The Shadow’s last request
WEEK 1
The Spark: What Are You Writing?
Oct 1 - Oct 9
This week is about turning "I have an idea" into something resembling a story.
The Elevator Pitch: Describe your story in 50 words or fewer. Then try again in one sentence.
50 words or fewer
Romania 1646 WW2 has ended and 17 year old Ion Răducanu’s father is dead killed fighting in ww2 Ion is left with the burden of his father’s request “protect our family if I don’t return” but as the war ends Romania and Ion are left in the shadow of communists
1 sentence
Ion Răducanu’s father is dead can he survive Romania’s post war turmoil
Three Things I Know: Provide three things you absolutely know about your story and three things you haven't figured out yet.
The Promise: Complete the following phrase: "I want this story to make the reader feel ______." Then explain why.
CHALLENGE. Steal This Prompt: Pick one of these 10 elements and incorporate it somehow into your concept.
50 words or fewer
Romania 1646 WW2 has ended and 17 year old Ion Răducanu’s father is dead killed fighting in ww2 Ion is left with the burden of his father’s request “protect our family if I don’t return” but as the war ends Romania and Ion are left in the shadow of communists
1 sentence
Ion Răducanu’s father is dead can he survive Romania’s post war turmoil
Three Things I Know: Provide three things you absolutely know about your story and three things you haven't figured out yet.
The Promise: Complete the following phrase: "I want this story to make the reader feel ______." Then explain why.
CHALLENGE. Steal This Prompt: Pick one of these 10 elements and incorporate it somehow into your concept.
- A locked door -there is one door inside Ion’s house that nobody is allowed in only his mother in the climax of the story when his mother dies and Ion is left to protect his younger siblings he tries to find a key and in the ending when he does he discovers that his mother had been hiding something that changed the way Ion thought about her
- An unwanted inheritance
- A lie told at dinner
- Something buried beneath a tree
- An embarrassing lie
- A secret- in Ion’s Attic lies a secret only known to him and his mother only new in a effort to protect Ion’s siblings from the truth about the famine hidden in the attic was lard, beans, and grain
- Something very very pink
- A monster
- A sport game
- A story within a story
- An unwanted inheritance
- A lie told at dinner
- Something buried beneath a tree
- An embarrassing lie
- A secret- in Ion’s Attic lies a secret only known to him and his mother only new in a effort to protect Ion’s siblings from the truth about the famine hidden in the attic was lard, beans, and grain
- Something very very pink
- A monster
- A sport game
- A story within a story