Superpowered: Challenge #1
For our first challenge, we’re going to write our characters’ origin story. You know who this person is and what they can do; let’s focus in on that moment when they discovered they had superhuman abilities.
Did it happen all at once? Was it a gradual process? Were they warned ahead of time what to expect or left to their own devices to figure it out? What were the first signs? What were their first assumptions about what was happening to them?
How did they go about figuring out what they can do? What was it like to control it, if they could exercise any control? Did they tell anyone or try to keep it to themself? What was their understanding of what this might mean for them and their life? Now is the time to find out.
Tell the story of this self-discovery. Explore how your character found out about what they can do, and all the possibilities that opened up to them… or were shut off. Focus on the time before they spoke to someone higher in authority or experience than them about it.
Your bonus element for this challenge is: blossoming. Include as many flower or opening images as possible.
Writers’ Asylum: Superpowered: Prologue
Welcome to the Asylum! It’s time to close the doors, settle into your seat, and get ready to don a cape. I hope you’re all refreshed and ready to go.
Today, we’re exploring the realm of superpowers. Through a series of five challenges, we’ll be working through the story of a single character. Each challenge will be an hour long or up to a thousand words, whichever you reach first. Each challenge will also have a bonus element, for those looking for an extra way to push themselves. There are scheduled breaks between challenges for refreshments and lunch, so don’t worry, you won’t have to be superhuman to get through today. The only caveat in these challenges is that your main character must survive to the last challenge.
First of all, let’s figure out who we’re each writing about today. In a moment, you’ll have the opportunity to make some notes before the first challenge begins. Let’s start with some prompts for you.
The world we’re writing in has superpowers. Some might use them for good, some for personal gain, some for more nefarious purposes, and maybe some for all of the above. Take a moment to think about how your world handles these people. Are they accepted? Regulated? Reviled? Do they work within the law, outside of it, or above it? Are they out and proud, or forced to live in secret, or somewhere in between? Are superpowers just a part of everyday life? How common are they?
Next, let’s consider where these superpowers come from. Is there a scientific reason for their occurrence? Is it natural or manmade? Magical, religious, or mystical? Technological? Accidental? Alien or otherworldy? How does someone get these abilities, and at what point in their life? Is there only one way, one path, or many?
Now think about one person who has superpowers. Give them a name and decide how and where they grew up. Family, or none? How did they do at school and what were their aspirations? Was their life ever ‘normal’? Where does their moral compass tend to point them?
What abilities does this person have? Is it an expression of the type of person they are, or counter to it? What are the limits of this ability or set of abilities? What can this person not do? What are the downsides to this ability, and does it come with any specific weaknesses? How does it complicate their everyday life?
Take a moment to make a few notes about who this person is and what they can do. The first challenge starts in just a few minutes.
Writers’ Asylum: Opening Again Soon!
It’s almost that time again! Another year rolls by, another Writers’ Asylum steadily approaches.
It has been quite a year for everyone. And it has been a quiet couple of years for this blog. I’m hoping that all of this will improve over the next little while.
I’ve been doing some work to help with this. The first part was some technical work in the background, laying some groundwork that I’ll be building on. That’s all done now, things are ready to move forward, and so am I.
For this blog, the first cab off the rank is this year’s Writers’ Asylum, and I’m so excited to share it with you all! The doors open at 11am, Saturday 1st May (Brisbane time), so set your alarm clocks! Full details are over on the Asylum page, including the timing of the day’s challenges. To join the live broadcast online, come on over to our new WordFamily Discord server.
Spoiler: this year’s theme is Superpowered
There’s more coming up after the Asylum, too! I’m aiming to start posting more writing sparks – because who doesn’t love more writing prompts to use and share? – and then I’ll be planning out what other types of content I want to post on this blog. Got suggestions? Let me know!
Hope you’re all doing well out there. Talk atcha soon!
Love in Mind: Epilogue
Congratulations: you have done it! The Asylum has come to an end, the doors are opening, and you are released.
I hope you have enjoyed yourself today. I hope you have woven a story that has surprised and challenged you, and maybe even inspired you a little. May you carry it forward with you as you leave us today.
If you have any feedback, let us know. Did you enjoy the story? The challenges? The extra hard challenge facets? We are always looking to make a better Asylum for our writers, so let us know what worked for you.
Until next time the Asylum embraces you, keep writing, my friends.
Love in Mind: Challenge #5
In our last challenge, let’s talk about the end of things. Nothing lasts forever and even the most perfect pairing ends, one way or another.
You might already know how your couple is finally parted. Take a moment now to nail down the details. What is it that pulls them apart? Is it death – theirs or someone else’s? Another person? Circumstances? A secret or act that can’t be forgiven? Was it the wrinkle you already wrote about or something completely different? Did they simply grow apart and aren’t suited to each other any more?
Once they have parted, consider what is left behind. Does one or both of them survive? Go on to do other things or gets stuck in the aftermath? For each of them: is there anything next and if so, what might it be?
What about what they achieved or created while they were together? Did they have children, their own or adopted or otherwise? Did they create a business, or a new technology, or discover a new spell? Set a new record? Did they build a house or a space ship, or design a new kind of AI together? What did they create in the time they were together that might outlive their relationship? Was it magnificent or mundane?
Was their relationship not suited to that kind of creation? Was it too short, or destructive, or private? Was what they left behind known only to a few? Was it stories, or legends, or photographs tucked away in an old tin, hidden under the floorboards? Was it a lesson or a promise that helped to shape a life?
For this challenge, write about the legacy their relationship left behind. Truth, lies, or legend, tell us what outlived their love.
Your extra challenge for this one is: raining. Saturate this tale with blue and falling water, show us what washes away and what is left behind.
Love in Mind: Challenge #4
We have seen our lovers get intimate and in crisis. Now let’s take a lighter view of their time together: let’s explore their perfect date.
Think about what a good time together is for them. Spending time with each other, in or outside of home, quietly private or out in public. It can be something romantic, wildly demonstrative, low-key, exciting, or all of these things. What is a great time together for these two particular people? Hearts and flowers? Rollercoasters and fairy floss? A night at the theatre or Netflix and chill?
Is there ever room in their story for a time like this? If there isn’t, what would it look like? Maybe they never got to enjoy a perfect date, but if they did, what would it be?
For this challenge, write about one of these perfect dates for your pair. A time when they are free of angst, set their worries aside, and simply enjoy being with each other. Indulge in the sweetness of it, in warmth and comfort, in something going so right that it might head right into being saccharine. Revel in it and let them enjoy it.
Your extra challenge this time is: the scent of love. Put in as many olfactory details as possible; nail this memory for your pair down by telling us all about how everything smells.
Love in Mind: Challenge #3
Your two characters have come together, but no story is totally smooth. Now it’s time to introduce a wrinkle to their tale, something to trip them up or maybe even tear them apart, never to truly stand together again.
This threat to their relationship might appear at any time in this pair’s story, may even have been there since they first met. It can be before or after their intimate moment; it’s up to you. It can be something they manage to overcome, or not.
Consider what such a crisis point might be. What threatens to tear these two people apart? Is it an object that causes the trouble? Something from the past that comes up to cause problems in the present? A secret or an uncomfortable truth? Is it a person who gets between them? A temptation or a betrayal? A set of circumstances that force a difficult choice? Competing loyalties or loves?
Your challenge is to tell us about the crisis in this story of two lovers.
The extra challenge this time is: rose-tinted juxtaposition. Use as many romantic images or cliches as possible.
Love in Mind: Challenge #2
Your character has met the love of their life. Whether their first meeting went well or disastrously, they know each other now. That’s not the end of their story, however; they are destined for more to come.
This time, let’s take a dive into how close these two people become. Choose a place in their story where they are coming together and getting to know one another. It’s time for them to strip naked and expose themselves, to thoroughly explore each other. It’s time for a moment of true intimacy.
Intimacy means different things to different people. Explore the type that is important to these two people. It might be sex, or spirituality, or true honesty, a meeting of hearts or minds or bodies, or all of the above.
How long has it taken for them to reach this point? A few minutes after meeting? Hours? Weeks? Five dates? Several years? What barriers have each of them had to overcome or let down to get here? What happened on this day to push them into intimacy? Was it something exciting, or sad, or delightful, or incidental, or nothing at all they could put their finger on?
Your challenge is to write out this moment of intimacy, in as much detail as you can.
The extra challenge for this one is: euphemistic. Use as many euphemisms and genitalia synonyms as you can.
Love in Mind: Challenge #1
You have an idea of who your main character is and where they are as they enter the latter years of their life. Now we’re going to consider this person’s major love interest. The type of person who is their one true love, The One, the kind of partner who comes along once in a lifetime.
Think about who this love interest is. What makes them so perfect for your character? What makes them fit, what about them speaks to your character? Give this love interest a name. What do they do with their time: do they make a living, study, or have other vocations and interests? What do they aspire to?
At what point in your character’s life does this person arrive? It can be at any point you wish, past or future. Is the chemistry immediately obvious when they meet or does it take some time to come into focus? Are either of them looking for love or is this a serendipitous meeting? Are both of them free at the time to pursue a new relationship or is their story more complicated?
Now think about how these two people met. Set the scene in your mind. Where does it happen? At what time of day? On purpose, by someone’s design, or by accident? What was each of them doing leading up to this meeting? What is their initial reaction to each other?
Tell us the story of this first, fateful meeting. The only rule you have to follow is that neither of them is allowed to die just yet. This is the start of their story.
Your extra challenge for this one is: singing. Put as many songs or singing into the piece as you can.
Writers’ Asylum: Love in Mind: Prologue
Welcome to the Asylum. Take a seat, make yourself comfortable. The doors are closing behind you and you’re going to be here a while.
This time, we will be exploring the human heart in all its sweet, painful glory. Through five challenges, we will delve into a single story, with each challenge building upon the last. The challenges are a thousand words or an hour long each, whichever you reach first. There will also be an extra facet for each challenge, to push you even further, should you wish to take it on.
But first, let’s talk about the world in which your story will take place. You can choose any type of world you wish, from any era, so choose something that interests you. Is it contemporary or historical? Futuristic? Set on Earth or another world entirely? Is there technology or magic? How real are gods and monsters?
Once you have picked your world, focus in on a single place: a place where people live, love, and die. It might be a city or village; a space station or a castle. Have an idea in your mind of what sort of place this is, whether it is one of hope, or toil, or gradual disintegration. Does the sun shine? Does it rain often? Is it lit only by distant stars?
In this place, choose a single person to focus on. This person is in their twilight years now. Think about who this person is and the path that has led to this part of their story. In a moment, we are going to take five minutes to note down some key elements about this character.
Here are some questions for you to consider when defining your character. How has this person made their living over the years? What sort of person are they, what sort of person have they chosen to be, and what kind of person does the world see them to be? What kind of morality do they hold themselves to, and have they always lived by it? Has it been easy to stay true to themselves, or have there been some hard choices along the way? Compromises? What has been the biggest learning curve they have had to journey through to get where they are today?
As they enter the twilight of their life, what kind of position does this person find themselves in? Do they have a family? A partner? Who are the people still in their life and do they have people they are estranged from now? What sort of person are they attracted to? What kind of attraction appeals to them most and how easily does it happen for them? Are they a romantic person or do they look for something different? How many people have they loved in their life so far and do they have any left to give?
Now take five minutes to make some notes about the character. Write down as much as you can, to prepare yourself for the challenges to come. The first one starts very soon.