You have probably heard about the importance of knowing your fictional characters so well that you know what he/she had for breakfast. Readers don’t need to know this, but the writer does. You don’t need to include everything you know about your characters in your story, but as the writer/creator, you need to know a huge amount of information about the people (and animals) who populate your story. The challenge is to create memorable characters rather than one-dimensional characters. Your fictional characters are like actors in a scene. Some fictional characters seem shallow while others seem richer. The difference could be that the writer knows the characters/actors so well, that the dialogue and the details fit the character. Your fictional actor may want to step out of character and exhibit new behavior. This is fine, as long as it’s credible. Your job as writer is to drop convincing clues so…
Category: Prompts
Describe an item. Prompt #443
In “The Art of Fiction,” John Gardener describes “the fictional dream.” This is when the author has described a scene so viscerally, the reader can see, feel, hear, taste, or smell what’s going on in the scene. Sensory detail is important in writing, but how to achieve it? Practice! Try this: Study an object for ten minutes. It can be something you are wearing, an item on your desk or on a kitchen shelf. It can be something you use every day or a special item put away to keep it safe. You can describe the glass flower decoration above. Notice the details of the object — the shape and texture. Explore the pieces that make up the whole. Hold or touch the item. Notice the texture, the heft. How does it feel? Does it have a smell? Look at the object from all angles. After ten minutes, write a…
Finding balance . . .Prompt #442
Balance is a tricky act. Like a pie crust, balance is sometimes tender and light, and sometimes fails. Sometimes we find balance. Then we totter. Then we regain balance. And totter again. And find balance once more. Write about finding balance. You can use any of these phrases for your writing prompt or use the image. Isn’t this a beautiful pie crust topping? Not something I made. But something I would enjoy eating!
When the flame flickers . . . Prompt #441
When the flame flickers and goes out, sometimes the simplest thing is to let it go, other times just re-light it. You know what to do with these writing prompts, right? Don’t overthink them. Just write! Freewrites can open doors to discoveries.
Random Phrases . . . Prompt #440
Choose a phrase and write whatever comes up for you: You can’t move forward from a stuck place. Let go of perceptions. Acceptance. If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. What matters? Learn to let go.
Tapestry of Fortunes Inspired . . . Prompt #439
I’m spending this summer re-reading Elizabeth Berg’s books. Perhaps I’m trying to recreate the summers of my pre-teen years. After morning chores, afternoons were mine to do what I wanted. I walked to the library every Saturday and checked out an armload of books. Starting with the letter A in the children’s section, I worked my way around the room. I don’t remember what letter I was on when I abandoned the children’s section for adult fiction, upstairs in the grand and austere room, seeped with old-world charm, burnished wood stair railings, mahogany wainscoting, heavy oak chairs, and of course stacks and stacks of books. Those were the days of hushed voices and the librarian whispering shhhhh, pointer finger over pursed lips. This summer, I’m enjoying the cool breeze from a portable fan while Berg’s characters march and dance through my head. Here is an excerpt from Tapestry of Fortunes from pages 7 and 8:…
What makes you smile? Prompt #438
What makes you smile? Ideas on how to use freewrites: Freewrites: Opening Doors to Discoveries Get started – how to use writing prompts Don’t think. Don’t plan. Just Write.
Comfort Zone . . . Prompt #437
Comfort zone – write about a time you were out of your comfort zone.
Write Your Story. Prompt #436
An article in the Mail Tribune, Medford, Oregon, September 14, 2006 described how Betty Henshaw wrote about her childhood in the Oklahoma hills and her family’s move to California. Author Sandra Scofield read a collection of Betty’s work and said her history needed to be in the hands of a university press. Texas Tech University Press published her story and Betty did a book tour in 2006. Here’s an excerpt from that newspaper article. “The family hired an auctioneer and sold their cows, horses, pigs, chickens, farm tools, the potatoes in the barn and the home-canned fruits and vegetables. Mama kept her sewing machine. The next morning I helped herd the younger children into the truck before first light. Daddy and Robert had placed a feather mattress on the pickup bed. The babies crawled to the back, grabbed a pillow each, and rolled up in quilts. Sadness washed over me…
Write what is hard to admit. Prompt #435
“You don’t grow up missing what you never had, but throughout life there is hovering over you an inescapable longing for something you never had.” — Susan Sontag, excerpted from The Rainbow Comes and Goes by Anderson Cooper. Anderson Cooper continues: “As a child, you generally aren’t aware that your family is different from any other. You have no frame of reference.” The following is excerpted from What We Keep by Elizabeth Berg. “I am thinking of how right he was when he said that people want to be deceived. I have learned the truth of that notion over and over; but I never admitted to its obvious presence in my own life. After all, I claimed I did not need my mother. I said I had replaced her.” Prompt: Write about something you have been unwilling to admit or something you have been deceiving yourself about. Note: No one…