Because I am.
Here’s what happens: You get an idea for a story, you start writing, maybe you work on an outline, and then… you stare, for long periods of time, at nothing in particular, until bystanders begin to worry about your emotional health.
People read books for the stories, but it’s the characters they fall in love with. Audiences particularly seem to enjoy pairs of characters: Romeo and Juliet, Kirk and Spock, Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, Watson and Holmes, John Paul White and Joy Williams.
When developing loveable characters (or hateable characters), storytellers have two primary methods of characterization: what a character does and every other character in a story.
The foil, in particular, is effective at breathing characters to life. This device in use since God made a bet with Lucifer in the Book of Job, and it shows up in many of the most popular stories today.
What is a foil and how can you use them in your stories?
How long does it take you to write a sentence? Or a paragraph?
If you’re like me, you start writing a sentence, pause after a few words, stare at your computer without typing, write a few more words, pause, look around, write a few more words, pause, write, pause, write. Five minutes later, you finally finish writing that one sentence, but then you have to re-read the sentence you just typed and edit it for mistakes for another five minutes.
Perhaps there’s a way to write faster, with more joy and fewer pauses.
![House Guests [writing prompt]](https://thewritepractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/House-Guests.jpg)
Write about house guests that you or your characters have had recently.
Write for fifteen minutes. When your time is up, post your practice in the comments section. And if you post, be sure to leave feedback on a few practices by other writers.
Happy writing!
How do you want a story to end? Should it have a fairy tale ending? A hopeful ending? Or do you like stories with more realistic endings—even if the protagonist doesn’t come out ahead and the villain doesn’t get his?
