Today’s writing prompt is . . . Play. Here’s my play on the word play: Playwriting. Play at writing. Be playful about writing. Go to a play: Sit. Watch. Listen. Go to a playground: Run. Swirl. Fly. Put into a playpen: Baby. Puppy. Kittens. Be playful: Tweak an ear. Nudge a rib. Flirty smile. Play around: Scandal. Heartbreak. Disrupt. Play through: Move aside. Slow poke. One act play: Short Three act play: Three sections: Beginning, middle, end. Play: Vacation, sand, beach, Coppertone. Play date: Strollers, nanny, my house or yours? La Playa: Mexican beach, Tequila, Sunrise, Margaritaville. Play around: No-no? Play around at writing: Yes-yes! Your turn: Write on the word “play.”
Tag: Just write. Writing freely. The Write Spot Blog
Pastiche . . . Prompt #591
Today’s writing prompt is not the usual 15-20 minute freewrite. Instead, it’s a bit more challenging and will take time to pursue. When you are ready for the challenge . . . Create a pastiche. “Pastiche (pronounced pass-TEESH) is a creative work that imitates another author or genre. It’s a way of paying respect, or honor, to great works of the past. Pastiche differs from parody in that pastiche isn’t making fun of the works it imitates – however, the tone of pastiche is often humorous.” Examples of Pastiche The TV show 30 Rock is about a television studio, so there are plenty of opportunities for pastiche. In various episodes, the show mimics classic shows like “The Brady Bunch” or “Seinfeld” and major television events like the Olympics. From the tone of the show, it’s clear that these imitations come from a place of irreverent love, so they fall into the category of pastiche rather than parody. Pastiche is common in music,…
Ode To A Table
Memorable writing that sparks imagination. Lean in. Hear the writer’s voice on the page. Ode to a Table By Julie Wilder-Sherman Lined with age, scratched without intent, indentations of mountain ranges from 7th grade homework reside in her second panel. Rings of white from overly hot cups and larger spheres from sizzling casserole dishes placed upon hot pads too thin. Dents on corners from swift, careless movement, black pen lines etched through paper, bleeding into the wood. The long, suffering life of my dining room table, surviving, still standing with the family that unthinkingly scarred her. Julie Wilder-Sherman began reading books at an early age, encouraged by her mother who would allow her to take books to bed when she was as young as two years old. Raised in a family of readers, writers, performers, musicians, and political activists, Julie followed her dream of singing professionally and met her husband, bassist…
Cool Desserts . . . Prompt #590
July is National Ice Cream Month Write about a memorable ice cream or cool dessert. Or write about interesting or unusual ice cream desserts. Wicked Slush Dave and Julie Pokorny have created a destination experience in Petaluma, CA with their unique Wicked Slush. Soft serve with a twist. “Back East, it was Carvel. The creamiest, dreamiest, tallest, most improbable tower of soft serve ice cream, covered in chocolate magic shell. Remember? You had to crack through the shell to get to the goodness inside. Well, in Petaluma, we have Wicked. Creamy, dreamy, towering swirls of soft serve ice cream, made from local, organic Straus Family Creamery Dairy. Now imagine this in not only chocolate or vanilla, but in any one of 26 different flavors! And that magic shell? How about 6 different flavors? How about this concoction sitting in a crunchy sweet waffle cone? Yep. That’s how we roll at Wicked.”…
Using a book as your how-to textbook.
Choose a book you like and in the genre you want to write as your how-to-write manual. For example, Maiden Voyage, a memoir by Tania Aebi: Aebi starts her story on her 37th day at sea, at a point when she is terrified. Rather than give us the back story of how all this began, she starts at a high action point. She describes her immediate situation: Because of strong winds and choppy waves, she hasn’t been able to eat, sleep, relax, or think. We get the sense of imminent danger. And then, to build suspense and tension, she reveals, “The weather can only get worse.” We hear a little about her emotional and mental state. She wants to go home to her family. ALL this, on the first page. Still on page 1, we get a “visual” – seeing her as she gets into her foul weather gear. There…
It
By Cheryl Moore It’s as slick and slippery as an eel living in a low walled enclosure, searching all the crevices to find bits of debris that didn’t find their way to the long, dark tunnel at its root. It spends most of its days and nights resting against the hard, upper ceiling except at meal times when it is an important assist in processing the food, or when in company its primary function is to express thoughts into language. So many kinds of languages it helps to express — the hard, umlauted words of German, the soft shushes of Portuguese or Polish, the rapid clip of Spanish or Italian, even the clicks of Khoisan, and of course, the vast vocabulary of English which has borrowed from all over the world. Such a useful organ, the tongue, it may even be aware of when to hold its peace. When Cheryl…
What am I ready to let go of?
By Julie Wilder-Sherman Well, what am I going to do with all these masks? Store-bought. Handmade. Giants-themed. Kitty cats. Bejeweled. Blue flowers with yellow backgrounds. Yellow flowers with blue backgrounds. Plain, monochromatic. Busy, colorful. Cloth mosaic. A quilt of masks. Wait! That’s it. A Quilt. Of. Masks. Imagine millions of masks sewn together like the AIDS quilt, honoring what we have survived and what we have lost. A memorial, a tribute and dedication to what we have endured. I’m ready to let go of seeing half-faces. Of asking people to repeat themselves. At nodding to those speaking, pretending to understand. At straining to hear the muffled words behind the shield. I’m ready to let go of images of cops and robbers. Of old movies with lepers, their faces partially covered. Of images of Isis terrorists with covered faces holding rifles over captives kneeling in front of them. I’m ready to let…
Best Year of Your Life . . . Prompt #551
If you could choose the best year of your life, what would it be and why?
Boost Dialogue with Beats . . . Prompt #532
Too much dialogue can be boring to read. Interspersing action with dialogue makes a story interesting. In real life, we don’t talk without movement, neither should characters on a page. Plus, action gives clues to the character’s personality, habits, status and more. For example: “I dunno,” Remy said. Well, kind of boring. But what if detail were added: “I dunno,” Remy said, polishing the top of his boot along the back of his jeans. Readers can “see” this action and learn more about Remy’s character. Beats “Dialogue benefits from variety. A good way to maintain reader’s interest is to insert a variety of beats into dialogue. Beats are descriptions of physical action that fall between lines of speech.” —“Amp Up Dialogue With Emotional Beats,” by Todd A. Stone, Nov/Dec 2010 Writers Digest Facial Expressions Facial expressions signal emotions. “When a character raises an eyebrow or furrows his brow, this action,…
When I was six years old . . . Prompt #527
When I was six years old . . . Finish the sentence: When I was six years old . . .