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SAMPLE PROMPTS

Month 1, Week 1: Goals: Idea Selection
Writing Task: Create a collection of topics and then choose from those to develop a basic story idea. Look for ones with strong commercial appeal that will interest you enough to commit to it for 52 weeks. A simple, effective way to do this is through lists.

List your top 5 favorite books (or series). List your top 5 favorite movies. List your top 5 favorite TV or streaming shows. Ask yourself, what do each of them have in common? From the lists, can you tell what kind of stories you gravitate toward? And how can you add those types of elements to your premise?

Month 1, Week 2: Exercise
Once you’ve decided on your story’s genre, you’ll need to research that genre's story conventions. Conventions are specific elements that define a genre and are necessary to make the story work. In other words, they are the staple ingredients (flour, eggs, chocolate) to your genre cake. NOTE: Conventions are different than tropes. Tropes are your own interpretation of a genre and, while common to specific genres, are not necessary.

Romance Conventions: Happily-ever-after, believable plot, emotional tension, central love story, 50,000–90,000 words                
Romance Tropes: Forbidden love, enemies to lovers, soul mates, second chances, forced proximity
                     
Make a list below of your genre conventions. Then make a list of tropes you might want to include or that you want to avoid.