Middles (exercise)
By Betty Wilson Beamguard
Published: September 2, 2005
Imagine a scenario in which Character A wants to ask Character B to marry him. Ultimately, Character B declines. Next, try the following steps to create a brief scene, which could become a story, or possibly a scene in the middle of a story, you later write.
- Allow yourself only one page.
- Name the characters.
- Use dialogue between the two characters to begin.
- Set the scene somewhere unusual, like on an airplane or in a cellar.
- Include an external crisis action in the scene--such as a storm brewing, someone knocking at the door, car trouble--and use that crisis to further heighten the conflict of Character B declining the marriage proposal.
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