The Writing Company · The Mayor

Write your story

1 Learn Start here

2 Assess Take the quiz

3 Practice Try it out

4 Create Make your own

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Step 1 · Pick a prompt

Pick one prompt. A prompt names a kind of memory, not a single answer. Your story will be nothing like your neighbor's, and that is the point.

Step 2 · Plan it

Plan first. Answer the seven story questions in short notes. Notes are allowed to be ugly.

Who is the main character?

When does it take place?

Where does it take place?

What do they do or want to do?

What happens when they try?

How does it end?

How do they feel?

Step 3 · Pick one goal

One goal, chosen before you write, beats ten wishes after. Pick exactly one.

After you write, look for the proof in your own sentences.

Step 4 · Write your story

Beginning, middle, and end. Spend your tools: specific nouns, strong verbs, show do not tell, and let your characters talk.

Power Words you can borrow: boltedwhisperedgrinnedfrozescrambledvanished

Step 5 · Sum it up

One more thing, once you have written. One sentence: what is your piece about, and what should the reader walk away with? If your draft and your sentence disagree, believe the sentence. It knows what you meant to write.

Step 6 · Before you turn it in

Read your story once, out loud if you can. Then check.

My first sentence makes the reader want to keep reading.
The reader knows who is telling the story and why it matters to me.
At least one other character feels like a real person.
The reader can picture where and when it happens.
The events happen in an order that makes sense.
I showed at least one feeling instead of just naming it.
I used sensory details a reader can see, hear, or smell.
My ending closes the story, so it feels finished, not cut off.
I answered all seven story questions somewhere in my story.

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