Good stories center on the clashing of characters’ goals and motivations. Sometimes a character’s goals and motivations arise from a belief that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best when others don’t feel that way. Here are four writing prompts for stories that center on hope.
Man vs. nature
What are the traits and qualities that allow hope to flourish? Courage? Faith? Ingenuity? Resourcefulness? Trust? Determination? Have your main character survive a natural disaster and its aftermath, examining along the way how he maintains hope with those or other qualities.
Man vs. man
Two people find themselves in an extremely difficult situation with one another. One character begins to succumb to pessimism while the other holds on to hopefulness. How does that latter character instill hope in his pessimistic counterpart so they can survive their situation?
Man vs. society
What if to escape a horrible situation or to avoid a devastating calamity, the only viable solution seems counterintuitive – and is the one our main character cannot convince others to get behind. How does he persuade a people without hope that there is a way out and that the solution will work?
Man vs. himself
What is the protagonist becomes a spent force, unable to fulfill his duties and responsibilities? How did he become this way? How does he gain hope rather than fall deeper into dark pessimism and depression?
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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.
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