Navigating Prompts: Action Prompts

Aaaaand…. ACTION!

In the Western tradition – which most competitions follow – a story isn’t a story unless something happens. Decisions need to be made, actions need to be taken, characters need to undergo transformations emotional or literal. Otherwise, what you’ve got is a vignette: a nice bit of writing that describes something, but doesn’t go anywhere. Competitions love action prompts because they’re a great way to ensure judges get to read a story that’s more than “Anna sat down and thought some sad thoughts.” Anthologies love them because “what does a character do after [event]” is a great way to tie a collection together. But what do you do with an action?

Ready, set, go

This month, obviously, we’re talking about action prompts.

An action prompt is a description of something a character must do within the four corners of your story: “writing a letter,” “boarding a train,” and “unlocking a door” are all actions. And sure, it’s easy to shoehorn one in. The trick to really nailing that prompt, however, is to make the action  integral to the story. 

Why this prompt?

Action prompts are great! They give your characters something to do, which means you don’t have to come up with all that; you just have to think about what happens before and after the action. Even if the prompt is not the actual plot of your story (more on that below), it’s a point of interest.

How do you use it?

We’re going to keep repeating this: look at the instructions that come with the prompt. Some competitions (like our own Super Challenge) explain exactly how they want you to interpret the action and to what degree you ought to incorporate it. Stay within those lines; there’s still plenty of room to be creative. Other competitions (and especially themed anthologies or submission calls) might take a broader approach—they are likely looking for a cohesive theme, rather than a way of comparing apples to apples, in which case simply including the action might be enough, although it’s not likely. It’s important to understand what the judges or editors are looking for before you sit down to write, or you’ll spend a lot of time writing something that’s doomed to rejection no matter how good it is otherwise. And we don’t know about you, but we hate that feeling of rejection.

In general:

The prompt is an action, not the result or consequences of an action. There’s a verb in there for a reason! That being said, the action doesn’t necessarily need to be the plot of your story, but your best bet is to center it in your story. That is, you will generally have better luck incorporating the prompt vs. merely including it. We’ll try to demonstrate the difference below.

Keep in mind that it’s probably going to make the most sense for your main character to do the action. If another character does that action, you’ll likely need to make it force an action or inaction on your main character’s part. Letting your main character do it is a twofer, because you don’t have to come up with another character and another action, if you’re not feeling inspired. (Although if you are, obviously, go for it!)

On to the specifics…

How do I approach this prompt?

As with any prompt, an action prompt should almost always be integral to the story. But what do we mean by making an action integral? It means that the action should be a proximate cause of something critical to the story: But for [character] doing [action], [plot point] cannot happen.

The plot, therefore, has to be shaped in such a way that the action fits neatly and comfortably into it. Interrogating the prompt for a little more information will help you flesh out your story and characters before you put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard.

Here are some questions to consider before you jump in:

• What, exactly, does the prompt mean? That is, what does each word signify?
  • Most action prompts follow a “verbing the noun” style. That is, you’ll have two VERY important words to examine.
  • If the verb is “tossing” that’s a gentle throw, different from “hurling.” The verb can tell you a lot about the action itself.
  • The noun might have more than one meaning. Make sure you know what sense a word is being used in.
  • Check whether the noun is singular or plural. Respect that choice. “A shoe” and “shoes” are different prompts. Cinderella’s Prince finds a shoe but Cinderella’s pair of shoes is what confirms her identity.
• What does the prompt tell you about the plot, setting, or characters?
  • Who is taking the action? How does the verb restrict which character might be able to accomplish the action? “Flying” tells you something about the actor’s skills, powers, or body.
  • When and where does it happen? Does the noun restrict the setting by being an anachronism or impossibility for some settings? A magic lamp isn’t possible outside a fantasy setting.
• Does this particular prompt drive the plot, or just affect it? [Ed’s note: we literally just wrote “does the prompt effect or affect the plot” if you have trouble keeping those straight. /rbg]
• Does the action start or resolve the plot of your story? That is, does finding the key unlock a secret room where the protagonist discovers something about themself, or does the detective find the key in the butler’s pocket, solving who did the locked-room murder?
  • The prompt may restrict these options so, again, read the prompt.

Examples

It’s easy to say “the action prompt is not the same things as the plot” but sometimes it’s hard to envision that concept without some concrete instances. Let’s examine the ways the same action can lead to different plots.

“Putting on shoes”

It’s an ordinary action, but in each of the following stories, the act of putting on shoes is a critical plot element. But for this action, the character could not accomplish their main goal in the story.

• Cinderella: putting on the correct shoe wins her the prince, which is the character’s main objective (or: but for Cinderella putting on the glass slipper, she could not marry the prince and leave her stepmother’s house)
• The Wizard of Oz: having put on the silver (or ruby, in the movie) slippers early in the story means Dorothy can go home at the end, which is the character’s main objective (or: but for Dorothy putting on the silver slippers, she could not get home)
• Snow White: in the original story by the Brothers Grimm, the evil queen has to put on iron shoes and dance until she dies, which is a consequence of her own actions (the action of putting on the shoes is the culmination of the interpersonal tension between Snow White and the Queen: but for the Queen’s death, Snow White could not be safe)
• The Twelve Dancing Princesses: every night, the princesses put on their dancing shoes and slip out of the castle to dance the night away (But for the King wanting to know why the shoes are always worn out, the soldier would not meet his true love)
• Puss in Boots: a cat asks for and puts on a pair of boots and secures a poor miller’s fortune—and his own (but for the boots, Puss would be an ordinary cat, and useless to the poor miller who would starve to death along with the cat)

Other examples

Action prompts can be fairly straightforward, or they can be more nuanced.  Let’s look at some prompts, with an eye to the questions asked above. If you’re an experienced Super Challengeer (that’s twee, but we can’t think of a better word for it) you’ll recognize some of these examples.

“Finding a coin”

This action can be relatively small and ordinary, or it can be extraordinary. Whichever one you choose, the act should still be integral to the story. In this example,  you could write about someone literally stumbling over a pile of gold coins, looking for pirate treasure, or holding onto the lucky coin they found in order to do well on a test. However, a character digging through their purse and finding two pens, a quarter, and a movie ticket is probably going to be considered tangential to the plot rather than integral (unless they then use the quarter to break out of jail or something). Remember the “banana” test from the object prompt? If you can replace the noun in “verbing a noun” with a banana, your noun isn’t integral – which means neither is the prompt. But for finding the coin, Haatim wouldn’t have embarked on a quest for the rest of the treasure.

“Climbing something”

This prompt is deliberately broad. The “something” could be large or small—anything from a mountain to a ladder, and unless specified in the directions, the story doesn’t have to be about reaching the top. The story could, for example, be about taking food to a neighbor who lives upstairs, and what they tell you about the fairies that live in the walls that lets you finally get revenge on Tony from third grade. But as always, the action should be integral to the story: maybe you’ve never taken food to that neighbor because the stairs are terrifying, and that’s why you don’t know that your house has fairies and not mice in it. But for climbing [stairs], Bastien wouldn’t have met the Faerie Queen.

“Breaking a record”

This one looks simple at first, but it’s actually very vague. What do they mean by “record”—a documented “best,” or a vinyl LP? Either can be broken, and unless the rules specify one vs the other, you seem to be free to interpret it as you like. But for dropping Dad’s prized Beatles album, Sophie would never have entered the thrift store where she met her true love.

“Making (or receiving) a phone call that hangs up without the caller speaking”

While this action prompt could be an incidental occurrence in a story, it is so specific that it practically demands that the writer lean into it.  And yet, there is plenty of flexibility: any character may perform the action, not just the main character. The main character may be on the making or receiving end of the call, or they may observe the call, or they may not be involved, so long as the call is important enough that the plot would not proceed without it. But for trying to track down the mysterious caller, An would not have discovered the truth about her father.

“Crashing a spaceship on an asteroid”

This prompt is designed with a particular genre in mind, and also encourages the writer to make the prompt the plot of the story—although it does not need to be. Note also that the way the action prompt is written will tell you something about who’s doing it. “Crashing a spaceship” can only be done by a main character in the story (or at least the main character needs to be very involved in it), as opposed to “a spaceship crash,” which can be observed. But for the crash, Uchenna would not have had to figure out how to survive until the Corps could rescue her.

Hide and seek: where’s the prompt?

Unlike genre prompts, you can’t just give your story to a beta reader and say “find the prompt.” Frankly, it should be super easy to fine an action prompt, just like an object prompt. However, a beta reader should be able to readily identify that the prompt is important to your story. Without telling your beta what the prompt is, ask them to list out the most significant actions and events. If your prompt doesn’t make the list, chances are it’s not strongly enough incorporated, and you may want to revise.

Save yourself some trouble: don’t make these common mistakes

• Make sure you use the action as an action within the timeline of your story. If “finding a coin,” find it “on screen,” so to speak. If you’re “crashing a spaceship on an asteroid,” incorporate the crash. A story about someone in a colony which developed on the asteroid years after the spaceship crashed is not the same thing.
• READ THE RULES: which character does the action may be restricted to your main, or it may be wide open. In general, it’s probably going to make the most sense for your main character to do the action, because if they don’t then that action will have to be part of a cascade of actions that eventually involves them, and that seems like a lot of work. If you’re inspired enough to do that (which will happen more often in the context of an anthology where you have tons of time to write and revise) then go for it. Otherwise, don’t make more work for yourself trying to stand out. Your work should stand out because of excellent writing and integration, not uniqueness of how the prompt functions in the story.
• GET THAT BETA READER. Or a pro editor, but not everyone’s got one of those at their fingertips (or the cash to pay one). 

Your turn!

Check out our weekly prompt posts and try to tell a story using the action prompts given each week. Don’t forget to ask for help in the Coffeehouse on Facebook or Discord if you’ve got questions—you can post a link to your draft or even a snippet of your story or essay (up to 250 words) for immediate feedback. Don’t forget to use content warnings where they’re merited, so that you can get the best and most engaged readers for the words you like to write.

What’s next?

Wondering what the year has in store? Here’s a handy roadmap!

Get out your map

Here's the general flow of this year's workshop series. You don't have to follow them in order, but you may find that one builds on the next.

September: Retellings

October: Style over Substance

November: Combination Prompts

December: Roundup

About the author:

Rowan submitted exactly one piece of microfiction to YeahWrite before being consumed by the editorial darkside. She spent some time working hard as our Submissions Editor before becoming YeahWrite’s Managing Editor in 2016. She was a BlogHer Voice of the Year in 2017 for her work on intersectional feminism, but she suggests you find and follow WOC instead. In real life she’s been at various times an attorney, aerialist, professional knitter, artist, graphic designer (yes, they’re different things), editor, secretary, tailor, and martial artist. It bothers her vaguely that the preceding list isn’t alphabetized, but the Oxford comma makes up for it. She lives in Portlandia with a menagerie which includes at least one other human. She tells lies at textwall and uncomfortable truths at CrossKnit.

rowan@yeahwrite.me

About the author: