Category: Writing daresPage 5 of 7
Something out of the box for you to attempt to include in your work in progress. They might help keep your word count above 1667 words a day.
Are you game for a dare?
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.
Give your character the worst run of bad luck you can possibly dream up.
Your protagonist discovers an inanimate object that laughs.
How many spoons (or references to spoons) can you get into a chapter unrelated to food or eating?
Have one of your characters steal something random on an impulse only for it to turn out to be significant later on.
Include all of these things in one scene:
A sarcastic comment turns out to be the perfect solution to a problem.
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.
Suddenly, something explodes and everything descends into chaos.
Each chapter, your character ends up with a new pet.
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.
Your challenge for today is this: Invent a fictional swearword. Then use your word in such a way that, without understanding what the word means or where it…