MERRY CHRISTMAS!
This is your present, from me to you!
It occurred to me that you will have some down time this week. Not today, necessarily, but in a few days. At which time you’ll check in and see we had a writing challenge that could brighten your writing day. And here it is.
For the NEW YEAR, the challenges will be a little challengey-er!
More challenging! More difficult! More fun! (For me, anyway.)
So we better get ready. This challenge will do that because very few people will participate, but those who do will have a big advantage in the new year. Just sayin’.
Ready? Here we go.
Take a topic from the Random Subject Generator below
http://writingexercises.co.uk/subjectgenerator.php
and that will be the theme of your story. (Mine was about betrayal – which is pretty good!)
You build your story around that.
Easy, right?
BUT!
You ALSO build your story within a classic genre, DERIVED BY A RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR!!
Bwahahahahahahahaaaaaaa!
There are two reasons to do this. One, I’m evil. But you knew that. Two, those writer muscles need to be built where they haven’t been. You fantasy folks need a little romance in your stories (Star Wars was a fantasy but it definitely had a romance going on underneath, didn’t it?) You romance folks need a little action adventure in your stories (Dr. Zhivago had a revolution going on for pete’s sake!)
Build those neglected writer muscles!
It only hurts for a little while but you might find out you’re good at it.
For example, I have often mentioned the kiss I had to write for The Navigators. That was really difficult for me at the time (eight rewrites for one kiss), but friends here helped me learn how to do it. (Yes, I had several grown women “teach” me how to kiss.) That helped a lot when I had to do romantic stuff in Poggibonsi (I stretched those muscles but I also now had a network of people to bounce the scenes off of before they were aired to my critique group – HUGE benefit), and THAT helped when I had to do two steamy sex scenes in The Water Castle – which had readers fanning themselves, they were so hot. (It was all implied stuff, too. Much more difficult, IMO. But they were honest, realistic, sexy and tasteful. Because I developed some new writer muscles. Most important, they were well received – as in, they were good writing.)
If I can, you can.
A great story usually contains elements from several genres. Adding these things enhances you stories, and practicing them here makes you a better writer.
Thaaaaat’s what you want!
(Well, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking with it.)
Genres: Use the Random Number Generator to get one of these:
- Romance
- Murder Mystery
- Action Adventure
- Thriller
- Sci Fi
- Fantasy (like dragons and knights in shining armor, not sexual fantasies)
Random Number Generator: https://www.random.org/
You know the drill:
- Use the Random Subject Generator to pick your THEME
- Use a Random Number Generator to select your GENRE
- Write a story up to 3000 words that is obviously written using both theme and genre.
- Post your story below in the comments with a link to your blog where
- You also post it on you blog
- And mention what the heck this is so people don’t think you’ve gone schizo
- Read and comment on OTHER people’s entries. That makes it fun. Allegedly.
- You have one week. Noon Friday a week from this posting date (EST – Tampa, Florida time in the U S and A) is plenty of time, slacker!
- IF you intend to play, post a comment below so I can give you crap when a week passes and you don’t post it, EMILY.
- Um… I think that’s it.
Get after it!
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Dan Alatorre is the author of several bestsellers and the hilarious upcoming novel “Poggibonsi: an italian misadventure.” Click HERE to check out his other works.
