Remember, what your characters DO keeps your story moving forward and reveals who your characters ARE. You need a good mix of slow and fast pacing in your writing, so this week we’re practicing writing something fast paced and action driven.

Imagine a character in a shopping mall.

They hear someone start screaming.

Thinking about action and pacing, (there’s no time for the character to think/reflect/ponder) write up to 500 words describing what happens next.

I want you to write a personal essay about a day when you have celebrated something. It could be Christmas, a birthday, an achievement, or something else.

Remember, in a personal essay, you need to be open, honest, and keep yourself in the piece. Use the ‘I’ voice. Try to tie together a detail of the day with how the day changed you. Remember, it’s not only in fiction that readers look for characters to grow and change.

Using up to 500 words, write about this day of celebration.

I meet so many writers who can’t figure out how to get to the end of what they’re writing so it’s worth taking time to practice.

As you think about an ending, think about what’s changed – how has the character changed, even within a short scene? What has happened to them to get them to this new place?

In the prompt this week, I’m going to give you the end, and you’re going to write the scene that leads to this last line:

Sam jumped.

Write up to 500 words finishing with those two words at the very end.