Hello, writers. Many thanks to quarkstomper for hosting Write On! last week, with an excellent diary about unwritten background scenes. This stuff that I just never think of talking about is why it’s so great to have other people host the diary sometimes.
Also, thanks for adding an item to our handy list o’ scenarios.
Last week I was in New York City, where I did a session on generating fantasy story ideas with an extremely perspicacious group of grade schoolers. Every one of them (couple dozen or so) wants to be a writer, and nearly all of them want to be fantasy writers.
I asked them to think about just one magical power— the one they would most like to have. We had some fun brainstorming those. (As with other groups I’ve done this activity with, most of them wished to fly, shapeshift, turn invisible, or read minds.) Then I asked them, in each case, to imagine what could go wrong.
They generated so many activities that we pretty much ran out of time, although it was a two-hour session. I mean, they were good. They were really good.
Since, as we’ve discussed before…
character + problem = story
…once you’ve done the above activity, all you need is a character. A Callow Youth or viable alternative thereto.
Teh Guru suggested thinking of the person who would be in most danger or pain from the problem, and focusing the story on them.
What I do with kids is to flip a coin to determine gender (since the boys all want a boy protagonist and the girls all want a girl) and then we vote on the protagonist’s age, and then add other characteristics— relationships, mostly— using bubble mapping.
Let’s try that out as tonight’s challenge.
Think of a magical power you would like to have. Imagine what could go wrong if you had that power. Now imagine a character who is caught in a difficult situation because this very thing has gone wrong. Write a one sentence plot summary.
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