reedsy ੈ✩‧₊˚

• Hide something from your reader until the end of your story.
• Include the line “Have we met before?” in your story.
• Your character is waiting — or yearning — for something or someone.
• Write a story about someone who shouldn't have made it out… but did.
• Write a story from the POV of a pet or a loyal companion.
• Include a character with an enemy, rival, or nemesis in your story.
• Write a story from the POV of a sidekick, or someone who is happy to stay away from the spotlight.
• Write a story in which a character is betrayed by someone they trusted.
• Write a story about the aftermath of someone’s sacrifice.
• Start or end your story with a sensory detail (something that evokes scent, texture, taste, sight, and/or sound).
• Set your story at a gathering or event (a wedding, gala, celebration, court feast, etc.) where personal, political, romantic, and/or familial stakes collide.
• Center your story around a character who doesn’t know how to let go.
• Write a story about someone coming back home — or leaving it behind.
• Start or end your story with someone looking out at the sky, the sea, or a forest.
• Write a story in which a character's true self or identity is revealed.