Hello, Fan-fi campers, and welcome to the Procrastinator’s Guide! I decided to make this forum to give tips on how to do the current daily/weekly in the main cabin, in the hopes that it will help you complete dailies and weeklies to earn words and points for our cabin! :)

I know that these tasks can sometimes seem daunting at first, but I’m going to break them down step by step. You don’t have to complete every daily and weekly, since your life and health > SWC, but if you do decide to complete any main cabin dailies or weeklies, hopefully this will make them easier and quicker to write.

Below is a table of contents, where you can find quick links to any specific daily or weekly that you are looking for. If you have any questions, I’m happy to answer them, but please comment on my profile or in the Main or Fan-fi Cabin. Please don’t post here, so that we can keep things organized and keep new posts easier to find. :)

Thank you for all of your hard work so far! Fan-fi FTW!

Table of Contents

⇝ Dailies: July 2nd // July 3rd // July 4th // July 5th //

⇝ First Weekly: Intro // Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3 // Part 4

July 2nd: Main Cabin Daily

Remember when you used to ask questions to a Magic 8 Ball? Here’s a project in which you can do that! https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/710721692/ Today, ask the ball a plot-related question, which will be related to your prompt. The outcome will then influence what happens in the story. For example, I could ask “Will I meet aliens?” and the answer could be “Most likely”, and then I could write a scene about meeting aliens. For 500 points, write at least 400 words with this prompt, and 100 extra points if you provide proof of your writing!

Hello Fan-fi Campers!

The daily today is pretty simple and fun! You only need to write 400 words, and if you have artist's block at any point, you can just think of a random, outlandish thing and ask the magic-8 ball if it will happen in the story! >:) If you're not sure how to start out, you could try some of these starting prompts:

• Your character is in a fight scene. Use the magic-8 ball to determine if they will be able to parry attacks or be able to attack successfully, or if the enemy will suddenly take the advantage.
  
  
• Your character is lost. Use the magic-8 ball to determine if they take wrong turns or right ones, and if they encounter any enemies or friends along the way.
  
  
• Your character is looking for something in their room or house. Use the magic-8 ball to determine if they make any progress toward finding it as they search.
  

You can even use uncertain answers, like “it is uncertain,” or “the answer is not clear at this time,” to make it so your protagonist isn't completely sure of the answer to your question.

That should be it for the daily! Remember that you must write a minimum of 400 words, and that you get 500 points for completing it! You get an extra 100 points for sharing proof, so this daily with proof is worth 600 points for our cabin!

I hope this helped! If you have any questions, please reach out on my profile or in the Fan-fi or Main cabin!

The Procrastinator's Guide to the First Weekly: Intro and Requirements

Welcome, once again, to the procrastinator’s guide! This time, we’re going to discuss the current weekly, which you can find the details to here: https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/topic/615765/

This week, Birdi, Zai, Aleia, Zura, Fae, Honey, Mayhem, Lio, Robin, and Bakie have composed a wonderful weekly about writing fanfiction. The weekly has four parts, and we’re going to go into greater detail about what each part entails soon.

However, before we start, I know that the weekly might seem intimidating due to its length and complexity, especially if you’ve never written fanfiction before or dislike the genre. Don’t worry—even if you aren’t that experienced in writing fanfiction, there’s always a place to start, and who knows? After this week, fanfiction may even become your favorite genre!

Again, the weekly has four parts:

Part 1 studies keeping characters consistent to their original fandom. This is so when you read your story, the characters still feel like the same characters in the original story, even if they are in different situations. For this part, you will create a character sheet about your character’s personality and habits, and then write at least 400 words about how the character would react in a new situation that you put them in.

Now, part 2 of the weekly discusses how to maintain a character’s specific voice—or the way they would tell their own story. After you read the workshop and instructions, you will pick two characters from a fandom (which cannot be OCs), and write at least 100 words describing each character’s personality when talking to others. Then, you will write at least 300 words for each character where the character describes something that happened to them in the past.

Part 3 of the weekly explores many different types of fanfiction. For this part, you will pick three fanfiction tropes from the list Mayhem has given, and use them to write at least 700 words of fanfiction. You can use any characters you would like for this part, but it might be helpful to choose the characters you have already worked with in parts 1 and 2.

Finally, part 4 of the weekly is the most fun! In this one, you simply have to write at least 400 words of an SWC fanfiction!

I should be able to get the complete guide out before half of the week is over, but it will take me some time to write, so I’m going to release this chapter of the Procrastinator’s guide in steps.

Today, I’ll help you tackle Part 1, and I expect to release another part each day! Don’t try to do the weekly all in one go; you have plenty of time, and speedrunning it will just make you feel discouraged and burned out.

Even if you don’t think you will complete the weekly, get started with it anyway. You’ll earn words, and the sooner you start, the more time you will have to finish.

So, with that out of the way, let’s get started with Part 1!

The Procrastinator’s Guide to the Weekly: Part 1

Ok, so before we get started, let’s review what is required for part 1 of the weekly.

• A character sheet for the character you have chosen (no word requirement).
  
  
• 400 words describing how that character would act if they were put into a new situation that they haven’t encountered before.
  

Before we start, read through part one of the weekly again (https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/topic/615765/) and take a look at Aleia’s workshop about character consistency: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/710605468/.

Now, it’s time to pick your character. Think of a character from a fandom that you enjoy very much and have watched or read recently. The more familiar you are with the character you choose, the easier that this is going to be to complete.

After you’ve chosen a character, fill out this character sheet with details about them. Replace all the sections in curly brackets {} with your own words.

{Character Name} - character sheet {What is the timespan that you are drawing details from? If you are referencing the whole series, feel free to leave this blank, but fill it in if you are referencing only part of a series, either because the character changes dramatically, or because the series is still ongoing.}

Series continuing or ended? : {is the character’s canon story is still ongoing?}


Pronouns – {self-explanatory}

Sexuality – {again, self-explanatory}

Species – {self-explanatory}


Strengths: {think about personality and skill aspects that help the character through the story}


Weaknesses: {think about personality and skill aspects that harm the character or those around them through the story}


General view on life (free, not hateful, hateful): {}


Tendencies -
{list a few negative tendencies of the character, such as predictable reactions and habits that are shown throughout the story}


{Tendency 1}

{describe whether this tendency is improving or staying the same}

{Tendency 2}

{describe whether this tendency is improving or staying the same}


{Tendency 3}

{describe whether this tendency is improving or staying the same}


{include more tendencies if you want}

Situations - *optional but highly recommended*
(Choose 3+ common things)

{Look at similar events throughout the story, and write down consistencies in how the character reacts to it}

{situation 1} :
Emotions: {write how the character usually feels when this happens}
Next step: {What does the character do next after this happens? You can include how they express the emotions they feel and the actions they tend to take.}
Outcome: {What happens after the character reacts? How do other characters respond, and how does the situation usually end?}

{Repeat the format for as many common situations as you want. At least 3 are recommended, so you can get a good feel for your character}

Feel free to add sections to the character sheet if you feel that you need more details! For examples of how the character sheet is filled out, scroll to the end of the “notes and credits” section of Aleia’s workshop to see a character sheet of Sophie Foster from Keeper of the Lost Cities, or look at Part 1 of the weekly instructions to see how Zai has put together a character sheet for Connor Walsh from How to Get Away With Murder.

Now that your character sheet is done, you should have a pretty good idea of your character’s personality and habits. Next, it’s time for the fun part!

Pick a situation to put your character in, preferably one that has not appeared before in the canon fandom. Zai has provided this helpful list of examples, but feel free to brainstorm one that’s not on the list!

• your character is invited to two events but can only attend one of them
  
• your character is running late but they can't find matching socks/shoes
  
• your character is meeting somebody they haven't seen in years
  
• your character is the leader of a rebellion and the opposing force has them surrounded
  
• your character is trying to leave the country but doesn't have IDs and needs to steal
  
• your character has just killed somebody and needs to cover up the murder
  
• your character has just been framed for something they didn't do and is being interrogated by the police
  
• your character has to sacrifice somebody closed to them in order to succeed in their mission
  
• your character has been hired for a cause they no longer believe in, and they want to defect
  
• your character is being chased by an unknown force inside of a cave network
  
• your character is pulling a prank on their friends and something goes terribly wrong
  
• your character is face to face with their evil clone and needs to convince their friends that they are the real character
  
• your character's family is part of an evil organization that is trying to kidnap all your friends
  
• your character is stuck in a burning building with their friends and not everyone can escape
  
• your character needs to cross a freezing river with others but not everybody can fit in a single boat
  
• your character has to tend to multiple wounded people, but there are not enough supplies for everyone
  
• your character has a family to take care of, but they have just been evicted from their home
  

Now, write at least 400 words about the situation you’ve chosen and how the character reacts to it. Take elements from the generic situations you talked about in the character sheet, and try to really put yourself inside the mind of the character.

You shouldn’t make the character always choose the right action, and the situation won’t necessarily turn out well. Don’t think about what you would do if you were put into that situation, but try to stay true to the character’s personality and habits.

Here’s a suggested structure if you find yourself having trouble writing 400 words:

First 50 words: Introduce how the character got into the situation. Did they see it coming, or were they suddenly plunged into it? Then, write about the character’s initial mental and emotional reaction. Are they scared? Nervous? Overconfident? What thoughts go through the character’s mind as they start to deal with the situation?

Next 50 words: Write about how the character shows their emotions in the situation. Do they try to hide their emotions? If so, are they successful or not successful? How do others (both friends and enemies) react to the character’s emotions?

Next 125 words: Write about how the character takes action (or doesn’t) to try to deal with the situation. Each time they do something, the situation should respond with a new challenge, which the character must again respond to. Keep describing the character’s emotions and thoughts throughout, as well as how those emotions affect the way that they treat and talk to others.

Next 125 words: Continue describing the character’s actions to try to resolve the situation, and how the length of the situation wears down on them. Do they get discouraged? Tired? Reckless? Does the character try to find a quick end to the situation, or do they just try to hold out as long as possible? Does the character think they will be able to resolve the problem if they keep working at it, or do they think that the situation is hopeless? How does this affect their behavior and emotions?

Final 50 words: Describe how the situation resolves, and how the character reacts to the resolution. How do they respond to their victory or defeat? Again, write about the character’s emotions and thoughts, and how this influences the expression of those emotions and their behavior. Does the character have a plan for what to do next? You can finish the story while the character is still deciding on their next move, whether it is to try to tackle the problem again, or to get some much-needed rest.

And that’s it! Congratulations on completing the first part of the weekly! Now, take a break: drink some water, take a nap, or do something that you find enjoyable. If you want, you can start re-reading or re-watching the fandom that you took this character out of, or you can look ahead to part 2 of the weekly and start re-reading or re-watching the fandom that you plan to take characters from!

If you’d like, then that can be it for today! Be proud of yourself for making it this far—I certainly am. Even if you have trouble with this weekly, or if you can’t complete it very well, don’t worry. We won’t grade you on your weekly, and as long as you do your best, then we won’t turn your weekly away.

Everyone has to start somewhere, and take the things you’ve learned to improve your writing later on. Now, rest up, and, when you're ready, move on to part 2 of the weekly! :)

The Procrastinator’s Guide to the July 3rd Daily

Today is Compliment Your Mirror Day! We all have good things we’ve done in our lives that we should be proud of, and acts of kindness are one of them. So today, for 400 points, write at least 300 words writing about a time you helped someone! No bonus points for proof today.

This daily is pretty simple, and, since proof is not required, you can write about things that happened in real life as well as SWC! For some ideas, think about how you’ve helped your family with chores, held the door for a stranger, or helped your siblings or friends with their homework. You can also write about things on Scratch: have you ever answered someone else’s questions, or helped someone figure out how to do something on the website?

If you choose about 4 things to write about, you only need to write 75 words for each! To get the most words in, consider answering the following questions:

How did you get in the situation where you needed to help someone? Did they ask for help, or did you volunteer?

What exactly did you do, and how long did you help the other person? Was it hard, or easy?

How did the other person react after you helped them? If they thanked you, describe how they did so?

Did you feel like helping that person made a difference to their day, even if it was a small one? What might have happened if you hadn’t helped them?

After you helped the person, how did you feel?

This daily is fairly simple, and if you talk about personal things, you don’t need to share proof to get the 400 points for your cabin. If you have time, this is a great idea for an easy task that gets our cabin points!

If you have any questions, please let me know on my profile or in the Fan-fi studio! Happy writing!

The Procrastinator’s Guide to the Weekly: Part 2

Hello Fan-fi campers! If you’re here, you’ve hopefully already completed part 1, or have skipped to part 2 because you find it easier. :> Either way, it’s time to get started with part 2 of the weekly!

This part will show us how to identify a character’s unique voice (the way they express themselves), and keep it consistent from the original fandom. This is a very important part of fanfiction, so let’s get started! :)

As a refresher, here’s what you are going to have to do at the end:

• select 2 characters, from the same or different fandoms
  
  
• write 100 words describing the first character’s distinct voice
  
  
• write 100 words describing the second character’s voice
  
  
• write 300 words in which the first character describes something from their past
  
  
• write 300 words in which the second character describes something from their past
  

Before we begin, make sure to first read through Part 2 of the Weekly Instructions and Fae’s workshop on character voice consistency. Keep those open as you write so you can refer back to them as necessary!

Now that you’ve read through that, it’s time to pick your characters! You need two for this part of the weekly, and they MUST come from outside fandoms; they cannot be characters that you have created.

It might be a good idea to re-use your character from part 1 of the weekly, since you’ve already gotten to know them well. However, you must also select another character, which can be from the same or a different fandom as your first.

Again, just like in part 1, select characters that you know well from fandoms that you have read or watched recently. It’s also a good idea to re-read or re-watch those fandoms again, so you can be reminded of the characters personality, background, and habits.

Once you’ve re-familiarized yourself with the characters, write at least 100 words for each character, identifying their distinct way of speaking, expressing themselves, and interacting with other people and situations.

If you’re unsure where to start, try answering these questions about each character:

Does the character tend to use a certain sentence structure? Do they usually speak in short sentences and commands, or do they use flowery, elaborate speech?

What types of words do they use? Short, concise words, or lengthy, complex ones?

Do they tend to speak informally to others, or hold up a formal atmosphere around pretty much everyone?

Are they closed-off and defensive, or more casual and open?

Do they tend to behave in accordance to social norms, or are they more awkward?

How empathetic are your characters? How much do they care about what others are feeling?

How does the character’s background influence the way they think and behave?

How does your character typically respond to challenges?

Does the character tend to use humor, or treat things seriously?

Just be sure to give lots of details, and you’ll reach the 100-word minimum for each character in no time!

Now, the next part requires you to take what you’ve written about each character’s voice, and apply it in writing. For each character, choose an event from their canon past to describe. Now, imagine that the character is telling an account of that event.

What details would they choose to include or omit? How would they phrase difficult topics? If they made any mistakes in the past, would they gloss over them, or admit to their faults? Keep in mind the character’s voice when determining their phrasing and word choice.

Now, write 300 words for each character where they describe that event in their past. For an example, take a look at what Zura wrote for her two characters in Part 2 of the Weekly Instructions.

If you’re having trouble writing enough words, try choosing a longer event to describe!

Once you’re done, just make sure that you have a total of at least 800 words, and then you’ve completed part 2 of the weekly! Congratulations, you’re halfway done!

Now, take a break and relax before moving on to part 3. If you have any questions, be sure to reach out!

I’ll see you next time!

The Procrastinator’s Guide to the July 4th Daily

Have you ever seen a sentence that could be interpreted in two or more ways? That’s ambiguity. However, that's different from a sentence that just doesn't have the details necessary to understand it, which is vagueness. The difference between the two is what we will be focusing on today. Today, write two separate dialogues, the first one where a character is being vague, and the second where a character is being ambiguous. Each dialogue must be at least 250 words long, for 500 points. Sharing your writing will earn you 200 bonus points!

Ok, so today’s daily is pretty simple, but you might be a little confused about the exact difference between ambiguity and vagueness, so I’ll try to make that a bit clearer:

Vagueness is when you don’t have enough information to understand the sentence. A character might be vague if they have to tell something to someone else, but don’t want to give away details.

If you asked me where a specific house was, and I answered, “to the north,” that answer is too vague for you to be able to find the actual house.

Now, ambiguity, unlike vagueness, DOES contain details. However, because of the way these details are phrased, you could interpret the sentence two or more ways. When a character is intentionally or unintentionally ambiguous, this usually leads to others taking their words to have a different meaning from what the sentence originally meant.

For example, if I told you that there was a package waiting at the mailbox, you would assume that I was talking about YOUR mailbox. However, my initial intention might have been to tell you that the package was at someone else’s mailbox, but since it was ambiguous, you misinterpreted my words.

Now, you simply have to write 500 words of dialogue: 250 where a character is being vague, and 250 where a character is being ambiguous. Don’t worry if you don’t fully understand the difference between these two terms. Just do the best you can, and feel free to ask questions if you would like something clarified! :)

This daily is worth 500 points without proof, and 700 points with proof, so if you feel good about it, go ahead and complete it to earn those points for our cabin!

I hope this was able to help you, and I’ll see you next time!

The Procrastinator’s Guide to Part 3 of the Weekly

Welcome back to the Procrastinator’s Guide! We’re tackling part 3 of the weekly, where we will learn about common types and elements of fanfiction, known as tropes. Be sure to read the weekly instructions and Mayhem’s workshop on this topic before getting started.

As a reminder, here is what you will be writing at the end:

• At least 700 words of a fanfiction in which you incorporate at least 3 tropes.
  

This part of the weekly is pretty straightforward, and Mayhem explains things really well in her workshop, so this chapter of the Procrastinator’s Guide will be shorter than usual.

Pretty much any combination of tropes from Mayhem’s list will work well in a story, so the only issue you may have is reaching the required word count.

To make your story the appropriate length, try writing a summary first of everything that will happen. Remember to incorporate the three tropes you have chosen. You don’t have to put details or specific dialogue in the summary. Just focus on getting down the main events. If your summary is around 200-300 words, then there’s a good chance you will reach or exceed the word limit while writing!

Now, all that’s left to do is write it! As always, if you have any questions, please reach out, especially since this chapter was shorter and less detailed than the others.

After you’re done, you only have one part of the weekly left to write, and then you can submit your wonderful work in the main cabin!

See you in Part 4!

The Procrastinator’s Guide to the July 5th Daily

Ah yes, proverbs. We all have in some way heard of these pieces of wisdom passed through short sentences. Today, we will be using them! For 400 points, write at least 300 words of a story that takes inspiration from a proverb (perhaps using it as the story's moral, perhaps incorporating it into the story somehow - it's up to you).

This daily is pretty easy and simple, so there won’t be much to explain about it.

If you’re having trouble finding a proverb, feel free to search up a list on the internet! Then think about how you can incorporate it into a story.

Maybe the proverb is the moral of the story, or maybe you can write about how you think the proverb came to be. If you’re feeling bold, try writing about the literal meaning of the proverb!

Just make sure you write at least 300 words about the topic, and then comment in the Main Cabin. Proof is not required for this daily, so you don’t have to share your writing if you don’t want to!

You all know the drill by now. If you have any questions, reach out on my profile or in the Fan-fi studio! I hope this helped!

The Procrastinator’s Guide to the First Weekly: Part 4

Welcome back to the Procrastinator’s Guide, Fan-fi campers, for the final part of the Main Cabin Weekly! :)

This is the easiest and most fun part, since you are going to be writing a fanfiction of SWC!

The possibilities are endless: you could write about how the different cabins of SWC interact, imagine what SWC or your cabin might look like in real life, lead an imaginary new camper in a tour of SWC, and many, many more!

The only requirement is that you write at least 400 words, so get those creative juices flowing!

If you have any questions, please reach out! And once you’ve completed this final part of the weekly, CONGRATS! YOU’RE DONE! :DDDDDDDDDDDD

Double check your word counts and put together the parts of your weekly, and then head over to the main cabin as quickly as possible to cash in those 3,000 points for Fan-fi!

Remember that the deadline is 11:59PM on July 9th UTC, so make sure that you get everything completed before then! However, don’t worry if you can’t finish in time. You can still add the words you’ve completed so far, and you’ve probably already done the most important thing of all: learned something about writing that you will be able to use in every word you write later on.

Good luck, campers! Fan-fi FTW!

The Procrastinator’s Guide to the July 6th Daily

Do you believe in horoscopes? Today, find your sign’s horoscope at https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/711163750 and use it as a writing prompt! Write at least 500 words to earn 600 points for your cabin, and earn an additional 200 points for sharing proof of your writing. If you would prefer not to reveal your zodiac sign, you can choose a random horoscope. If there are other reasons you are uncomfortable with this daily, contact someone on the daily team (see bottom of description) and we’ll give you an alternative prompt.

This daily is pretty straightforward, and most of the details are covered in the description.

My tip for today is to try using the prompt to create a story for a character who fits the zodiac sign you have chosen! Perhaps you can even incorporate the prompt into the story, where another character gives them the instructions you got in the project (don’t copy and paste the prompt, though!).

Remember that the word minimum is 500 words, so get writing!

This daily is worth 600 points for our cabin, but 800 points with proof, so it could help us out a lot in the cabin rankings! If you have any questions, please reach out!

The Procrastinator’s Guide to the July 8th Daily

Today is another classic SWC daily — copy and paste a song into Google Translate, translate it into a few different languages, and then translate it back to English and use the messed-up lyrics as a writing prompt. Write at least 400 words to earn 500 points for your cabin. Also, make sure to prepare your cabin for cabin wars tomorrow!

Welcome back, Fan-fi Campers! Today we have the Google Translate daily, which is pretty straightforward! All you have to do is take the lyrics of a song (or part of a song), copy and paste it into Google Translate, and then translate it into another language. Then take the translation, copy and paste it back into Google Translate, and translate it to another language. Repeat this process as many times as you want, until the lyrics are distorted to your preference .

Then, use the lyrics as a writing prompt! Think about a story that uses a specific line or collection of lines, or that tells the tale of the distorted song as a whole. You have lots of possibilities!

Today, proof is not required, and if you comment in the main cabin with your word count, you can get 500 points for Fan-fi! Since this daily is worth 500 points, this also means that you can earn 10 extra anomalies for your division by completing it, for a total of 19 anomalies for completing the MC daily.

This could really help us out, especially since we’re on a roll at climbing the ranks, so please consider the daily today, and reach out if you have any questions or concerns about how to complete it!

On another note, the daily also informs us that Cabin Wars are tomorrow. There have been a couple of campers confused about what exactly Cabin Wars are, so I’ll do my best to clarify here:

Cabin Wars happen on two days of the month, and they are one of the most iconic parts of SWC. In the main cabin, they will post a list of challenges instead of the current daily, such as:

“Cabin Wars! Write 4000 words as a cabin in the next 8 hours, or lose 500 points. As an extra challenge, write only in verse to earn 50 points per person who completes the extra challenge.”

“Cabin Wars! At least 3 people must collaborate to write an 800-word story in the next 24 hours, or lose 500 points.”

Now, cabins can war each other with these challenges! A general rule of thumb is that we don’t war allies (our allies are Horror, Fairy Tales, and Dystopian), we definitely NEVER war siblings (Myth and Non-fi), we only war hostile neutrals (Hi-fi and Sci-fi), not necessarily friendly (Thriller) or neutral (Script) ones if we don’t want retaliation. However, we’re free to war all of our wonderful enemies! >:D These would be Poetry, Mystery, Adventure, Real-fi, and Fantasy! These cabins are also going to probably be the first to war us, so look out!

Each cabin also has a shield, which is about three hours in which the other cabins are not allowed to attack them until time is up. This shield goes up every time another cabin wars us, but the cabin leaders can manually lower the shield if they want to. Also, we’re not allowed to war the same cabin twice in a row, even if their shield is down. Remember to get a leader’s permission before warring another cabin, and make sure that their shield is down and that we were not the last cabin to war them.

I think that’s it for this daily, and the explanation of cabin wars! Please reach out with any questions! Go Fan-fi! <3

The Procrastinator’s Guide to the July 11th Daily

In order to connect with our characters, we writers often use their dialogue and inner thoughts as tools to convey their emotions, opinions, and characteristics. For today’s daily, however, neither of those tools will be available to you. For 600 points, write at least 500 words of an emotional narrative with neither dialogue nor inner thoughts. To earn an extra 200 points, provide proof of your writing.

Today’s daily is an interesting one, because it may take you out of your comfort zone to practice objective narration. Before we begin, I’m going to try to clarify a few terms that you may be confused on.

Firstly, an emotional narrative is simply one that contains emotions. It’s not just a information-filled dialogue, but it shows characters experiencing strong emotions, and hopefully evokes those same emotions, such as sadness, anger, joy, or confusion in the reader.

Now, the daily asks us to write a narrative in which emotion is shown, but we are not allowed to make the characters speak, or show what they’re thinking and feeling on the inside. Instead, think of how a movie shows emotion. We can see the characters’ faces, posture, and actions, but we are never directly told their feelings and thoughts. That is, unless they tell their feelings to the audience or to other characters.

Writing in which you never directly state the characters’ feelings and inner thoughts is known as using an objective narrator. This technique isn’t as common in writing, since it’s easier to let readers in to the character’s inner dialogue and emotions. But nevertheless, it is an interesting technique to use, and one that will be very important if you want to get those 600 to 800 points for our cabin .

Since we are not allowed to use dialogue or inner thoughts in this daily, try to think back to cinematic scenes you have seen where a character is alone or doesn’t speak, but that still evokes powerful emotions from the viewers. You are never told what the character is feeling, not by the narrator or the character themself, but the music, expressions, actions, setting, and focus that the movie used still allowed you to understand and feel those emotions.

While brainstorming your own story, try to consider the following elements that you might want to include in your daily to show emotion:

Try telling the story as if the reader was floating above the scene, watching the character. Remember, the character should never speak, but you can still make them look sad, happy, or angry. You need at least 500 words of your daily, so feel free to use a lot of description. Choose words and figurative language that convey the emotion you’re looking for when describing the landscape, surroundings, and characters themselves.

A character’s actions are also important. Describe their face. Is it calm and composed, fighting for control, or an absolute mess of emotions? Does the character smile, frown, grimace, or chuckle? Focus on their posture as well. Is the character practically collapsed on the ground? Do they stand ramrod straight? Do they seem tired or full of energy?

In addition, you can show the character’s emotions through the way that they interact with the objects and people around them. Do they ignore others? Slam doors? Take special care to avoid moving roughly?

There’s a wealth of information that you can choose to or not to include in your story. If at any moment you are stuck, try to think of it again as a movie that you are watching, and describe what you see.

Remember that the word minimum is 500 words, and you earn 600 points for commenting in the Main Cabin without proof, but 800 points if you include your proof.

That’s all I can think of for this daily! I hope I was able to help, and, as always, please reach out if you have any questions! :D See you soon!