Character Development Writing Prompts: Waiting

Want to add suspense, magical tension, and raised stakes for the main character for your future bestseller? Afflict her with something we all relate to–waiting. Try these character development writing prompts on creating a wait for your heroine.

We spend a good portion of our lives waiting for something to happen. According to this article in The Washington Post, the average person spends one to two years just waiting in lines.

*Fun side note: Stephen King carries paperbacks in his back pocket for this reason. Read his book On Writing for more insights into his writing life. You won’t regret it.

“Wait for it… wait for it…” ~ SpongeBob SquarePants & me, when hoping for Stephen-King-like-success

It’s not just the ‘little waits’ to consider, though how your main character behaves during annoying, everyday waits might give insight into her character. Is she calm and polite? Or anxious and irritable? Does she try cutting? Or does she let people cut in front of her?

For now, let’s consider the BIG waits that’ll end with life-changing whoppers that’ll break the routine and carve a new path for your heroine. The BIG waits inspire the best character development writing prompts.

Take writers, for instance. Maybe “they” didn’t tell you this in writing school, but writers are the disgruntled kings and queens of waiting.

Waiting for editors… waiting for query responses… waiting for the right agent to come along… waiting for submissions and book deals… waiting for releases and reviews… waiting for the best sellers list…

And waiting for friendly blog comments, shares, and subscribers...

Writers learn patience. The Hard Way. The only thing that happens on our schedule is the writing…and sometimes our muses take off, and we have to wait for them, too. Shifty muses!

But everybody waits. Sometimes. (Hurts, too).

So, what’s your character waiting for? Here are some writing prompts to inspire your hero’s wait. Perhaps she’s waiting for…

• The best date ever to call… ring, phone, ring
• The New Year’s Eve Party where the handsome stranger from last year promised she’d have someone to kiss
• The test results to come back… professional, academic, scientific, or medical.
• His boss to take the poisoned pills in the Excedrin bottle
• The scandalous newspaper article to come out
• A call from an agent, producer, bank manager, probation officer
• Someone to come home
• The police to show up to arrest her
• The beam to give way, the rope to break, the car to tip over the edge, plunging her to her death
• The election, publication, hearing, trial… She needs it to be over, one way or another.
• A scheduled event… wedding, dentist appointment, reunion
• The acceptance call/letter/email to college, Chopped, Jeopardy, Married at First Sight, Mensa, Space Camp… whatever
• The monster to fall asleep. Goodnight, sweet Grendel.
• The voices to stop… But not the muse–she can stay.
• The coffee to brew… Need energy for writing
• The writer (you) to finish her novel… Hasn’t she waited long enough?

To raise the stakes and heighten tensions, let your main character wait for something… and when she finally gets it, maybe it’s not what she wants anymore… or she doesn’t get it, and she has to rethink her life… or it’s stolen from her, and she’s seeking revenge.

Funny how something as boring as waiting can turn into so many exciting ideas, huh?

Please don’t make us wait for your brilliant waiting ideas… share below! What is your character waiting for?

Want more story ideas? Check out more writing prompts on my blog.