The Write Spot Blog by Marlene Cullen

Category: Prompts

  • That Family Member . . . Prompt # 292

    Let’s do some relaxation exercises before writing.

    Settle into your chair.  Feet flat on floor. Hands relaxed.

    Rotate shoulders in a circle. Reverse direction.

    Stretch arms out in front. Arms overhead. Arms to the side.

    Big deep breath in. Hold. Let go.

    Feel your feet connected to the floor. That connection goes down into the earth, way down, deep down, to the center of the earth. Firmly planted, deeply rooted.

    Take a nice deep breath in and bring your shoulders up to your ears. And then let them down with a loud hrumph sound. Another deep breath in, shoulders up and down with the outward breath.

    Completely supported in your chair. Feeling the connection to the earth. Feeling connected to the center . . .  the core of the earth. Your connection goes deep.

    We’re going to do a bit of exploration here. . . scanning memories.

    family photosSitting comfortably in your chair, scan your relatives for the person who affected you the least.

    Now, a relative who affected you the most.

    What are some of the emotions that came up for you?

    Which relative affected you in a way that surprised you?

    Prompt:  Write about that relative and a time that holds deep emotions for you.

     How to write without adding trauma is a Write Spot Blog post from July 2013. You might want to read this before writing about difficult experiences.

     

  • Paint Colors . . . Prompt #291

    paint-colorsHave you ever noticed the names of paint colors? They are so creative. . . they could be wonderful writing prompts.

    Writing Idea: Keep a file folder of phrases to inspire your writing. These could be phrases that someone else wrote. They could be snippets you wrote to be used in future writing.

    This folder can also contain lists like these names for  paint colors. You never know when or how you might want to use them. You might find a unique name for a character.

    Or a fabulous name for: a fictional town, a store, a street name, a pet.

    My favorite:  Amethyst reflection . .  . I can imagine using this to refer to eye color.

    Aqua Rapids

    Bubble Turquoise

    California Chamois

    China White

    Cloud Nine Blue

    Crystal Clear White

    Deco Red

    Festival Green

    Fiesta Rojo

    Fire Roasted

    Fitzgerald Smoke

    Frank Llyod White

    French Silver

    Inness Sage

    Innocent White

    Jacobean Lace

    Kissable Pink

    Lime Freckle

    Minstrel Rose

    Moon Doggie

    Moroccan Ruby

    Orchid Blush

    Prague Purple

    Racy Red

    Red Hot Jazz

    Royal Cranberry

    Salisbury Stone

    Seville Scarlet

    Silver Blue Sea

    Spiced Berry

  • Movie Quotes . . . Prompt #290

    Movies! Do you love ’em or are you meh about ’em?  Do you get “lost in books?” Can you get the same kind of Calgon-take-me-away lost in movies?

    jean-hegland-and-movie-posterJean Hegland is a gifted writer. Her novel, Into The Forest, has been made into a movie and is now at theatres and will soon be available on DVD. I wouldn’t normally go to see this type of movie, but the opportunity came up to view Into The Forest, the movie, with Jean answering questions after the viewing. Thank you to independent bookstore Copperfield’s Books for sponsoring the viewing. And thank you to Jean for writing an amazing and memorable story. Thanks, also, to Ellen Page, who saw the possibility of the type of movie this could be. See it, if you can, even if, like me, you have to close your eyes during some scenes. The cinematography, the acting, the dialogue, the story line = all amazing and unforgettable.

    At the time of this posting, there are no authorized quotes from Into the Forest. Hmmm. . . guess you have to read the book and/or see the movie.

    Today’s writing prompts are lines from movies. Choose one and just write.

    ~ “Men like my father cannot die. They are with me still, real in memory as they were in flesh, loving and beloved forever.” How Green Was My Valley

    ~“My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”Princess Bride

    ~ Write about a time you had a close call.  In Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, there’s a scene where Butch and Sundance chase up a mountain to avoid the relentless posse, only to find themselves at a dead end. The only way, says Butch, is to jump a hundred feet or so to the fast-moving stream below. But Sundance won’t hear of it.

    Butch: “ It’s the only way. Otherwise we’re dead.”

    They argue about it for a while until Sundance admits the real reason he doesn’t want to jump.

    Sundance: “I can’t swim.”

    Butch, “You stupid fool, the fall’ll probably kill you.”

    ~  Gene Wilder agreed to play Willy Wonka under one condition: that his character make a wildly grand entrance:

    “When I make my first entrance, I’d like to come out of the door carrying a cane and then walk toward the crowd with a limp. After the crowd sees Wonka, they whisper and then become deathly quiet.

    As I walk toward them, my cane sinks into one of the cobblestones I’m walking on and stands straight up, by itself; but I keep on walking, until I realize that I no longer have my cane. I start to fall forward, and just before I hit the ground, I do a beautiful forward somersault and bounce back up, to great applause. ”

    His reason for wanting to include the dramatic entrance: “Because from that time on, no one will know if I’m lying or telling the truth. ”

    If you have seen Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory, with Gene Wilder:  Do you think his entrance worked?  Did it help or hinder his character’s believability? Did the entrance affect you?

    A scene from Willy Wonka:

    Computer Operator: “We’re about to witness the greatest miracle of the machine age. Based on the revolutionary Computonian Law of Probability, this machine will tell us the precise location of the 3 remaining golden tickets. ”

    Computer Operator pushes button on the machine.  Computer prints out a response:  “I won’t tell. That would be cheating. ”

    Computer operator pushes button on the machine again. “Iam now telling the computer that if it will tell me the correct answer, I will gladly share with it the grand prize. ”

    The  machine prints out another response. “What would a computer do with a lifetime supply of chocolate? ”

    Operator sighs: “I am now telling the computer exactly what he can do with the lifetime supply of chocolate. ”

  • Movies as inspiration for writing. Prompt #289

    movie-scriptMovies can be a wonderful inspiration for writing. I recently saw the movie, Sully. Even though I knew how it ended, I was teary-eyed. I was filled with emotion at how people helped one another. Director Clint Eastwood did an amazing job of telling the right amount of backstory and the right amount of Sully’s personal life. The focus was on the people involved . . . the human interest story.  There were lines of dialogue that were exquisite.

    When using a movie as an inspiration for writing, you can write about the theme or mood of the story, a line of dialogue, a memorable scene, whatever interests you.

    Write about:

    A road trip. Thelma and Louise

    How you learned to dance. Dirty Dancing

    A time you were tricked, or you tricked someone. The Sting, two con men outcon a con.

  • I wasn’t the first . . . Prompt #288

    Today’s writing prompts are inspired by author Julia Park Tracey, Alameda’s Poet Laureate.

    victorian-housePart 1: Quotes from Veronika Layne Gets The Scoop by Julia Park Tracey.

    “I wasn’t the first reporter to arrive at the scene, but I wasn’t the last, either.”

    “A Victoria house — one of those multihued beauties with turrets, fish-scale shingles, gingerbread trim, iron railings, a weathervane, a trim of every description on widows’ walks and sun porches —a majestic painted queen from the late 1800s —burned like a marshmallow too close to the coals.”

    “You finally get a story, the story, and it changes before the ink is even on the page. And then it’s past, it’s history, and there’s not enough to cover for the following issue. On to the next assignment.”

    Note from Marlene: When you look at writing prompts, you can look at the entire quote, or take a section, or a word and write from there. For example, you could write about “I wasn’t the first to arrive at the party.”

    The second quote intrigued me because I love the description of “burned like a marshmallow too close to the coals.”  It seems to me that not many people would think of comparing a house fire to roasting marshmallows.

    Part 2: Lines from Home at the Edge of the World, Alameda Poet Laureate Julia Park Tracey,  Inaugural Poem

    There are houses down your shaded streets –
    beneath your oaks, your ginkos, your avenues of palm –
    Leaded in glass, shingled in fish-scale, spangled with gingerbread,
    Victorian ladies tarted up for Carnival,
    their history and lore curving like a staircase into view.

    Gentlemen strolled in spats, ladies swung their parasols,
    bay breezes curling with fog and the clank of halyards, snapping flags. Water, at every turn,
    glittering to shore, to ship, to ankles and toes.

    Note from Marlene: In your collection of writing, mark places of exquisite writing. You might be able to use these nuggets later . . . in a story or a poem.

    Julia Park Tracey is an award-winning author, journalist and blogger. Tracey was the founding editor, and later, publisher, of The Alameda Sun. Her work has appeared in Salon, Good Housekeeping, Scary Mommy and Thrillist. She is the Poet Laureate of Alameda, California, and holds a BA in journalism and MA in English. Her publications include three novels (Tongues of Angels and two Veronika Layne mysteries); two biographies, I’ve Got Some Lovin’ to Do: Diaries of a Roaring Twenties Teen and Reaching for the Moon: More Diaries of a Roaring Twenties Teen; and Amaryllis: Collected Poems.

    She reads and teaches poetry to all ages and grades, leads literary events citywide, and representing the city at literary events such as Litquake.

    Julia will be the Writers Forum Presenter on September 15, 2016.

    To read the entire inaugural poem click on Home at the Edge of the World.

     

  • Write about a favorite movie. . . OR . . . Prompt #287

    Write about a favorite movie. Why do you like it?

    OR . . .   write about a movie you really didn’t like. Did you watch it to the end?  Why? Why didn’t you walk away?

    A note about freewrites:  You don’t have to write on the prompt exactly as it’s written. You can write about “Why didn’t you walk away?”  Write freely, with no attachment to the final product. Just write.

    favorite-movie-of-all-time

  • Let’s go to the movies. Prompt #286

    lets-go-to-the-movies

    Write about going to the movies .  . . either as a child, teenager or adult.

     

     

     

     

  • Modeling— Becca Lawton’s Cool Writing Tips . . . Prompt #285

    Becca LawtonHere’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.”

    Becca RowingThere 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

    Lolita.miniGuest 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.