Tag: fairy tale

Hi writers! Today’s prompt builds on the fairy tale theme we started yesterday. Instead of a life-changing event happening in the middle of the story, as in “The Ugly Duckling,” we’re going to start off with a life-changing event right at the start.  In “Hansel and Gretel,” the story opens with two children about to be abandoned by their famine-struck parents, a poor woodcutter and his wife.

Day 13 Prompt: “Start with a life-changing moment and lead your characters through the story to show us who they become.”

Does your main character lose something? A loved one? A job? A home? Does he learn something that changes the way he looks at the world? If you’re stumped, take a minute to make a “Best and Worst” list. Write down the top 5 best things that could happen to you in your life. And then the 5 worst things. Pick one and let it happen to your character.

Hi writers! Yesterday in “812.54 WIL” I wrote a little story about the life of the library book I’m reading. It got me thinking about how one could use an object or place as the focal point for a collection of stories. A handful of stories about all of the people who have lived in the same house over the years, for example, or the generations in a family who have owned the same family heirloom.

Today’s StoryADay prompt is a riff off of the classic Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale “The Ugly Duckling.” I’m including a link to the story if, like me, it has been a while since you read it (or had it read to you).

Day 12 Prompt: Write an “Ugly Duckling”-type story, where the main character has a life-changing moment in the middle of the story.

The life-changing event can be something that happens to the character. Or it can be something that takes place internally, within your character. Some realization that he or she comes to that changes everything.

Good luck writers!