Author: Matthew BrownPage 17 of 26
Matthew is a writer, web dev, and geek from Kent (UK). He is the founder and current chair of Thanet Creative as well as head geek for Author Buzz. His ambitions include seeing a film or TV series based on something he wrote. Matt is also responsible for fixing stuff on AuthorBuzz.co.uk when it breaks.
A simple spelling mistake leads your characters in an unrelated direction where they stumble upon facts they might never have discovered otherwise.
Add sheep to your story in the least likely place that sheep might ever be expected to be found.
Two significant characters have a serious disagreement over how to approach something. As they argue over the specifics, it slowly becomes apparent that they are both totally wrong.
A character says something innocent but it sounds so very dirty that everyone is shocked.
How many spoons (or references to spoons) can you get into a chapter unrelated to food or eating?
A humiliating secret that your character has kept hidden most of their life becomes public knowledge.
Have one of your characters steal something random on an impulse only for it to turn out to be significant later on.
Your character eats some undercooked chicken. As a result, at the critical moment they are locked in the bathroom and decidedly unavailable to take action.
Have a character tell a whopping great lie with the purest of intentions and the worst of all repercussions.
Include a reference to The Fires of Mordor from Lord of the Rings in a description unrelated to fantasy fiction.
A character discovers an old grimy mirror. The reflection it shows is not the room it is on.
Your character begins to notice that someone is following them. No matter where they go, it seems someone is watching. They don’t know why.
In the same day, your character meets seven different people all apparently with the same name.
One of your central characters (perhaps the protagonist) has a short dream concerning the events of the day ahead. The day unfolds just as they dreamed.
How many times can you surreptitiously get lyrics from David Bowie songs into your story? Bonus points if you make them fit so well, readers may not notice?
A character is given one seemingly simple job to do. Due to one of their flaws, they screw it up with disastrous consequences for all involved.
What if society had developed slightly differently. Everything is more or less the same but men are only allowed to speak when expressly given permission by a woman.
National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo ) is also known as November by boring not-writer people. The challenge is to forget about plot and perfect prose and just bash…