Prompts + Wackadoo = 5 Hints for @StoryADayMay

I'm participating in Story A Day May again this year. I've completed the challenge for the past three years, and I hope to complete it this year, too.

Why?

Well, it's fun, for one thing. I tend to write slowly and painfully, editing as I go, second- and third- and fourth- and ... let's say second-guessing myself at every turn. If I set my alarm for 6am and give myself until 8:30 or 9am to finish, I have to just whack the story out, making snap decisions and trusting my subconscious to do its job. I may not come up with the best possible story, given the materials I start with, but I come up with a finished one. As the boys say in ISHTAR, that ain't poverty.

It's also useful this year: For my prompts, I'm cleaning out my office. I have various stacks of papers cluttering the place up, so I'm grabbing a handful and sorting them out, making a list every morning of what catches my fancy, and using the list to jump-start my brain. Another thing I'm doing this year is tying the stories to previous projects; I'm exploring characters' backstories, writing about people and places only mentioned or hinted at in my books, and adding short stories about short story characters people seem to like so I can put out collections of them.

So how do you actually turn the prompts into stories?

1. Get a prompt (one or more, just a word or a phrase or a concept). I'm using my messy office this year. Last year, I used spam comments from my blog. Julie Duffy, of Story A Day May, provides a prompt every day and has books of daily prompts.
2. Work when you're least likely to be interrupted.
3. Set a deadline to bulldoze your inner editor into letting you work with all the stops out.
4. Give yourself permission to be a wackadoo. Have numbers always had personalities for you? That sounds like a story to me! Did you ever wonder what a cat is thinking when it jumps up and stares at nothing you can see? I already used that, but your story would be different from mine, so feel free. 
5. Enjoy yourself. If it isn't fun and it isn't improving your ability or refreshing your creativity, don't do it. Any of these writing challenges are for your benefit and for nothing else. If they don't benefit you, they're just pants that look better on the hanger than they look on your particular body type. To paraphrase Yoda, "Do or do not. There is no fail." 

If you'd like to see what I've been doing, follow this link to Marian Allen, Author Lady, Story A Day May to see this and all previous years' stories. Hope you have as much fun as I am!

Marian Allen, Author Lady
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"Persistence is critical," says author Scott Turow

In my writing experience, I know my energy and determination waxes and wanes. Some days, my literary skin is Iron Man tough and I believe it's only a matter of time before my next project gets picked up. Other days, I wonder if I can write a sentence and why I can't recall the correct spelling of 'awkward' (I ALWAYS have to look this up!). I get rejections and send out query letters at an equal rate. What I've learned is that this process is not for the faint of heart. That's why I so enjoyed this terrific article and video Q&A in which author Scott Turow shares his journey and advice that will fire you up, whatever your passion may be.

"The truth of the matter is that the people who succeed in the arts most often are the people who get up again after getting knocked down. Persistence is critical." - Scott Turow

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I've been Karen Harrington, author, Janeology

Come visit me at www.karenharringtonbooks.com