We blog for a million different reasons, but in the end, we’re all storytellers. Creative Writing Challenges are here to…
By We blog for a million different reasons, but in the end, we’re all storytellers. Creative Writing Challenges are here to help you push your writing boundaries and explore new ideas, subjects, and writing styles.
To participate, tag your post with DPchallenge and include a link to this post, to generate a pingback and help others find the challenges. Please make sure your post has been specifically written in response to this challenge. We’ll highlight some of our favorites on Freshly Pressed on Friday, and in our monthly newsletter.
If you’ve ever been in an argument or mind small children, you know that there’s more than two sides to any story: what he said, what she said, and what really happened. Everyone has a point of view — that unique way in which we view the world colored by our race, gender, creed, nationality, and personal experiences, among many other factors.
Putting yourself into your characters’ shoes, flip-flops, stilettos, wing tips, Chuck Taylors, or slippers and viewing the world through their eyes is a great skill that can serve as a well of inspiration when writer’s block darkens the skies of your creativity. Today, we’ve got a couple of ways to stretch your imagination and your writing by working with point of view.
Boardwalk still life with Englishman — photo by Krista Stevens
Lend me your imagination
Before we get into the challenge portion of our program, let’s do a short experiment that demonstrates the power of point of view. Imagine yourself leaving your home to go to the grocery store. Imagine yourself in as much detail as possible — your clothes, your shoes, — everything. Do you have house keys in your hand? If so, which one? What season is it?
Now, ask yourself this question: from which point of view did you see yourself? Were you watching from across the street? From high up among the branches in the tree in your front yard? From behind as you exited your door? From directly overhead? From below? (As you read these words, did the camera in your mind switch point of view, from afar, from up high, from behind, from below?)
Considering and re-considering perspective and point of view can not only help you empathize with your characters as you imagine every detail of a scene through their eyes, it can help you get unstuck. As you imagine the scene, literally from different angles, and/or through the eyes of different characters, new original details will emerge that can become part of your story.
The challenge portion of the program
In today’s challenge, you’ll tell the same story from two or more unique perspectives. You can choose from the prompts below, or create your own prompt. The length of your story is up to you — you can write a sentence from each perspective, or whole poems from each perspective or a paragraph from each point of view. The structure is loose so that you can adapt the challenge as you see fit.
The scenarios: (Again, please feel free to use one of these, or make up your own scenario.)
- A New York City cabbie idles at the curb, awaiting her next fare. A homeless woman panhandles for change across the street. A man drops coins into her outstretched hands as he rolls by on his skateboard.
- A waitress welcomes an elderly regular as he takes his seat at the counter in the diner. The man just got word his wife is dying of cancer. The cook watches through the order window.
- A man in a wheelchair crosses the street. There are three lanes of traffic: in the north curb lane a woman in a Mercedes Benz observes, in the center lane a man in a beat-up half-ton pickup truck watches. In the south curb lane, a bike messenger waits for the light to turn.
Be creative — help us understand who these characters are by showing us the original details unique to your characters. Are they young, old, or somewhere in between? Do premature wrinkles belie a sleep-deprived young mom? Does their clothing give us any clues about their past experiences? The details are yours to create. Above all else, have fun!
What a beautiful photo 🙂
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This is a really great idea, I think I’m going to try this one!
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This is the most random comments section that I have come across… But I like the photo in this post! The colors are very fun.
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Thanks! That was from a recent trip to Santa Cruz, California. Sources say that the boardwalk you see in the photo was featured in the movie, The Lost Boys.
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I’m Spanish and this summer I was eating there, just in those red tables! I liked Santa Cruz very much! I want to return!
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This is actually quite funny because I was thinking exactly this as I was walking along the beach front yesterday observing all the different people! Cheers 🙂
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Love the idea – I actually wrote a little something along these lines as a challenge to myself a few weeks ago, but it’s a bit too personal for me to be comfortable posting it on my blog. Is there any other way I can enter? Thanks, Tim
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Hi Tim, I understand that some things are just too personal to share. To enter, all you need to do is write a new, original post and tag it DPChallenge.
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I really like writing humorous short stories in first person, so writing from multiple perspectives will be interesting (maybe one could comedic and the other tragic)!
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wow that is very pretty…what kind of a camera was used to take that shot?
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Thanks! I used my iPhone 4S.
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Omg, that looks like a stock photography pic! Great photo.
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Hi! I wrote a story from te queen’s point of view in Snow White for my children. http://gnomelover.com/2013/10/20/dear-children-the-bad-apple/
Thank you!
Jenni
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Great idea, I just started and have no idea what i am doing sometimes! I’ll put it into practice,
cheers
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This was a great challenge to work with, thank you for giving it to us.
http://terry1954.wordpress.com/2013/10/21/weekly-writing-challenge-the-difference/
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This actually seems pretty interesting. I’ll try it out for myself to see where I’ll go.
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Ooh… I am definitely in. This will be my first fictional writing since I was a teenager. Can’t wait to read everyone else’s. Hopefully I can create something before the next challenge.
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Feel welcome to participate in the challenge whenever you like — we’ll sift through the posts written for this challenge this coming Friday with a view to Freshly Pressed, though the idea is to get your writing. 🙂
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Hi Krista! I posted a rough draft. I plan on tweaking it as I find more time. 🙂 Thanks for your reply!
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I got a large charge out of the figure on the overhead chair. That was a different point of view – looks like a life-size puppet. 😆 Maybe it would be fun to write from a puppet’s point of view.
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That puppet was a bit….creepy, especially in an amusement park that was closed for the season. 🙂 A story told from the puppet’s point of view has lots of potential!
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I had written this in August and I’d like to add it to this challenge.
http://myyarntherapy.wordpress.com/2013/08/17/keeping-it-in-perspective/
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Great pic capturing summer thoughts as well as a good topic of discussion. All of us could benefit from learning how to see POV’s from multiple perspectives.
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I love this! Very helpful.
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O.K. here’s mine. Crossing Over –
http://geanieroake.wordpress.com/2013/10/22/point-of-view-crossing-over/
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Great photo! Stopped me in my tracks!
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I believe point of view is relevant and important to every technique when initiating in social media or personal interactions. Being able to understand others then creates opportunities to analyze the demographics of others towards an opinion. You have your feet set in the ground and you need realize where others locate themselves. Everyone in this world has a different thought process, it’s what makes us unique.
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here’s something I wrote for fun
http://suhancock.wordpress.com/2013/10/20/the-tale-of-squeaky-mouse/
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This is not poetry, it’s not prose either, it’s not even a short story, it’s a message that I hope would reach all those experiencing hard times inside their countries.
http://seifsalamakarem.wordpress.com/2013/10/08/t-h-e-s-h-e-p-h-e-r-d/
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http://dancingtothunder.wordpress.com/2013/10/22/10/
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made and broken: http://yichinglin.com/2013/10/22/point-of-view/
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Nice pictures.
I started a sports blog and was hoping I could get some feedback. Language is a little colorful and the humor can be sort of offensive to the weak of heart but its a good read none the less. Check it out!
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Hi Stew, for feedback on your blog or your writing, you’ll want to check out our Community Pool series.
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I hope people like it ^^ http://writingsfromamadgirl.wordpress.com/2013/10/22/random-writing-prompt/
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The different point of view for me was the point of view of the migrants against our european point of view : http://icezine.wordpress.com/2013/10/22/migrations-editorial/
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reminds me of brighton pier 🙂
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Anyone up for a critique? http://25press.wordpress.com/2013/10/20/on-douglas-murray/ I’d appreciate it.
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I really like this concept!
I wrote a story based on views in traffic. I love driving actually.
Here’s mine:
“Why are so many drivers rushing right turns at red traffic light signals?”
http://thebebuiltblog.com/2013/08/13/why-are-so-many-drivers-making-me-make-right-turns-at-red-traffic-light-signals-writtenbyshardaicollins/
Enjoy.
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I’m excited to do this! My husband and I actually wrote a he said, she said short story of how we met. =) I’m thinking of digging that up for this challenge =)
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