Category: Prompts

Write about something you have had forever.

Write about your oldest possession.

You could also write about your earliest memory.

I have had this rocking chair since I was two years old. I used to rock in it while watching I Love Lucy on our black and white television set. I lent it to my sister when her children were little. Then my three children enjoyed it. And now, my granddaughter reads her books while rocking.

The books:  The Wonderful World of Oz and The Secret of the Old Clock . . those go way back. I spent hours captivated by Nancy Drew’s amazing sleuthing abilities and fascinated with the variety of characters in the Oz books. I was especially intrigued about how much time was spent for Dorothy and some of her companions to sleep or look for food. Time that could have been used to get them to their goals. Perhaps that’s where I learned patience and that books are a form of discovery and adventures into new worlds.

Your turn:  Write about your oldest possession or an early memory.

Just write!

What makes your fictional characters unique?  What makes one person different from others?

Write about someone from real life or write about a fictional character who embodies a unique quality.

You can use the following list to describe a special characteristic or trait that sets a person apart from others.

Charisma: charm or personal magnetism (from the Greek word meaning “favor”)
Chutzpah: admirable or excessive self-confidence; this word and ginger are the only ones on this list that have both positive and negative connotations (from Hebrew by way of Yiddish; several other spellings are used, but this one is the most common)
Élan: enthusiasm
Esprit: vivacious wit (French, from the Latin term spiritus, “spirit”)
Flair: style, or talent or tendency
Ginger: spirit, or temper
Gumption: initiative
Gusto: enthusiasm (the Italian word for “taste,” from the Latin term gustus)
Je ne sais quoi: a quality not easily described or expressed (a French phrase that means literally “I know not what”)
Knack: intuitive capacity or knowledge (originally meant “trick”; perhaps from the onomatopoeic word akin to knock)
Mettle: vigor, stamina (from an alternate spelling of metal)
Moxie: energy, enthusiasm, courage (from the brand name of a soft drink; early on, such beverages were often touted, long before the advent of energy drinks, as providing pep)
Panache: flamboyance; originally, a decorative plume of feathers on a helmet
Pizzazz: glamour, vitality (unknown etymology)
Spunk: courage, pluck
Verve: vivacity, energy, enthusiasm

Adapted from Daily Word, 2012

Prompt 298  on The Write Spot Blog suggests that you write about a difficult time.

Thinking about a difficult time:

Take the role of counselor . . . If you could step out of the box that contains The Difficult Event and look at it from the point of view of a counselor:

What would you advise this person, or these persons, to do?

Then:

Take the side of one of the persons involved. Write from his/her point of view.

And then:

Write about the situation from another person’s point of view.

For a good read about an interesting point of view: Fire Angels by Elizabeth Kern.