Write about going to the movies . . . either as a child, teenager or adult.
-
Modeling— Becca Lawton’s Cool Writing Tips . . . Prompt #285
Here’s an entertaining idea from Rebecca Lawton’s Cool Writing Tips.Becca’s advisor at Mills College introduced “Modeling,” — an exercise “in which you select an excerpt of masterful writing … and fill in the blanks.”
Rebecca Lawton writes, “Modeling is a sort of Mad Lib exercise, where each part of speech is swapped out for a word of your choice.”
-
What haunts you? Prompt #284
Sit still for a moment. . . take a few deep breaths. Relax into your chair.
For this writing experience, tap into what haunts you. As Rebecca Lawton says in Cool Writing Tips:
” See the detail of the memory with clear eyes and write it down as best you can remember it.”
There will be a repeat series of Becca Lawton’s Cool Writing Tips. This will only be available for the month of September, 2016. Sign up now so you don’t miss a single inspirational tip.“Write as if you were dying” features Rebecca Lawton as a guest blogger and highlights one of her Cool Writing Tips. I found her friendly style of writing about writing to be affirming and inspiring. I think you will, too.
-
Magic Carpet Ride . . . Prompt #283
Guest Blogger Becca Lawton’s post “Write As If You Were Dying” got me to thinking about how we spend our days. Most of our days are filled with things we have to do, accomplishing what needs to get done to pay bills, buy food, do the laundry, chores, clean whatever needs cleaning, and so on.What if, one day next week you could do anything you want. What would it be?
This is different from Prompt #164, “Write About A Perfect Day” where money and restrictions are not a factor.
For this writing, be realistic, what could you do in a day that would be fun and something you could afford?
This might be challenging for you . . . all the more reason to make the effort to sit down and Just Write.
Okay, so what if that type of writing sounds like no fun at all and you might have to research if places are open, what the cost is, etc.
What if you want to go on a flight of fantasy and write about it? What if you had a magic carpet that could take you anywhere?
Write about an ideal day where money and time constraints don’t matter. You can do anything and everything you want. Distance and time do not matter. This is your Magical Day. What would you do?
Whether writing about something you can realistically do or something that is total fantasy: Write about your ideal day from beginning to end.
-
Detour . . . Prompt #282
Write about a detour you have taken.
Or write about a detour someone you know has taken.
-
Saved . . . Prompt #281
Write about saving a life. Someone’s life you saved, or someone who saved your life.The save could be literal: CPR was performed, pulled from water, put out a fire, rescued from a snarling animal or a threatening situation.
The save could be inspirational: Something read in a book, a magazine, a placard, a wall hanging; a mental shift; a realization; an epiphany; something that was said; a behavior change; a belief change.
You get the idea . . . Saved. However you interpret this. Just write!
-
Food For Thought . . . Prompt #280
A friend delivered a gift wrapped in black and white paper with sayings on canning jars.Today’s prompts are inspired from that gift wrapping paper. Choose one to write about. Or choose several:
Food for thought.
Foodies are the best people.
Season everything with Love.
Just beet it.
Stay hungry – Stay foolish!
Eat. Drink. And be amazing.
Eat more greens.
Farm to table & table to soul.
-
This dream of mine. Prompt #279
Write about a dream you have or have had.Could be a night time dream.
A day dream.
A dream of something you long for.
Turn your dream into a poem: haiku, pantoum, or any form of short piece that works for you.
Share your dreams. Writing them, posting them, might help shed light on questions you have.
Giving your dreams “air” . . . letting them see the light of day might help manifest them.
Go for it. Just write!
-
33 Ideas You Can Use for Sensory Starts Prompt #278
I bet you have heard “Show. Don’t tell.” What does that mean? And how does one do it?
Answer: Sensory detail.
As described in Imagery and Sensory Detail ala Adair Lara Prompt #277:
- Make a list of images
- Expand into sentences
- Use sensory detail
Not interested in making a list? You are welcome to use any of the 33 ideas listed below to start sensory writing. Or just look around, choose items within your view, and write, using sensory detail, of course. Scroll to bottom of this post for links about using sensory detail in writing.Expand these images into full sentences, using sensory detail. Write as if you had to describe these visions to someone who has never seen or experienced these things.
What do these things look like? How do they sound, taste, feel, smell? Answer these questions and that’s using sensory detail in writing.
Write a sentence using these impressions, expand into a paragraph, a short story, a poem.
- The musky smell of tomatoes on the vine in the heat of the warm summer sun.
- The smell of a freshly mowed lawn.
- The rustle of a plastic bag.
- The burnt smell of overly cooked popped corn. Burnt popcorn.
- The smell of popcorn when walking past a movie theatre.
- The sound of someone blowing their nose into a tissue.
- Blaring music from a passing car.
- The sharp intake of breath when hearing that a friend died.
- Brown freckled skin of a soft banana.
- Gears grinding.
- Wind chimes.
- Dew on the lawn.
- Morning mist.
- Snoring.
- Drool.
- San Francisco cable cars.
- Crunchy pickles
- Snap of a fresh green been
- Strawberries, fresh from the vine
- Licking a stamp
- Shaking a rug
- Dust flying
- Fingers curled over keyboard – striking/ready to strike
- Hands on stomach. Too much watermelon.
- Swish of wash cycle
- Hands folded in prayer.
- Heads bowed.
- Grieving for what the person could have been but never was.
- He phoned yesterday with a single question that I answered in an instant.
- She didn’t mean to tell me so many sordid details and revealing incidents, but I’m glad she did.
- He uncorked the bottle, releasing maggots.
- She took the lid off and let some of the fireflies escape.
- I could feel her pain and had to be careful to not let her pain become my pain.
Posts on The Write Spot Blog about sensory detail:
Sensory Detail – Sound
Sensory Detail – SmellSensory Detail – Taste
Sensory Details – Kinesthetic, motion in writingThe “Queen of Sensory Detail” explains how to how to describe a character that gets into the essential details of the person: Elizabeth Berg Shows How To Demystify Character
-
Imagery and sensory detail ala Adair Lara Prompt #277
“Write five images every day, for seven days, using as many of the senses as possible.”— Adair Lara
From Adair’s book, Naked, Drunk, and Writing:
“Writing is turning your thoughts, abstractions, generalizations, and opinions back into the experiences you got them from.”
Adair’s example:
“Not ‘women my age become invisible,’ but ‘they handed drinks around and forgot me, again.’”
Using imagery involves the details about what happened.
Show what happened so that readers can see the scene, hear the sounds, feel the sensations, taste the elements, and smell the aroma.
Adair advises, “. . . every time you write a sentence, ask yourself, How can I show this? Try to get image and detail into every sentence. ”
Tidbits from Chapter Six, Using Images and Details:“We want experience, not information. ‘Joan was distressed’ is information. ‘Joan looked away’ is an image. The reader notices Joan looking away, and has the pleasure of concluding for herself that Joan is distressed.”
Today’s writing prompt is the same one Adair assigned to her students on that hot August night in the octagonal room that served as her writing classroom, the room in the sunny yellow Victorian, where we had to walk up a gazillion stairs to reach the front door. I so want to add, . . . and where we were greeted by her tail-wagging, smiling pooch, but that would be too much, wouldn’t it?
Writing prompt: Write five images for seven days using as many of the senses as possible. Set aside to simmer.
Stir the imagination when re-reading your list, looking for images that call to you, that want to be sniffed out, that won’t fade away, images that linger.
Use that imagery to write whatever comes up for you.
For more creative and juicy writing ideas, pick up a copy of Adair Lara’s book, Naked, Drunk, and Writing, with over seven pages of “Suggestions for Writing” as Adair calls these writing prompts.
Writing Prompt #276 and my freewrite in that post were inspired from Adair’s assignment first encountered on that hot August night in the octagonal room . . .
