Today’s prompt: Evening. Hmmmm. . . I wonder what you will come up with for this freewrite? I look forward to your writing about “evening.”
Breathe, focus, keep your head down and . . .
keep going. — Christina Baker Kline, interviewed by Alicia Anstead in the October 2014 issue of The Writer Magazine. Or, as Dory sings in Finding Nemo, “Just keep swimming. . . swimming. . . swimming. . . ” At some point in your writing life, you may think your writing is no-good, awful, horrible and no one would want to read it. Join the Ark. Most writers, I think, are in that boat at least once. Take the advice of Christina Baker Kline, author of Orphan Train, “Breathe, focus, keep your head down and keep going.” Click here if you want prompts to jumpstart your writing. Click on “Comments” on any of the Write Spot Blog posts to read inspirational writing. And just keep swimming, swimming. . . writing, writing.
What do you want? Prompt #110
What do you want? Set your timer and write for 15 or 20 minutes. See what comes up for you. If this prompt is too “open” or vague for you, how about this: What do you want to do today? If you could do anything you want. . . what would you like to do today? You can answer for yourself, or as your fictional character would answer. This might be a fun way to get to know your fictional character(s) a little deeper. Above all, have fun with this prompt! Laffing Sal
Narrative Magazine’s Mission: advance literary art . . .
The Mission of Narrative Magazine is to advance literary art in the digital age. From Narrative’s website: A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2003, Narrative is dedicated to advancing literary arts in the digital age by supporting the finest writing talent and encouraging readership across generations, in schools, and around the globe. Our online library of new literature by celebrated authors and by the best new and emerging writers is available for free. Vision: to connect writers and readers around the globe. Narrative welcomes submissions of previously unpublished manuscripts of all lengths, ranging from short short stories to complete book-length works for serialization. Narrative regularly publishes fiction, poetry, and nonfiction, including stories, novels, novel excerpts, novellas, personal essays, humor, sketches, memoirs, literary biographies, commentary, reportage, interviews, and features of interest to readers who take pleasure in storytelling and imaginative prose. Narrative looks for quality and originality of language and content….
Guest Blogger Angela Ackerman gets physical
Here’s what Guest Blogger Angela Ackerman has to say about writing physical descriptions. I’m going to be totally honest here. There is little I detest more than trying to describe how my character looks. The reasons are numerous. I think it sounds boring. It slows the story. It reads like a list or sounds clichéd, etc, blargh de blargh. I write in first person, to boot, making it even more difficult to create natural-sounding character description without using the dreaded MIRROR technique. After all, every time a writer uses a mirror to describe their character’s physique, somewhere in the world a zombie dies. Think about that. Right now, Zombies are dying. I can’t add to this terrible crime. Can you? But then I read Word Painting and realized I was looking at it all wrong. Physical description doesn’t need to be a dry, tasteless blob of facts to help the…
Writing from the other person’s perspective.
“It’s not easy for us to see the world from another person’s perspective, but as writers, we must do exactly that.” Emily Hanlon, “Falling Down the Rabbit Hole” December 2007 Writer’s Digest Magazine
Scene Two: Other character’s POV. Prompt #109
Using the same scene you wrote about for Prompt #108, write from the other person’s point of view. All inner thought, motivation and drama come from the secondary character’s point of view. Or take any two characters: First write from one point of view, then write from the other person’s point of view.
Are emails and FB Posts writing?
Do you think emails and Facebook posts can be considered as “writing?” I do! You are writing and communicating. Have fun with your writing . . . wherever that takes you. Your writing is your personal, and sometimes public, journey. Wherever your writing lands . . . Just write!
Scene One: Your point of view. Prompt #108
Today’s writing prompt is inspired from “Falling Down the Rabbit Hole” by Emily Hanlon, December 2007 issue of Writer’s Digest magazine. Using an incident from your life, or your fictional character’s life, write a scene from your point of view (or, your fictional character’s point of view). Use dialogue. Inner thought is what defines point of view. The other character in this scene speaks and acts, but the reader doesn’t know the secondary character’s thoughts. All the inner thoughts belong to the point-of-view character. Basically, you are writing about an argument or a fight, or a heated debate between two people . . . yourself or your fictional character, and a secondary character, using dialogue.
Got a gutsy story?
Every Monday, My Gutsy Story® features a short story on “Gutsy Living” about something Gutsy you have done in your life that either: Changed you Changed the way you think about something. Made your life take a different direction. My Gutsy Story® founder, Sonia Marsh, is looking for: A well-written story Something gutsy Inspirational Unique Motivational Engaging Humor Submission Guidelines: The story should be no more than 1,000 words. 100 word bio with your website. Click here to read the winners for August 2014. Click here for information for My Gutsy Story® anthology contest (different from the Monday short story feature). Sonoma County author Patrice Garrett was a featured writer in July 2014.