On the other hand, sometimes stories come from a place much closer to home. Each of us has our own stories throughout our lives, moments that have shaped us into the person that we are today. Although not every author is interested in writing a memoir or autobiography, examining the important moments in our own lives and the ways that they’ve formed us is a great way to help create that connection between events and character in your own novel.

For example, take a particularly embarrassing moment that you had in middle school where you spilled milk all over the front of your pants in the middle of the cafeteria. How did that moment, and the feelings that it elicited, change your behavior, how you acted, and your perception of yourself and the world as a whole?

There are also the good important moments, like when you got your first job out of school or met your partner or when you and a family member had a really heartfelt moment together. How did those moments change or shape your life? How did your perspective or character change based on that moment?

Writing Prompt: Make a list of the most important character-shaping moments throughout your own life and why those instances changed you. Choose one and write a scene from that moment. As you’re writing the scene, make sure both you and your readers can see the connection between the event and character development.

Make sure that your readers can see a difference in the character (you) before and after this important event or moment. And, if you want to keep it more anonymous, feel free to change up the character names or even embellish the event if there are portions you can’t completely remember. Being good at embellishing is another important writing skill, right?

The post Writing Prompt: Based on a True Story appeared first on Dorrance Publishing Company.

A memorable vacation could also mean taking a trip with people who are special to you- which could be your family, close friends, a significant other, etc. Perhaps this was your most memorable vacation because you got to become closer to the people you love most. You could also be the adventurous type, which would make your most memorable vacation likely when you were finally able to check a significant city or country off of your bucket list. This trip then becomes significant to you because you not only fulfilled a personal goal, but also because you got to learn about a new city or culture, see sights, have adventures, and figure out what lives up to and what exceeds your expectations.

Finally, there are those trips that are disastrously memorable. Maybe someone got your flight dates wrong or the hotel “four-star” hotel you stayed in made you question the whole star rating system. Perhaps the restaurant you were so excited to try gave you food poisoning and the weather was dreary almost every day. On one hand, trips like that can be hard to get through. But, for some reason, people are often able to look back on those experiences with a good sense of humor and bond over the shared experience- even if it was a terrible one.

There are lots of different ways one could categorize the most ‘memorable’ vacation of their lives. But how would your protagonist categorize it?

In this writing prompt, we’re tasking you to write a short story taking the protagonist of your book on their most memorable vacation. This vacation could take place at any point in their lives, from childhood to adulthood. And, as we’ve pointed out, there are many ways to define what could be memorable. So think- what would your protagonist consider the most memorable or significant vacation of their lives and why? What did they learn over this period? What did they gain? What did they lose? What memories were made and why are they either cherished or stuck in the protagonist’s psyche?

Don’t be afraid to take them out of their comfort zone, that’s when some of the best character writing can happen. And make the experience visceral, we should have the sights, smells, tastes, touches, and sounds in every scene. After all, if it’s their most unforgettable trip, they would remember it in great detail.

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