Prompts

Flashbacks . . . Prompt #433

A flashback is a scene set in a time earlier than the main story. Sometimes when you are telling a story, or writing a story, you need to backtrack and tell what happened previously. A flashback is a shift in a narrative to an earlier event that interrupts the normal chronological development of a story. From Make a Scene by Jordan Rosenfeld: “With flashback, you want to focus on action, information, and character interactions.” Flashback can also be thought of as backstory.   Use flashbacks to explain, enlighten, and inform. An example is What We Keep by Elizabeth Berg. The story takes place during a woman’s travels to meet her sister and mother. We learn what happened thirty-five years prior through flashbacks while the woman travels in space. Other examples of using flashback to tell a story: To Kill a Mockingbird: The whole story is a flashback told by Scout a…

Prompts

Ouch. Prompt #434

Write about someone in your life who is consistently critical of you or what you do, and this could be yourself. I recently read a Facebook post by Prince Ea about the four letter word that ends all arguments: Ouch. Suggestion: As you write on this prompt, think of what words and actions hurt and add “ouch” to your writing. Frame your situation as experiences that had an “ouch” factor. Next, write what you wish you had said, or could have said, to lessen the hurt. Next, write a love letter to yourself. List your strengths, your qualities, your capabilities that make you uniquely you. Be generous with yourself. You deserve it.

Prompts

Five minute writing exercises . . . Prompt #431

~ Write for 5 minutes about something difficult, challenging, or painful. It’s only five minutes. Go ahead. Do it now. We’ll wait. Humming in the background while writing gets done. Quiet while writing gets done. Are you still reading?  Write!  Just write. For five minutes. After five minutes . . . ~ Write for 5 minutes about something comforting, happy, or joyous. Yes, you. Now. Just write. Go ahead. We’ll wait. Waiting. Waiting. Patiently waiting. I’ll write, too. After five minutes . . . ~ Write for 5 minutes about images of nature, the natural world. Hmm . . . what will you choose from nature to write about? Feathers, rocks, trees, birds, rocks, dirt, peach blossoms, river, waterfall, penguins, geese. Write whatever comes up for you about nature. Shhh. . . Writers are working here. Doing what we do. Writing. Just writing. Keep on writing. For five minutes. Next…