Make a list of things you fear or have feared.
Using items from your list, write a story, poem or essay.
-
Yellow Submarine – Prompt #46
The Beatles were a hit sensation on the Ed Sullivan show 50 years ago, 1964. Write about The Beatles, a band you like, a catchy tune, 50 years ago, 50 years from now or 1964. Or write about Yellow Submarine.
-
Essence of you. Prompt #45
Step 1. Make a list of significant events that have happened in your life. Start with the year you were born . You can list important dates such as the year you graduated, got married, started jobs, vacations. Also, list emotional highs and lows: betrayals, losses, inspirations, revelations, epiphanies.
Step 2. Choose specific years from this list and research historical events that happened during those years.
Step 3. From your lists: Choose an event that you think people would want to know more about. Or, choose events that capture the essence of you.
Step 4: Write about the event. Include specific details and use anecdotes.* Tie in your personal events with historical events. For example: My junior high friends and I swiveled on cherry-red stools at Woolworth’s in 1962 in San Francisco, not realizing that folks with certain colored skin were not allowed the same privileges in other parts of the world.
*Anecdote: A short account of a particular incident or event, especially of an interesting or amusing nature.
Next step: Turn this freewrite into a personal essay. For ideas about personal essay, click on the Just Write category on The Write Spot Blog.
-
Who knows more about you than you? Prompt #44
Imagine a room full of people, they are looking at a speaker behind a podium. They want to know more about the topic. In a way, they want to be entertained, even though it’s a somber occasion. They are talking about you . . . in the past tense.
Who knows more about you than you? Who best to talk about the essence of you, than you? For today’s prompt, write about you. Provide enough information so the reader or the person in that room has a view of your life. Write about high points, achievements, life markers. Write about what is important to you.
You can make a list in chronological order of events that have shaped you.
You can look up various years and discover what historical events took place in particular years. Write what your life was like during those historical events. Did they affect you?
Today’s prompt: Write about you. We can call it Life Changing Events or The Chronicles of [insert your name here]. Or we can call it your eulogy.
-
What trolley did you get on? Prompt #43
When using prompts for writing, you can answer from your personal experience, or from your fictional or real character’s point of view. Feel free to let your imagination meander.
If you only know where the trolley you got on would take you . . . What trolley did you get on, and where did it take you? What other trolleys were running then? What if you had taken one of them? Not had kids, had kids, chose to live on the Atlantic instead of Pacific, gave up art or gave up law, married him/her or didn’t. Tell us about your trolley.
Prompt: What trolley did you get on?
-
I stand on the edge of . . . Prompt #42
When using the freewrite style of writing . . . write freely with no worries about the end result. The editor that sits on your shoulder, the inner critic. . . out the door. Give ’em the boot. Not invited to this party.
It’s not about the writing . . . it’s about the process.
The process of letting go. Trust yourself. Go with your imagination. Go with what’s on your mind.
Today’s writing prompt: I stand on the edge of . . .
-
How to write fiction based on fact. Prompt #41
Part Two of how to write fiction based on fact. Part One is Prompt #40.
Alla Crone-Hayden began one of her first historical novels with this opening line:
On the cold Sunday of January 9, 1905, the pallid sun hung over the rooftops of St. Petersburg trying to burn its way through a thin layer of clouds.
The weather matches the mood of character, of story. Perhaps draws you in. Maybe you want to know more . . . does the sun succeed in burning through?
Second sentence:
By two o’clock in the afternoon the dull light had done little to warm the thousands of people milling in the streets.
The second sentence answers the unasked question about the sun. Notice the word choices: cold, pallid sun, thin, dull light . . . words match the mood or tone of the day/event.
Alla used weather to match the narrator’s mood. The weather matches the tone of the story. It’s probably not going to be a pretty story. It’s probably going to be gritty.
Writing Prompt: Take a pivotal event from your life and write it as fiction. Suggestions:
Use weather to mirror your narrator’s emotions.
Add any details you want. . . whether they really happened or not. Remember, you are writing fiction based on a true event.
Here are some lines you can start with:
In the early morning light, while still calm and quiet. . .
The sun played peek-a-boo . . .
Just as day was fading into night . . .
I could feel the storm gathering . . .
The sky opened and rain bellowed down . . .
Sunset, that quiet time of day, good for reflection . . .
Mid-afternoon, hot sun beating down . . .
Mint julep time, or as Granny/Grandpa used to say . . .
You get the idea. . . use weather or time of day to match the mood of your story.
For brilliant fiction based on fact, check out Alla Crone, author of Captive of Silence, Winds Over Manchuria, and more.
-
Make a list of pivotal events. . . Prompt #40
Today’s Prompt is Part 1 of 2. Part 2 is “How to Write Fact Based on Fiction,” Prompt #41.
Part 1
Make a list of pivotal events in your life. Those times when, at night, you were not the same person you were in the morning. By day’s end, you were a different person. Just write a list.
When you are finished writing the list: take something from your list and write the details . . . as you remember them. You can be as detailed, or as general as you want to be.
Write about an event that altered your life: all the gritty details. . . be as honest and as genuine as you can. Bleed onto the page.
Part 2 will be the next prompt post.
-
A strong feeling . . . Prompt #39
Today’s writing prompt: Write about a strong feeling or attachment you had when you were young.
-
Play with anaphoras. Prompt #38
Anaphora: Repetition of a word or expression at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, sentences, or verses especially for rhetorical or poetic effect. For example: Abraham Lincoln’s speech, “We cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow—this ground.” — Merriam-Webster online dictionary.
When Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous 1963 March on Washington speech, he repeated the phrase “I have a dream” at the beginning of his sentences.
Prompt: Using Lincoln’s speech or King’s speech as inspiration, incorporate anaphora in your next story, poem or essay.
Repeat a statement or idea that drives home the core message of your narrative. — except from January 2014, The Writer magazine.
