Write about the most paranormal experience you have faced. Whether this was direct or happened close by, expand on this experience as if it was completely normal. How can you turn this into a story? Is the setting altered? How are characters affected? Expand.

Write an excerpt of everyday life from a time before your own. Now do the same from a time long after your own. How do these perspectives define your understanding of you world today?

Write from the perspective of someone who is completely alone. No dialogue, no gestures, just perception and inner monologue. How can you make your character take up space in a story that has seemingly nothing going on?

Reflect on your happiest memory. What makes this memory particularly stand out? Is it the memory itself or the feelings around the memory? How you felt in the memory, maybe? The important piece is reminiscing versus reliving. A nostalgic pull can change tone and emotion of the text but also your reader. Remember it’s okay to bring emotion to the table!

Now begin writing this memory on a blank page and see where it takes you. Try to write in a way that doesn’t just describe the memory, but the feelings within.

Think of a time you felt misunderstood. Like you were the right person in the wrong place, conversation, idea etc. How did the perception of others inherently affect you?

Fiction: How can you add this pressure to a character through their surroundings? A feeling of discomfort or being out of place reflected purely because of everything around them.

Poetry: Paint this picture/ emotion (not only by you, but those perceiving you).

Think about the last interaction you had with a complete stranger. Now think of the last interaction you had with your friend, family, significant other etc. How did your dialogue represent your connection or lack of? How can this transfer to storytelling? Work on showing not telling- write a dialogue only excerpt that tells the readers everything they need to know about all characters, plot, setting etc.

Write a story from the perspective of a villain, a monster, a ghoul, some sort of villainized being. Beg the question: is monstrosity born or thrust onto individuals? Develop this character in whichever direction you please by answering that very question in theme, dialogue, plot etc.

If you were a child, how would your lack of experience of the world influence (or de-influence) your biases? Write from the perspective of a person who lacks the life experiences you do. How foreign does this feel? Now do the opposite and cater perspective to your experienced life. How do these excerpts relate and how do they make audiences or yourself feel? To escape your bias can sometimes allow you to realize not all readers can connect with what they do not know. Use this to your advantage.

Think back to childhood. Did you ever create an imaginary friend, game, world, or dialogue in your head? This is your imagination, we tend to strain ourselves by forcing the imagination to shoot, then causing writer’s block. Did you ever have to force it as a kid? Usually the answer is no. Tap into that side of yourself by writing out this imaginary entity you remember from childhood. Allow yourself to take it in any direction whether that is expansion or starting anew. Use your imagination with no fear of rejection.

Take your favorite memory. Now create a subset of words that encapsulate that memory. Use those words as grounded repetition, returning to them through your depiction. Now try to do this without physically describing this memory, but instead framing it through where/what created this importance and favoritism.

Characterize your story as if your character traits are superpowers. How can a character’s skills/ special interests be portrayed nothing short of fundamental to the story structure? How does this importance add urgency and intention? What does that tell us about prioritization of detail as a writer?

Your main character can hear animals speak. What do the critters in the woods say versus in an urban setting? How does this help describe the people occupying this space through natural perspective.

If you were to go to a birthday party for yourself and the only guests there were you at different ages of your life, past and future, who would you talk to? Who would you avoid? Set the scene and develop these ‘characters’ and dialogue in detail.

Make a list of your favorite characters. Across any genre, any form of media. Take these characters and list what makes them special. The difference between a good character and another body pushing the story is very big. Another body isn’t necessarily bad, you just must define what is of value to your story, character or narrative. When we can do both we succeed. Take a story/ plot you have worked on WITHOUT characters leading the narrative. Now add a character that adds another point of urgency or conflict of some kind.

You find yourself in an airport. Who do you see? What are they doing? How are they feeling? Find the dynamics in a setting within who occupies said setting. Think of all possibilities and explore this place with as little attention on the setting itself, but instead how it is filled.

Character Build!

Take a current or old protagonist/ antagonist duo you’ve created. Now shift perspective, change nothing about these characters but audience/ narration perspective. How can you write these characters to switch (protagonist to antagonist; antagonist to protagonist) archetypes using ONLY perspective through the readers eyes?

Think of an occupation- it could be anything. Now an emotion- once again, anything. And then lastly, a setting. This setting cannot be related to the occupation or emotion, but utterly random, think as uniquely as you can. Now create a character. They got this new occupation: ________ and find themselves feeling _______ stuck at ______. Write how they got here and what is making them feel this emotion, building the story around them opposed to these random aspects. This must be cohesive and comprehensible rather than ironic, they cannot just randomly show up here feeling like _____ for no apparent reason. Now for the challenge, you cannot outwardly name the job, the emotion, or the place but rather use description and depth to depict this. Good luck!

Of your five senses, choose two. Now write an excerpt that builds a world from only those two senses perspectives, this can be through character, a narrator, or a figment of this world. Now develop that world deeper, give it legs but still only through these senses. This does not mean to exclude other features, but rebrand them into these senses perspective. Now continue with the other senses added in and see how the story changes.

Think of a dream, any dream you’ve had recent or old. Pull the physical attributes out- where were you? was this place real? how did you know you were in this place? Take this setting and place your character in the center. Either make them confused with the setting, or the creator/ architect, with the setting at the forefront. Build this character fully and then remove them from the setting- how does the character morph into an individual outside of this place?

think about your happiest memory. now think of the location of this memory. take someone or something that inhabits this location and build this character through their/its emotion or lack thereof.