The best writers are always finding ways to practice. This might mean working their way through large projects on a day-to-day basis, trying flash fiction, or writing endless catalogues of short stories. Personal projects aside though, a lot of writers also find that it’s handy to practice through prompts.
I don’t necessarily mean that writers are flocking to pick up those little notebooks with thought-provoking essay and short paragraph prompts in them. Rather, I mean that some writers find it helpful to use existing material and external inspiration to work on their writing. It might mean writing a new chapter into a favorite novel for instance, or doing a “fan-fic” spinoff of sorts. These aren’t the kinds of projects you can sell or profit from, but they’re helpful in that they set you up easily with a character, setting, or idea. If you write about what Harry Potter did on a random Sunday at Hogwarts, for instance, much of the material is already there, and you can really just work on your prose, or practice writing dialogue, etc.
These types of prompts and inspiration can come from just about anywhere. One idea I think more writers should consider though — again, strictly for practice — is to use video games as prompts. To explain, I’ll go over a few categories of gaming, and a specific example that might be useful from each one.
Console Gaming
This is one category of gaming in which you actually do see some pretty robust narratives. GamesRadar did a nice job of listing some of the best video game stories we’ve seen, highlighting games like BioShock, The Last Of Us, Red Dead Redemption, and more — all of which could easily be adapted as exciting novels or films. While these games are out there in the console category though, even some games with a general sense of narrative leave a lot to be explored.
The example I’ll go to in this case is Far Cry 5 (relevant because Far Cry 6 is slated for a release in the near future). This is a game in which you play the part of a rookie law enforcement agent up against a ruthless cult that has essentially taken over a corner of Montana. There are plenty of little stories weaved into the game. Ultimately though, most of it is unexplained! A writer looking for practice could play through this game for just a few hours’ time and find countless stories that need telling. How did the cult take over? What if there’s a hidden hero working to undermine them? How did given side characters wind up where they are? Really, the bigger the game the more potential there is for side stories like these, which is why I do like console adventures quite a lot for this kind of project.
Casino Gaming
The casino category might not readily come to mind, but I find it ideal for the prompt concept because most of the best games are essentially snapshots of stories. To be clear, I’m talking specifically about casino slots, which are electronic versions of in-person slot machines, and which have exploded with characters, themes, and settings in recent years. Just about every slot game you find at a casino site now presents you with a specific concept. There are seldom real narratives attached however.
To use a relevant and up-to-date example, I’ll turn to Red Wizard. This is one of the new games on Gala Bingo, which is a platform that reliably sources some of the latest and most impressive slots in the category. And it basically presents you with… a red wizard! It’s a beautiful, mysterious slot reel taking place in vaguely haunted settings and suggesting sinister magic at every turn. But it’s not based on specific material, and we don’t know who the red wizard is or what he’s up to. For our purposes here, that’s a prompt! A sinister red wizard is meddling with spells in a spooky house in the forest. Whatever you make of that can be a ready-made story exercise.
Mobile Gaming
The mobile gaming category works almost like a cross between the first two. Like console games, there are plenty of mobile titles that are fairly extensive and have the seeds of narrative built in. Yet there are also a lot of games more similar to casino slots, showcasing settings or characters without much story around them. The tricky thing about this category is that there are almost too many games to sift through in search of suitable “prompts.” But that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of examples to be found!
The one I’ll highlight is one of the most popular mobile games of all time: Monument Valley. This is essentially a puzzle game that became famous for its captivating, dream-like atmosphere. An LA Times review once characterized the game as having “spun a story” about a quiet princess named Ida navigating her “geometric habitat,” and it’s an understandable description. But the reality is there isn’t much story. There’s just Ida and her puzzle-like cloud palaces, with very little explanation of who she is or what she’s trying to accomplish. Writing the story (or stories) behind Monument Valley would make for an excellent exercise.
Different tricks work for different writers. But if you just want to be off and writing with some interesting ingredients ready and waiting for you, gaming can make for excellent practice. Give it a try and you might just have some fun with it!
A Needed Message of Hope, Joy, and Love: LITTLE PIECES OF HOPE by Todd Doughty
When the pandemic hit, Todd Doughty began making lists on Instagram of things that made him happy – and as a community started to build up around it, he realized that staying connected to everyday joys mattered more than ever before. LITTLE PIECES OF HOPE combines the best of Doughty’s happy-making things with new ideas, essays, and prompts, alongside charming illustrations by Josie Portillo.
Doughty’s ideas range from the broad (Knowing your worth) to the hyper-specific (David Bowie’s recording of “As the World Falls Down”). He takes inspiration from food (Dunking an Oreo in a glass of milk until it becomes a bit soft; The glow of the fridge when searching for a midnight snack), nature (A stroll through the park at dusk, just as the crickets start to hum; Dipping your fingers in water to shape the final touch on the sandcastle), community (A good friend who gives it to you straight; Guests who arrive right on time), and pop culture (Bryan Burrough’s February 2016 Vanity Fair article, “The Mystery of the Maltese Falcon”; June Cleaver’s pearls; Tina Turner, national treasure). He’s incorporated special editions for things like graduation and the ‘80s; playlists; and short essays on everything from small towns to road trips to Templeton from Charlotte’s Web. Doughty even has suggestions for “Things You Might Consider Doing Today,” like eating breakfast outside, listening to Zadie Smith’s Fresh Air interview, or watching a Christopher Guest movie.
Readers are sure to find something to smile at, to appreciate, or to explore further in LITTLE PIECES OF HOPE, and to be inspired to consider their own small joys.
LITTLE PIECES OF HOPEis such an uplifting book to read–through good times and bad. What inspired you to make these lists? Do you think you would have written a book like this if not for the impact of COVID-19 in the last year?
How this all came about can be laid squarely at the feet of my Metronorth commute: On my March 11, 2020 train ride home –the day the WHO declared a global pandemic –I started crafting a list of “happy-making things in a difficult world.” It was a random, scattershot, zig-zag catalogue of stuff that brings me joy: “Newly sharpened pencils. Stephen King’s Twitter. Someone forgiving you. Any movie of Katharine Hepburn’s, especially her entrance in THE LION IN WINTER. An extremely green grasshopper. E.L. Konigsburg’s FROM THE MIXED-UP FILES OF MRS. BASIL E. FRANKWEILER. Long walks. Fat goldfish.”
That little list was a bright spot at the beginning of a very scary and rapidly changing time, and after that, I just kept going.And going. And going. The fact that everything is now curated together –with Josie Portillo’s gorgeous art and Sabrina Bowers’s genius design –along with new essays, playlists and about 50% entirely original lists into a book is beyond anything I could have imagined last March.
Your project began on Instagram –what kind of a reaction did you get from your followers? How was the writing process different once you started to collect your thoughts in book form?
The comments started percolating immediately and it was such a feeling of connection to see folks respond and/or start to add their own items, thoughts, memories to each individual list. There’s a fine line between remembrance and discovery, and each one of those new comments created that shared spark between us (and more than once I thought “I should have thought of that one!”). Once the book sold, I took an Instagram break from late August to October to keep writing in earnest –the isolation was a bit strange, like hitting the mute button on that communal dialogue. But that will (hopefully) pick back up with the reader and my hope is that each of the new 16 essays –longer pieces ranging on everything from red velvet cake to taking the leap to living life like Mary Bailey (from IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE) –resonate as much as the lists themselves.
Your lists are so immersive and touching to read, and you manage to avoid repeats and to draw from all aspects of life –from delicious foods to pop culture touchstones to the natural world. How long did it take you to make the lists, and did you ever get stuck?
I tried very hard to avoid repeats–I wrote nearly everything on my iPhone in Notes, so I was able to look up something to make sure that it wasn’t previously included. The element of surprise–connecting the dots or bridging that gap between the nearly 3000 items that comprise the book –was essential, and there’s a definite rhythm. LITTLE PIECES OF HOPE is a book you can dip into or read in progression. It’s left to the reader’s schedule or whim. And I didn’t really ever get stuck because I am a packrat and Saver of Things –articles, postcards, CDs, photos, books, objects, etc. –and that nature of collecting helped me curate the book because I curate my life. There were also daily inspirations: hearing a song on the radio, seeing a painting online, looking at the books on the shelf, cleaning the apartment, watching a favorite sitcom. And knowing that I was doing a list everyday (or so) kept me grounded in an extremely disrupted world. Each one took about two hours, but it was pure joy for me.
There’s one name that comes up more than once in LITTLE PIECES OF HOPE, and that’s Lin-Manuel Miranda. What is it about LMM that makes him a pinnacle of delight for you?
I’m a Broadway nut –I wrote a fan letter to Michael Crawford in high school when he was starring in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (he wrote back!); brought flowers to Katharine Hepburn at her townhouse door my first week in New York (she wrote back!); and saw the original cast of RENT six times. Theater is an escape for me –you enter a room with 1300 other strangers and share the same experience for three hours and then it’s gone, except in your memory (and on the cast album).Once the lists began, I started adding Lin-Manuel Miranda as a coda to each post because his work on Broadway and beyond (and Twitter feed) radiates happiness.
There’s been much written about the health benefits of a positive mental outlook and how optimism can help reduce anxiety and stress. What did you gain from meditating on these everyday joys? Do you feel your own mental health benefitted from this project?
Like pretty much everyone I know, I’ve had my ups and downs(sometimes well-deep)during the past 18 months. But something a friend of mine once said has stuck with me over the years: “Everyone is carrying an invisible bag of rocks.” I believe that, and whether you are going through a challenging time in life or just having a plain old bad day, try to think about that one (or more) touchstone that gets you through: the song, painting, recipe, memory, photograph, sitcom, movie, person, thing or book. Cling to your little piece of hope as best you can.
What do you feel reflecting on these happy-making things can give us as we move forward in life? Do you consider this type of list-making to be therapeutic in its own right, something you will continue to do as a daily mental exercise?
I had a heck of a lot of fun building these lists and writing the book, and I hope that sense of play is felt in the experience(and again, in Josie’s art and Sabrina’s design). And if this book lightens a reader’s burden for just a moment, then mission accomplished. On the daily front, I’ve started doing this thing before I fall asleep: I think of five good things that happened in the past 24 hours and picture them written on a yellow Post-It Note. It’s a nice little coda to the day: a little quintet of happy-making things and then you start all over again tomorrow.
You’ve worked in publishing for over twenty years, and in your day job, you’re the deputy publisher of Doubleday. What’s it like to be on the other side of things as a first-time author?
Over the course of my very lucky professional life, I’ve done publicity, which is the caboose of the publishing train. We receive a given book in its final ,tip-top incarnation: it’s finished, designed, jacketed, fully-formed and ready to go. I have now experienced the life of creating a book in its entirety and have seen first-hand the remarkable effort it takes to build that publishing train from the beginning. Being a first-time author has given me a newfound respect for our writers and my colleagues in editorial, copyediting, production, design, sales, and art. Working with the incredible Penguin team and my North Star editor Meg Leder have been the best part of this Mr. Todd’s Wild Ride in the past year.
What do you hope readers take away from LITTLE PIECES OF HOPE
The ultimate goal is to provide a thought-provoking or energizing break in a busy day and scary world. LITTLE PIECES OF HOPE is kind of like a modern-day version of a scrapbook, carefully crafted just for you. I hope it inspires the reader to listen, read, watch, look at, spring into action, and discover.And that it reminds folks that we’re all in this together.
Todd Doughty is currently SVP, deputy publisher of Doubleday and has worked at Penguin Random House for more than two decades. A graduate of Southern Illinois University (Carbondale) and former bookseller, he lives with his partner in Westchester County, New York.
The Saturday Slash
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My thoughts are in blue, words to delete are in red, suggested rephrasing is in orange.
Sam has always been able to see auras shimmering like silver stardust under people’s skin, though she does her best to ignore the headache-inducing emotions they whisper into her mind and the blurry people who brush past her on sidewalks. Decent hook, but break the thoughts up a little. Right now you have one sentence, and we don't know if all people are blurry, or just certain ones. If she ignores everyone then she's a pretty introverted person. Give a little more space here to explain.
When two of Sam’s hallucinations Confused. he can see aura on real people, right? Real people are not hallucinations, which the next sentence does explain somewhat, but I think there needs to be clarification here. realise that she can see them, they reveal that they are Elementals: people from a parallel world who can manipulate one of the five natural elements (earth, air, fire, water and anima, or life force). Sam is one of the rare humans So are the Elementals human? able to wield anima, making her the first Animator since an atrocity left every Animator dead and the surviving Elementals unable to have children 200 years ago. But... these two are still around? So they're not human? With proper training, she’ll have the power to create and nurture life, revitalising the Elemental world. You'll need to be more clear about why an Animator is needed to create life. Obviouly their reproductive process is different from ours.
Lured by the promise of learning to control her debilitating headaches, Sam enters the Elemental world. But when she discovers that Animators still exist in hiding and that an imprisoned god hunted down Animators to exact revenge for his banishment, two things become crystal clear: the surviving Animators intend to use Sam to lure out the god’s spies, and they’re willing to let her die in the process. How did this god do anything if he's imprisoned? And why are the Animators in hiding? Don't they know that they are imperiling their own race by doing so? Why would Sam be bait? What about her is special, if she's not the only Animator left?
In a desperate bid to make it home alive, Sam forms an alliance with an ambitious man from a notoriously mercenary branch of Elementals. As her abilities become harder to hide, who is she hiding them from? Doesn't everyone know? Sam must master her element to save herself and the people she’s come to love from the god who would kill them all.
THE SACRIFICIAL ANIMATOR is a 113,000-word fantasy novel which will appeal to readers who enjoy Melissa Caruso’s character-driven SWORDS AND FIRE trilogy and fantasy worlds that intersect with ours (as in Alix E. Harrow’s THE TEN THOUSAND DOORS OF JANUARY). Good comp titles, but you define this as character-driven, when really I don't know anything about Sam's character other than that she gets headaches. If this is character driven, you need to get her character injected into the query.
I am a half-French, half-Japanese American currently living in Berlin, where I work as a finance lawyer. I studied law at the University of Cambridge and can be found hiking or planning my next novel when I’m not at work.
Overall, I'm just confused about what role the Animators play, why the god is a threat if he's banished, why the Animators are in hiding, why Sam would be the bait, etc... Everything I mentioned above. This sounds interesting, but right now it feels like a lot of disparate elements that aren't tied together cohesively.