Friends - #NaNoWriMo Writing Prompt

Photo by Myaccountnice

Does your protagonist have friends (or is s/he a loner)? How long have they been friends? Are they childhood/school friends, work colleagues, or did they meet through a special interest or hobby? How close are they, and how quickly did their bond develop (if at all)?

Now ask the same question of your antagonist. How do they compare/contrast?

Prompted by Dani & Elle

It All Falls Apart - #NaNoWriMo Writing Prompt

When everything falls apart, what holds us together? What keeps us going, and helps us to become whole again?

Set your timer for ten minutes and write about a time when your world shattered, and how you came out the other side. Look at the characters in your novel. Is there any way the lesson you learned can help one of them?

Posted by Khadijah Lacina

Kidnapped — #NaNoWriMo Writing Prompt

Your character twists and turns her wrists in the confines of the sedan's trunk. Finally loosening the bonds holding her hands behind her back, she wiggles them free, then manipulates her body into position to untie the rope binding her ankles together. The car stops. Voices from inside the vehicle argue, the doors open, and the sounds fade. She shoves the back of the seat down just enough to see that no one is in sight; shoving it the rest of the way, she pushes herself out of the trunk and puts the seat back in place. Opening the back door a fraction, she hears voices in the distance. They grow louder. Jumping out of the car, she slips into the woods across the road as two figures emerge. She watches them get into the car, then back out. They know she's escaped! Running as fast as she can through the trees and underbrush, she hears footsteps coming closer, closer, closer. If they find her…

Posted by Linda Lane
LSLaneBooks.com | DenverEditor.com

I Swear - #NaNoWriMo Writing Prompt

Photo by debaird™, via Flickr

Make one of your characters swear heavily, but, just for today, put something different into their mouths.

Inspiration? Try these links: 

9 Obscure Old Swear Words We Should Bring Back, Consarn It!

The Foul-o-Matic™Insult, swear & curse word generator

Getting Personal With Swear Words

Posted by Dani Greer
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Musical Chairs - #NaNoWriMo Writing Prompt

Photo by Thom Gill, via Flickr

While you were sleeping, your characters switched places in every scene you wrote yesterday. What did they learn (about themselves, each other, and their plans/ schemes)? What will they do with the secret knowledge they gained? What will it change? Can you use an accidental discovery in your story, or do you need to apply mass amnesia?

Posted by Elle Carter Neal
HearWriteNow.com
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Poetry - #NaNoWriMo Writing Prompt

Make one character in your story write a poem. Not into lengthy poetry? Write a haiku or limerick just for fun. 

You can do it!

Posted by Dani Greer
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Gimme Shelter - #NaNoWriMo Writing Prompt

Ooh, a storm is threatening/My very life today/If I don't get some shelter/Ooh yeah I'm gonna fade away

Clearly the Rolling Stones have not faded away, but their lyrics strike a chord within all of us. Whether the storm is within us or occurs due to a force of nature, we all face upheaval and difficulty, as do our characters.

What storm your character has to face is most crucial to their development and the development of your story? How are you going to help them find the shelter they need to weather it?

Posted by Khadijah Lacina

Unpacking Your Character Question 3 - #NaNoWriMo Writing Prompt

What does your character need more than anything else? 

It can be emotional, physical, financial, relationship related, etc. 

How does that need interfere with their story goal and the journey you send them on?

Posted by Diana Hurwitz

Story Building Blocks: The Four Layers of Conflict

Story Building Blocks II: Crafting Believable Conflict

Story Building Blocks III: The Revision Layers

Build A World Workbook : print | e-book

Blog: Game On: Crafting Believable Conflict

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Reading - #NaNoWriMo Writing Prompt

What is your protagonist's favorite book? Why is it important to them? Set your timer for five minutes and quickly write what comes to mind.

Posted by Dani Greer
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The Larder - #NaNoWriMo Writing Prompt

Daily Medieval

What is in your protagonist's refrigerator or larder? When or how do they shop? You've got 5 minutes. Go!

Posted by Elspeth Futcher
Game: "Which Guide Lied?"
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The bus ride — #NaNoWriMo writing prompt

Your character's purse is stolen in the airport where she's changing planes, and all she's left with are a few bills and some change in her jeans' pocket. Her new job, the one she's worked toward for the last year, is 500 miles away. Her start date in two days looms in front of her, and she doesn't know anybody in the area she can call for help.

Grabbing her carry-on bag, she hurries out to the curb, where a Greyhound is unloading flight passengers. She begs the driver to drop her off at a point where she can catch a bus to her destination. After telling her he can't do that, he relents and takes her to the terminal. Dusk darkens into night as she settles into the only empty seat on a bus heading toward her new job and new life. It's going to be a long ride.

Posted by Linda Lane 
LSLaneBooks.com | DenverEditor.com

Letter Never Sent - #NaNoWriMo Writing Prompt

We've all had the experience of wishing we had said something to someone but did not for any of a number of reasons.

Dig deeper into the relationship between two of your characters, or between your character and someone who is not directly in your novel but who influenced them at some point. Set your timer for fifteen minutes and write a letter that says what your character wishes he or she had said, but never did.

Posted by Khadijah Lacina

Faulty Memory - #NaNoWriMo Writing Prompt

Photo by Tim Green, via Flickr

Dredge up your character's worst childhood memory, and then let them:

a. realise they've missed/suppressed something all this time, or 
b. discover important information that throws a new light on the event, or
c. admit they had altered the way they remembered the event to make it seem better/worse than it really was.


Posted by Elle Carter Neal
HearWriteNow.com
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Attraction - #NaNoWriMo Writing Prompt

Photo credit: Gillian Anderson

What does your protagonist find attractive in the preferred sex? Name and describe three attributes in detail. Write for only five minutes!

Posted by Dani Greer
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Alone — #NaNoWriMo Writing Prompt

Three little girls stare out the window of the tiny cabin. Mommy left a long time ago to take their sick baby brother down the mountain to the doctor, and now it's snowing so hard they can't even see the road. The fire in the wood-burning stove is reduced to embers. The youngest begins to cry; they haven't eaten since Mommy left. Where is she?


Posted by Linda Lane 
LSLaneBooks.com | DenverEditor.com

Building Bridges - #NaNoWriMo Writing Prompt

NaNoWriMo Writing Prompt

You're stuck. You have a scene burning in your brain, but it comes later in the story? Write it. That scene is a bridge you’ll eventually cross. The story will grow into it.

Posted by Polly Iyer
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Down the River - #NaNoWriMo Writing Prompt

Just like a river, each thread of our lives has a starting point. Choose one crucial decision your character has to make and trace it back to its beginning. Sometimes finding the beginning of something helps us to reach its end.

Alternately, think bridges. How can your character make the transition from the point he or she is at now, to where you need him to be next?

Posted by Khadijah Lacina

Unpacking Your Character Question 2 - #NaNoWriMo Writing Prompt

In honor of NaNoWriMo, we are offering writing prompts for the month of November.

What is your character's secret fear?

What part of their psyche do they hide from the world because they fear judgment, rejection, exposure? 

How does it affect the journey you send them on?'

Posted by Diana Hurwitz

Story Building Blocks: The Four Layers of Conflict

Story Building Blocks II: Crafting Believable Conflict

Story Building Blocks III: The Revision Layers

Build A World Workbook : print | e-book

Blog: Game On: Crafting Believable Conflict

Facebook | Twitter

A Picture is Worth Two Words - #NaNoWriMo Writing Prompt

NaNoWriMo Writing Prompt:

Photograph by Conal Gallagher, via Flickr

Write a story prompted by the photograph above, and these two words:

evacuate

quadruple

(If it's impossible to incorporate a bicycle into your NaNoWriMo project (for genre/historical/other reasons), find a random picture that will fit (or think up an alternative, appropriate mode of transport) and try and wrangle that and the two words into your story.)

Posted by Elle Carter Neal
HearWriteNow.com
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Action! - #NaNoWriMo Writing Prompt

Photo credit: Man Flow Yoga

What did your hero/heroine do yesterday? How does it impact what they are doing today? Set your timer for ten minutes and write what springs to mind. Go!

Posted by Dani Greer
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Unpacking Your Character Question 1 - #NaNoWriMo Writing Prompt

In honor of NaNoWriMo, we are offering writing prompts for the month of November.

What is the worst, most terrifying or awful event in your character's life?

How does it inform how they think and respond in the journey you send them on?

Posted by Diana Hurwitz

Story Building Blocks: The Four Layers of Conflict

Story Building Blocks II: Crafting Believable Conflict

Story Building Blocks III: The Revision Layers

Build A World Workbook : print | e-book

Blog: Game On: Crafting Believable Conflict

Facebook | Twitter

#NaNoWriMo2017

Blast-off! Stop by daily for a writing prompt. Are you participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)?