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Sep 30, 2025 at 8:11pm
#3760075
We made it to October 1 and the start of this challenge. Or we have almost made it. I'm posting a little early still but close enough. It looks like you are planning to develop some type of story, series of stories or segments of creative sparks to put into a poetic form within what will some day take the shape of a novel or something similar. While there are many things you can technically write during November, for most of these lessons and coaching comments, we might reference fictional novel structures. I want to start this by letting everyone know that their creative tasks could be done with some assistance from this prep. Even if most of the assignments are geared towards writing a novel, you can find ways to use the varying assignments to develop your grand idea.  Day 1 is for Ideas. That is where the "what if" question comes into play. This question is excellent for the idea process. It is a very common story creating question and the answer will help provide a variety of options when it comes to this prep challenge. This is supposed to create a starting point to build up from over the following weeks by letting you have different answers. These answers might hint towards conflict, character development, world setting ... for a story. Make sure to check and favorite this if you are new:
For easier approach with this post, here is the assignment: "In this exercise, imagine your story and your main character(s). Who is(are) the character(s)? What happens to them, and why is it a problem? (If it's not a problem, it's just life, not a story.  ) Spend at least 15 minutes imagining all the possibilities in your story. Make a list of every possible 'what if' you can think of. Nothing is off limits here - let your brain go."This will seem easy if you already know your idea. All you have to do is find a way to word the concept floating in your head or elements about the character into the wording of the "what if" sentence and you are golden. Like for one of my series that I'm prepping (I'm doing two series for this year), my what if is going to sound similar to this: What if Pru on the show Charmed didn't die and stayed with the cop so she could use her with powers to help solve cases. And to continue that, remove the siblings and have it be a male witch who ends up helping a detective to the point the police creates a special unit for paranormal cases. That is just an example of one idea and a starting point. My fifteen minutes will involve more details but it does help that while I've got the ideas already it involves multiple books. So, yes, for those of us that have ideas, the what if question might already have answers. However, if you want to write something but you're not exactly sure what, this day is for you!  It might sound like it's not since I just said that I basically had my day one figured out but really, if you don't have an idea this day really will help. The whole goal is to give you a starting point. One of the good things about the what if question is that you can use it to look at the various levels, ones that you will later develop further in the assignments that cover characters, plot and setting. So, if you really don't know what you want to write, pick one element. I recommend character but you really can use any of the elements whether it's world, genre, city, or even just picking a villain, aka antagonist. I once did the what if with genre. I wondered what if an urban fantasy story was set in Salt Lake City, Utah. There are so many options for you, just try something out and use the next fifteen minutes to explore where it goes. And if you are uncertain about things, don't be afraid to post and ask questions. There will be some people hanging around with experience in novel prep and we are happy to help. |
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