Writing Prompt - Listing Desires

A prompt exploring your characters' desires

(I’m still exploring the format of Substack, but for folks excited for another story, one will be posted on 10/17! There are also a few notes on my substack you can read and respond to as well as prompts I’ll post throughout the month…!)

Last month, I had the honor of going to the American Writers Museum over in Downtown Chicago. That evening, writer R. O. Kwon shared amazing insights of her writing experience bringing to life The Incendiaries and her most recent novel, Exhibit, and led a writing workshop in collaboration with StoryStudio Chicago.

There were many nuggets shared that night, but Kwon led our group there several brief writing workshop exercises that allowed the audience to examine the faith/belief of themselves and their characters by getting at the core of their desires. Religion is one of the clearest ways faith and belief manifest, but even for characters who may not confirm to particular religions, desires drive characters and their religious practices, habitual actions, their sense of safety and consistency—it’s alll a part of their core beliefs (sometimes rooted in spirituality, sometimes politics, mayhaps even sports—go sportsball!).

What Kwon had the group examine a prompt in several parts that I wanted to share here:

Part 1: List Your Desires In Your Body: Take a moment to pause and reflect on yourself, and take 3-5 minutes to list all of the desires that exist right now in your body. Name all your wants, they can be small or big, near or far, tangible or aspirational. But list then.

Afterwards, reread your list. What did you notice? What surprised you? What themes did you notice drive you?

Part 2: What Does [CHARACTER X] Want?: Identify an existing character who you want to examine more or a new character whom you creating and take 5-7 minutes to list the wants and desires of this character. What drives this character? Who do they aspire to be? What habits, practices, or actions amplify, complicate, or contradict your character’s drives and wants?

Afterwards, reread your list. What themes did you notice? Are there any contradictions across the character’s desires? What about their drives makes them a fascinating character? How did the process of examining your own desire differ from examining your characters?

And that’s the prompt! It’s a great way to explore what is motivating your character throughout your piece in a manner that allows you, as a writer, a deeper comprehension of who your character is. Often when character fall flat, we may have a full idea of who they are in our own mind, without finding the full words to flesh them out. This practice allows a space to slow down and examine your character, and then take this list, find something fascinating and something new about your character (or even yourself) and craft a little scene that showcases the outcome of your prompt. So give it a try and see what happens!