Alderson - The plot whisperer book of writing prompts : easy exercises to get you writing

THE

PLOT

WHISPERER
BOOK OF
Writing Prompts

Easy Exercises to Get You Writing

MARTHA ALDERSON
Founder of PlotWriMo

DEDICATION
TO BOBBY RAY ALDERSON

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am indebted to my remarkable editor, Peter Archer, and his vision for the Plot Whisperer series. The moment he suggested this prompt book, I knew it was the perfect complement to the other two plot books in the trilogy. Thank you to everyone at Adams Media for making this book come to life in such a short period of time. Special thanks to my agent Jill Corcoran for discovering me.

Id like to thank the women in my Wise Women group. Your belief in me drowns out the naysayers in my head. A special thanks to Cathy Cress. Time for the money chakra dance!

The prompts in this book are inspired by all the novels, memoirs, and screenplays Ive analyzed and all the writers Ive worked with over the years. I am deeply grateful to the authors of all those novels, memoirs, and screenplays and to all the writers who willingly have taken a leap of faith and tried the techniques and methods I put forward in this book. Your feedback and encouragement, successes and failures have been invaluable and have shaped the way I view plot and what it takes to write a story from beginning to end.

INTRODUCTION

Youve got an idea. An idea for a novel, a short story, or perhaps a screenplay. Youve thought about it for a long time, turning it over in your mind when youre driving to work, walking in the park, or sitting, late at night, watching the steam rise from a cup of tea.

And now youve taken the leap and decided to write. The force of the Universal Story that flows through you compels you to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and write.

But

But youre stuck. You cant seem to get going. And what seemed so easy and so urgent now appears as a huge obstacle sitting in front of you, blocking your path to fulfillment.

So youve picked up this book.

The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts is written to help you with this problemone, I can assure you, that is common to most writers. Be comforted; youre not alone. But you do need some help.

This book provides daily plot prompts guaranteed to move you from where you are in imagining and writing a novel, memoir, or screenplay to writing the story all the way to the end. The book is divided into four parts, corresponding to the various parts of your story:

The Beginning

This is where you and your protagonist first come to terms with the world youre creating. Here you:

• Identify the storys time and place
• Set up the dramatic action and underlying content that will run throughout the story
• Introduce the major characters
• Allude to the theme
• Introduce the protagonists short-term goal and give a hint of her long-term goal

The Halfway Point

Youre some distance along now, though still early in the story. Youve established clearly for the reader the protagonists long-term goal, as well as the antagonist(s) standing in her way. Youve also discovered a cast of supporting characters who reflect back to the protagonist the elements she sees in others but cannot see in herself.

The Crisis

This, in many ways, is the emotional center of your story or novel. The protagonist undergoes her biggest challengea surge of energy that brings about both loss and transformation. Sometimes what she faces is death, though it may be something that seems less intense but is emotionally overwhelming.

The Climax and Resolution

Now the protagonist is ready to re-enter the world but as someone who has been changed profoundly by her experience. The storys denouement is, for her, an end and a new beginning.

These four parts of the story are discussed at length in my book The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master .

The Three Prompts

Turn to the section that best represents where you are in your story. For example, if you are beginning a new story, youll start at The Beginning. Each of the four parts of the book is divided into thirty prompt sets.

Each set contains three prompts:

1. A daily affirmation designed to help raise your energy to write.
2. A plot element to prompt your imagination and expression toward the plot and structure considerations at the exact spot where you are in writing your story.
3. A writing prompt that gives a specific exercise, the object of which is to get you to write something that advances the plot of your story.

Cycle through the prompts and write every day until you finish your story. I cant stress enough the importance of developing a regular writing habit. For some writers, finishing takes ten years. For other writers, the cycle lasts merely a few months. Follow as many or as few prompts as serves you each day. For writers who wish to use this book to support their month-long writing frenzy during NaNoWriMothe national challenge to write a 50,000-word novel in thirty daysfollow at least four prompts daily to reach the final prompt on the last day of the month.

The book is structured to take you from your own unique beginning to the end as the book cycles through the four stages of the Universal Story that has no beginning and is without end.

Create a Ritual

Reading these three prompts daily becomes a ritual to prime yourself for writing. This ritual provides a means to express your creativity more fully. Ceremonial rites stimulate creativity and reward you with greater self-expression, self-discovery, and self-exploration.

As one day grows out of the day before and becomes tomorrow, every time you open this book, read a prompt, and then write, you work in partnership with your creativity and imagination and increase your overall confidence level. Every word you write every day strengthens the power of the ritual; this in turn clears the way forward to write a story from beginning to end.

To write takes confidence and energy. Each day you open this book, you find an affirmation reminding you of your goals. Each time you renew your commitment to yourself, you renew your energy for your story. The more committed and highly energized you are, the more successful youll be. Suddenly, the ritual of showing up for your dreams empowers you to seize that which you most want.

Something haunts youa line of dialogue, a character; an event whispers to you like an invitation to sit down and write. Imagine for a moment that perhaps something in the invisible world wishes to manifest in the visible world. Youyes, you have been chosen to make that dream a reality. You can always say no. However, once you say yes, the confidence and commitment you bring to that task is sure to rise and fall as you follow the path on which your story leads you.

Some writers find emotional support in a writing group. Other writers swing privately from one dark mood to another, even darker one. You, on the other hand, will find support in the affirmations in this book.

Learning new concepts and exploring new ideas can fill or deplete you of energy. Daily affirmations lift your vigor, refocus your beliefs in yourself, and keep you writing. The ritual of repeating an affirmation every day at the same time becomes the anchor that keeps you grounded when life and your story fall apart around you.

The affirmations provide inspiration and foster creativity as you follow the other two daily prompts into the more concrete plot elements of writing your story from beginning to end. Every day you open this book and repeat an affirmation, you are symbolically focusing your thoughts on your goals. You become immersed in the specific steps of writing what needs to be written today. Daily repetition of an affirmation builds positive, upbeat energy.