If you need some ideas for story starters, click here: Story Starters

Make sure you do word count – strive for 100 words on the nose!

Here are my examples again (If you can tell a complete story, great! If not, focus on one or two of the elements of fiction).

Examples: – Each is only 100 words long!

#1 focuses mostly on climax – there is some rising action and description of character and setting, but there isn’t much resolution:

It was a dark and stormy night. The yellow moon captured the silhouette of the abandoned house and cast shadows on the ground below. The man had been walking for days. Desperate for a place to rest out of the rain, he climbed the creaky steps of the front porch. The door was unlocked but jammed. He threw his bony shoulder into the heavy oak and it popped open with a crack. The air was musty – stale. He curled up on a dusty couch and listened to the rain. Soon he was asleep. Then he heard footsteps on the stairs.

#2 describes setting more than tells a complete story:

The jagged mountain of white loomed ahead. Small black dots zig-zagged through its powdery face. I made my way to the silver lift that would slink me up a few thousand feet to the distant peak. The icy wind whipped around my head, slipping in and out of my tightly wound scarf. Scooping me up and carrying me up toward the clouds, the lift creaked and moaned with the chilly air. The snow-covered pines shed their extra blankets of snow upon my head as I ascend. Grasping the sidebar of the chair, I click my skis in anticipation of the run.

#3 does more with character (what kind of guy is Dan?), but it does tell a complete story if you use your imagination to finish it (what happens after he gets out of the carwash?).

“C’mon, man! Move along!” Dan impatiently laid on his horn. He groaned, gripping the wheel tightly. It was the first dry day in weeks and his brand new Mustang was a muddy wreck. He had a free car wash from his last fill-up, and today was the perfect day to use it. Unfortunately, everyone else thought the same. Honking, Dan startled an elderly couple walking down the street. Dan laughed. “Old codgers,” he smirked. Finally, it was his turn. “It’s about time,” he shouted. Dan drove through the wash and pulled out sparkling just as the darkening sky opened up.