Story Prompts and Writing Advice

Mimi. All posts are sfw.

[storypromptsforfun]

Hi, I'm writing a romance book and it's published online, however i've had so much writer's block lately :/ the two main characters are still friends and haven't kissed or anything and this chapter is a Thanksgiving chapter so idk what to do and what should happen between them (because I want to speed it up a little without rushing the story if you get what I mean) So can you give me some advice? Thanks!

Oh god, writer’s block is the worst :,)  First off, I’m so sorry it took so long to reply! If this doesn’t still hold merit, at least I managed to get a reply out. For now, my first advice would be to focus on the emotional relationship rather than the physical. A Thanksgiving chapter gives you the opportunity for characters to make physical choices and to open up or confess to the other, but since it’d be sudden it would have a fallout later on in the plot that would be fun to write out, but it might not fit with your own story ideas.  An emotional relationship suddenly booming makes more sense, in that Thanksgiving and the holidays are much more stressful for people than normal-- especially those with worse memories from the holidays or a worse family. With all the stressors in the place, it could make sense for one character to reach some kind of an emotional breaking point just from being overwhelmed-- if they don’t normally react in that way either, it’d catch the other character off guard. Knowing that one character would feel the need to comfort the other as a friend, be close to them while they’re stressed, or help them through the holiday/decide that no matter what the other will enjoy the holiday, does a lot for the relationship. Even without a kiss, physical closeness and emotional vulnerability is a great equation for at least one of the characters to seriously fall for the other-- and decide that they want something more sooner rather than later.

[storypromptsforfun]

Boarding School Gothic

The engineering classrooms are guarded with heavy doors. When asked, the teachers reply that knowledge takes strength, but you still don’t know how to open them.

The physics class is in the elevators again. It’s 11 am. Then 11 pm. You’re rushing back before in-room. A physics student glares at you.

If you stab an effigy, you’re supposed to get good grades. Three people stab the effigy. Two have them have disappeared. You’re the last.

A cat prowls among the outside eating area. You wake up after taking a nap there with bite marks covering your legs.

A student fell down a manhole. A week later, steam pours out. The biology TAs refer to it as the cycle of life.

The hornets follow students around weeks before they leave. A hornet got trapped in a car with a student once. The next time they came back, they couldn’t speak.

The stairways contain two things. Students sketching and students making dark deals. Neither are things you want to walk in on.

You work in the cafeteria weekly. The workers brief you on only one thing—do not let the freezer door close on you. You will be served.

Screaming comes from the pipes. It sounds suspiciously like your teacher. Your teacher’s been absent the past three weeks.

Your family is different when you arrive back. Their eyes are emptier. Their smiles are wider. Your dog is gone.

Three monster energy drinks arranged the correct way can summon a teacher for private tutorial. The tutorial is on how to break a caffeine addiction.

The algae is spreading in the biology lab. It’s almost out the door. Staff has put up ‘wet floor’ signs, but that deters nobody.

No vending machines in the room. Snack vending machines are allowed, but nothing with live animals.

Every prior rule in place had to be broken first in order to make it into the rule book. See the previous guideline.

The fire alarm goes off every hour. One day, it falls silent. You attempt to evacuate, but your roommate holds you back.

Your textbook ends on the nineteenth page. Your junior friend’s ends on the sixteenth. Yesterday, he overdosed. You contemplate not applying to college.

[thane-kyrell-ciena-ree]

I fucking hate myself

[toughaqua777]

hi why the FUCK does this exist

[storypromptsforfun]

the better question is why is it a story prompt

[thane-kyrell-ciena-ree]

I fucking hate myself

[storypromptsforfun]

this is a poll—reblog if you’ve had a kid in your school staple themselves

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are y’all okay???

[storypromptsforfun]

this is a poll—reblog if you’ve had a kid in your school staple themselves

[storypromptsforfun]

Writing in American High School.

I spent a good five minutes hashing out block schedules, classes, funding, and logistics before I decided to list some of the quirkier facets of American high school. If you aren’t sure whether or not it’s just on TV, I can help out!

Presenting...a list of things that Actually Do Happen in American High School! (despite all functional reasoning)

Buses will arrive as early as an hour and a half before school starts, and kids will walk to them in the dark.

In the morning, you don’t talk to your friends on the bus unless everyone’s okay with it. The morning bus is for sleeping, checking your phone, and eating breakfast.

Fire drills happen every month, and kids will just leave school and hang out at the nearest restaurant if they feel like it—drills where everyone goes outside is the perfect time to slip away.

Lockdown drills happen too, but more rarely. Some schools do ‘active shooter drills’ where they pay people to come in and traumatize kids. Some schools have announced that lockdowns aren’t drills when they are and had to round up all the kids who sprinted off campus.

Arts classes get no funding, so kids will sell anything from fruits to mattresses in an effort to get money to fix instruments and art supplies. Naturally, the kids who sell a lot are rewarded with cold hard cash.

Homecoming rallies—the school will gather all of their kids outside to celebrate. Each school does it different—our school had a boy’s cheerleading routine and a teacher/student wrestling match. The wrestling matches were canceled after a student broke a teacher’s arm.

The ‘juul room’ is real. Instead of bathrooms smelling like smoke, they smell like weird desserts and fruits. Don’t make eye contact with the juul kids. They’re probably younger than you but they’ll still beat you up.

Fights happen regularly. Most with fists, most over boys or girls. Kids bringing in scissors or other objects to fight with are not uncommon.

Not every school has had a shooting, but I can guarantee the majority has had a shooting threat or a gun found on campus. My school did have a shooting, a year after a threat. The threat was written on a pencil, but it still scared everyone.

Football is big. The quarterbacks aren’t idolized like in TV shows and neither are the cheerleaders, but every Friday night football game will be absolutely wild.

Cheating is normal. If the teacher isn’t looking, I can guarantee at least one kid is cheating on a quiz. Sharing homework assignment answers are even more common—kids are running on no sleep after all.

Vending machines in schools. Not super common, but we have three in our school that all open after school hours.

Most upperclassmen (age 16-18) drive to school and park in the parking lot once they get a car. There’s a giant line to get out.

If somebody starts clapping, everyone starts clapping.

Most kids in order to get into college will balance high school with sports, clubs, and volunteering. Some kids will take on part time jobs in order to support their families. Either way, you’re lucky if you have time to yourself at all on the weekdays (besides homework)

Senior skip day. No seniors in sight. They’re all at Wendy’s.

The Pledge of Allegiance is said every day. The farther south you go, the more glares you get if you don’t stand. Some schools will punish you (even though it’s technically illegal)

Antivax kids are at your school, believe it or not. Whooping cough almost had a heyday at my school, and I live in a well off area. Keep up with your shots, kids.

People will set fire to things. Trash cans especially. People will set fire to trash cans. Why? Chances are, they threw away a joint. People will also pull the fire alarm, if they really don’t want to go to class. It’s a crime, but they do it anyways.

Assemblies are an actual thing. They will take up at least an hour of your time.

Public high schools in populated areas can have as many as 3000 students.

Senior pranks are real. Dude, it’s so awesome. Look some up—they aren’t unrealistic. Every high school has a good story.

[storypromptsforfun]

Sorry about the long post skdjsk—I saw a lot of people in the reblogs add their school’s senior pranks and I wanted to chime in. I don’t go there anymore, I’m switching schools this year, but it was something special.

A student followed our president around with bagpipes the entire day, and other students followed with cameras and signs. No matter where you were in the school, you could hear bagpipes through the closed doors.

Stink bombs. So many stink bombs.

There was a huge amount of shredded paper dumped in one of the buildings, but I didn’t get to witness it smh

The only one this year was a couple of senior boys who went on a graffiti spree—so many dicks...so many on the walls.

Besides senior pranks, we had a trash can lit on fire and a glass door shattered (both cases, the school told us to go around it and continue with our day while they handled it)

[storypromptsforfun]

Writing in American High School.

I spent a good five minutes hashing out block schedules, classes, funding, and logistics before I decided to list some of the quirkier facets of American high school. If you aren’t sure whether or not it’s just on TV, I can help out!

Presenting...a list of things that Actually Do Happen in American High School! (despite all functional reasoning)

Buses will arrive as early as an hour and a half before school starts, and kids will walk to them in the dark.

In the morning, you don’t talk to your friends on the bus unless everyone’s okay with it. The morning bus is for sleeping, checking your phone, and eating breakfast.

Fire drills happen every month, and kids will just leave school and hang out at the nearest restaurant if they feel like it—drills where everyone goes outside is the perfect time to slip away.

Lockdown drills happen too, but more rarely. Some schools do ‘active shooter drills’ where they pay people to come in and traumatize kids. Some schools have announced that lockdowns aren’t drills when they are and had to round up all the kids who sprinted off campus.

Arts classes get no funding, so kids will sell anything from fruits to mattresses in an effort to get money to fix instruments and art supplies. Naturally, the kids who sell a lot are rewarded with cold hard cash.

Homecoming rallies—the school will gather all of their kids outside to celebrate. Each school does it different—our school had a boy’s cheerleading routine and a teacher/student wrestling match. The wrestling matches were canceled after a student broke a teacher’s arm.

The ‘juul room’ is real. Instead of bathrooms smelling like smoke, they smell like weird desserts and fruits. Don’t make eye contact with the juul kids. They’re probably younger than you but they’ll still beat you up.

Fights happen regularly. Most with fists, most over boys or girls. Kids bringing in scissors or other objects to fight with are not uncommon.

Not every school has had a shooting, but I can guarantee the majority has had a shooting threat or a gun found on campus. My school did have a shooting, a year after a threat. The threat was written on a pencil, but it still scared everyone.

Football is big. The quarterbacks aren’t idolized like in TV shows and neither are the cheerleaders, but every Friday night football game will be absolutely wild.

Cheating is normal. If the teacher isn’t looking, I can guarantee at least one kid is cheating on a quiz. Sharing homework assignment answers are even more common—kids are running on no sleep after all.

Vending machines in schools. Not super common, but we have three in our school that all open after school hours.

Most upperclassmen (age 16-18) drive to school and park in the parking lot once they get a car. There’s a giant line to get out.

If somebody starts clapping, everyone starts clapping.

Most kids in order to get into college will balance high school with sports, clubs, and volunteering. Some kids will take on part time jobs in order to support their families. Either way, you’re lucky if you have time to yourself at all on the weekdays (besides homework)

Senior skip day. No seniors in sight. They’re all at Wendy’s.

The Pledge of Allegiance is said every day. The farther south you go, the more glares you get if you don’t stand. Some schools will punish you (even though it’s technically illegal)

Antivax kids are at your school, believe it or not. Whooping cough almost had a heyday at my school, and I live in a well off area. Keep up with your shots, kids.

People will set fire to things. Trash cans especially. People will set fire to trash cans. Why? Chances are, they threw away a joint. People will also pull the fire alarm, if they really don’t want to go to class. It’s a crime, but they do it anyways.

Assemblies are an actual thing. They will take up at least an hour of your time.

Public high schools in populated areas can have as many as 3000 students.

Senior pranks are real. Dude, it’s so awesome. Look some up—they aren’t unrealistic. Every high school has a good story.

[storypromptsforfun]

Hi I find your post very helpful I'm currently trying to write down a story I have in mind I want my main character to have kind of a split personality though I'm just not sure how to go about it for most of her life she has a very loving caring personality but you find out through a trauma she experienced in her past she's actually prone to murderist outburst so writing that aspect of her character I'm struggling with any quirks or tips ? I did include in her character to suffer from SPD

Hi, thanks for asking! What you’re describing is portrayed a lot in media as a split personality, but it probably isn’t the best way to describe that character—DID is a pretty covert disorder and it’s more harmful to the sufferer than anyone else. It also comes with a lot of other effects such as short term memory loss and high rates of comorbid disorders—and a detailed inner world and inner conversation.

If your character is prone to outbursts due to her trauma or just because of her personality, you don’t need to have a disorder to label it as either—there’s a lot of different mental disorders that you could use to label her but in those cases, it’s easier to run without a label for Murder Tendencies. This way you don’t have to worry about other mental symptoms that come with said disorders and you aren’t portraying a disorder as Inherently Murdery—plus, it opens up a ton of options for motivations and habits that lead to your character snapping.

For quirks or tips, I’d try to find some way to explain your character’s sudden switches into a more violent perspective. Does she do it because she wants to protect herself? If she gets too stressed out does she try to shut off her emotions and attack? Maybe she overreacts and adopts a violent stance because she doesn’t know how else to resolve the situation?

Either way, just a loving and caring character knowing they have those capabilities would be stressful in general. If your character has sensory processing issues, finding some fidgets or giving your character a fidget toy could help with their mental and physical stress. They could also be afraid of conflict or arguments so they don’t have to deal with violence.

Thanks for sending me an ask! I hope I could help

[storypromptsforfun]

Writing Conversations

A lot of the time when someone starts writing, the first criticism you can get is ‘people don’t use other’s names in conversations that much.’

It’s true! Overloading names in conversations is unrealistic and a habit a lot of writers can’t shake—but have you ever thought about why?

It’s easier to write names into conversations when you’re writing them because to you, it’s a conversation on paper. In group chats, servers, and the like, you do use other’s names regularly in conversations, to clear up the nonexistent nonverbal cues.

And when we type our stories, it looks a lot like those group chats, server chats, and other messages. Even though using names regularly looks normal to us, it’s because we’re viewing this as a writer and not a reader.

In other words, if you look at your stories from an outside perspective, regular name usage is unusual and stands out—however, if you’re writing an online conversation in your story, it’s perfectly in place.

[storypromptsforfun]

It’s the magic number folks

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My English teacher said that my main problem with my writing is my “inner demons” I don’t know how to fix them. Any advice?

I’m not quite sure I know what your teacher meant, but I’ll take a guess. Most writers have their own style and favorite topics to write about, but sometimes our own problems, thoughts, or experiences take the front stage when we write instead of our writing itself.

In this case, I’d try to focus on being a little more separated from my writing. Try branching out from some common themes you use, or try figuring out what you end up repeating without noticing.

Sorry if that wasn’t what you were asking! Good luck with your writing!

[storypromptsforfun]

How do you do make a story long without using a lot of dialogue?

Ahh, that’s my biggest problem, too! A lot of writers prefer description, action, or dialogue when writing a story, and then we tend to get stuck in the same pattern.

My advice would be to frame description and action with your MC’s inner dialogue, or if you’re writing 3rd person with your narrator’s opinions involved. By giving your character strong opinions about the world around them, description and action gets so much more interesting to write.

Most of my best work comes when my character sees everything with their own opinions attached—that way, I can describe the settings and what’s going on without feeling like I’m just stating facts.

Thanks for asking!

[storypromptsforfun]

hi i read your post on writing chars w psychosis, it was v interesting and informative, thank you! also in the delusions part you mentioned that objects can help being comfort, what do you mean by objects? can it be anything with some kind of significance to the char, do they have to be cuddled or are they like a grounding thing? and does this work for other types of hallucinations? thank you!

Sometimes when a character experiences delusions, especially paranoid delusions, they’ll have a belief that a certain object can ‘protect’ them from it. For example, a character could carry a lucky charm or a random object in the belief it’ll protect them from whatever’s after them. How a character interacts with it really depends on what they’re trying to protect themselves from.

For other types of hallucinations, one might have comforting objects because hallucinations can be scary as heck, but there’s aren’t too many objects that can both comfort and ground a person. Like, someone might keep a stuffed animal nearby because they keep hearing creepy things and they like hugging something to feel safe, but it won’t necessarily stop the hallucinations. A video camera or a phone camera could help ground someone by providing a reality check, but sometimes one might project hallucinations onto the pictures without realizing it.

I guess overall, it’s different for everyone. A lot of it is related to how the person with psychosis sees the world around them. When it comes to delusions, one could have objects that help them feel safe from their delusions. And hallucinations are pretty messed up, so a comfort object can help someone feel safe or grounded, even if there’s not a physical benefit.

Thanks for asking!

[storypromptsforfun]

suburban nostalgia

The first red buds on the trees identical in every yard

A slew of lemonade stands that slowly go away as the neighborhood kids grow up

The ice cream truck in the background—is it in your neighborhood or the one right next to yours? Is it worth it to check?

Three nine year olds ding-dong-ditch your house every Sunday. This time one of them leaves behind a dandelion for you.

Dogs bark in every direction surrounding your house—the first one had a reason, but the others just wanted to join in.

Walking around the neighborhood with your teenage friends, settling on a stone edging to lie down on and talk

One teenager just got a fancy new car from his rich father and every so often, he’ll run a stop sign at forty miles an hour.

“Would you like to buy some Girl Scout cookies?”

There’s four Girl Scouts in your neighborhood. There’s rudimentary territory between them, but every so often someone gets bold and starts a turf war.

Someone’s dog is in your yard. You hold on to them for a bit until a confused-looking old man knocks on your door asking if you saw them.

Frisbees and toys stuck in trees too tall to climb. There’s a tennis racket in your next door neighbor’s oak tree.

You find a six year old in your doghouse one summer day. Asked why, she explains that she’s playing hide and go seek with her friends. You let her stay until a couple of kids show up with a nerf gun and lead her away.

The fire hydrant breaks, water cascading out of it. Every kid and teenager takes a turn splashing in it.

The homeowner’s association sends an angry letter. There’s too much clover in your yard.

Should I get a garden, you ask? How do I get it approved?

Should I grow clover?

One kid collects acorns from the trees. She gives them out as ammo, and a group of children has an acorn fight across the street from you.

That one part of the sidewalk is always wet and muddy.

The first bluebird of the season.

[storypromptsforfun]

Ripple Effect

Every action starts off a chain of smaller, successive actions. Sometimes they’re good, sometimes they aren’t. Sometimes they just serve as a painful reminder.

It’s been three months since the school shooting at my school, and today was the anniversary of the shooting at Parkland.

A lot has changed. We’re supposed to have new search checks throughout the county (mainly to please the parents, if they corral a bunch of kids into one room and tell them they’re looking for weapons it’s just going to be more dangerous)

Our school has a club now on preventing gun violence. We had a fight a couple days ago, and we were ushered into our rooms in preparation for ‘something.’ Then we had three more, and now fights aren’t a big deal.

Everyone’s a little more tightly knit, but not necessarily with the people they hid with. And when the fire alarm goes off, we take twice as long to leave the school. Just in case.

It’s mostly gotten better. The haze you live in right after is mostly gone. Today it was still tough, anniversary and all. I know that lightning doesn’t strike the same place twice and all, but what if it does here?

What if I hear the announcement and it isn’t ‘some kid go to the office’ but it’s another ‘lockdown immediately?’

This doesn’t really fit with my blog’s theme, I know. Hit me up if you want to know about school violence and the effects afterwards for a writing project, no joke.

I think the point I’m trying to make is that one action’s effects can last forever. Someone’s dead. People grieve. Everyone else feels a little less safe.

One kid decided to bring a weapon just in case he got jumped. He did, so he fought back. Then he pulled his weapon.

That was four months ago.

Dozens of kids saw someone get shot. Over two thousand kids in our county hid for their lives. All the other kids, kids that don’t go to my school but have friends there, have to live with that illusion of safety gone.

Actions have consequences. And sometimes the consequences can’t get fixed.

[heywriters]

I want to write a story about some high school kids going on a wild adventure at night, but I can't shake the feeling that it might not be "exciting" or "realistic" enough if they don't drink or do drugs or vandalize something. I've just never seen a story about rebellious kids that didn't have those things, but I definitely don't want to put them in. Am I off-base?

Short answer: No. Teens and Hollywood writers alike are uncreative if they think that’s all there is to do when teens are off the leash. I find those aspects of teen stories boring and unrealistic myself because most of the kids I knew didn’t do those things. They got up to shenanigans in other ways.

Long answer: Minors that are unattended by a legal guardian have a curfew in the U.S., so being out all night is already rebellion enough; depending on where it’s enforced, that is. It also really depends on where/when your story is set and where your teens are going on an adventure to! 

City kids have endless options of trouble to get into, town/suburban kids have some options but it can get boring if they aren’t creative, and rural kids really have to stretch for entertainment if they can’t get a ride into town. Impoverished and high crime areas anywhere tend to have only the hard stuff at night (drugs, sex, alcohol, crime, etc.). Good kids do not go out at night in bad places. Kids that do tend to be already accustomed to that kind of life if not already headed there.

Here are some “wild” things kids in most places can do (some that I knew kids to do) that won’t make your story too dark.

Keep reading

[heywriters]

Reread this list and realized I left off some other activities!:

late-night movies (maybe dirty/scary movies?)

concerts and live music (a couple of “older” famous bands gave a surprise concert at midnight in my hometown once)

record store, book store, head shop

street shows, traveling entertainment