thursday (themed questions & prompt)

Friday Five (writing prompt with 5 elements)

"Someone Says" Saturday (dialogue prompts)

((I will link these once I start posting content))

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POSTING SCHEDULE

Character Question of the Day - each day at 8:00 a.m. Atlantic Time (UTC-4)

Daily Themed Prompts - each day at 9:00 a.m. AST (UTC-4)

Reblogs & other posts - whenever i feel like it

Tuesday - Two Characters

For this prompt, Characters A and B do not have to be in a romantic relationship. They can be in any kind of relationship you choose.

Characters A and B are shopping at the supermarket.   A is playing with the shopping cart (climbing into it and expecting B to push them around, or pushing it really fast down an aisle and then suddenly letting go.  What A does with the cart is up to you).  Despite B’s repeated requests for A to stop before someone gets hurt, A keeps on doing what they’re doing.  Sure enough, A manages to get injured.

What happens next is up to you!

Here are some things to consider:

Is A’s injury serious or minor?

Does A require medical attention?

How does A respond to getting hurt?

How do other characters respond?

How does B respond?  Are they angry with A? Do they say ‘I told you so’? Are they panicked? Are they sympathetic?

What are the consequences of A’s actions?

Has the relationship between A and B changed because of this situation? If so, has it changed for better or for worse?

Has A learned anything from this experience?  Has B learned anything? If so, what was it?

Monday Monologue

Choose one of your characters, and have them tell a story in their own words. Try to get inside your character’s head, and write the piece from the first-person point of view.  

For an added challenge, pick a character whose perspective you don’t normally write from.

* Your story does not have to be a monologue. You can include other characters and as much or as little dialogue as you like.

This week’s prompt is:  It was the first rainbow I’d ever seen

Character Question of the Day #4

You can answer the question for your character(s) or write a piece that incorporates the question.

What is your character's comfort level with technology?

Are they tech-savvy, average, not good at using tech, or are they a non-user?

Is there a specific reason for their skill level?

Would they like to improve?

What are their views on technology in general?