Guest Blogger Ron Salisbury talks about MFA – Master of Fine Arts writing programs. “Everywhere I go, I’m asked if I think the universities stifle writers. My opinion is that they don’t stifle enough of them. There’s many a best seller that could have been prevented by a good teacher.”–Flannery O’Connor Flannery may be a little tough but not far wrong. What will you do with your MFA in poetry or fiction or non-fiction or children’s literature? Is it different from what you thought you would do before you started that MFA program? The proliferation of Master of Fine Arts Writing Programs in the United States (some 200 as of this writing) requires new crops of students every year; cannon fodder, inductees to charge over the lip of the trench into the guns of Admission Departments and Student Loans without much chance of becoming that famous author, a goal which…
Tag: The Write Spot Blog
An apology. . . Prompt #197
Who do you want — or need — to apologize to? Or maybe it’s a “thing” you need — or want — to apologize about. Write an apology note, something you never need to send nor give to anyone. Write it for yourself, to cleanse your palate, to lift the burden from your shoulders, to start from a new beginning. Prompt: Write a note of apology.
Something borrowed or loaned. Prompt #196
Write about something you have borrowed or loaned. Photos of bicycle and mallet by Jeff Cullen. (Click on Jeff Cullen to see his Fotolio photos)
Winner! Winner! Chicken Dinner. Prompt #195
Writing Prompt: Tell about an award or a prize you won. You can write about what really happened, or write as if your fictional character won a prize.
How to flesh out villains.
Do you have a villain in your story? Is this scoundrel executing gruesome acts? Is it hard for you to get into the head and heart of the “bad guy?” Does he or she have a heart? Here’s an idea about how to flesh out your baddie. . . so that he/she is someone you can live with for the duration of your writing. Do a freewrite. The antagonist was once a child. What were his/her passions as a teenager? What games did they play as children? What delighted this child? Write about his/her first car. Choose a prompt and write as if you were answering from the villain’s point of view. Imagine you are a neighbor or a relative of the undesirable person. Write about the mean person from someone else’s point of view. What is the turning point, or the chain of events that changed this innocent toddler…
The Zipper . . . Prompt #193
“When we seek closure, we reach out to the zipper. it keeps us warm, prevents things from falling out of purses and lets us cram way too much into our suitcases. When it gets stuck, so do we. Without it, life would be filled with the endless ennui of buttoning and snapping.” — Helen Anders Today’s writing prompt: Zipper
Vary sentence structure
Have you heard about varying length of sentences? Here’s what Mary Gordon says about that: “One of the things that I try to do is to have a paragraph that begins and ends with a sentence of approximately the same length and verbal structure. . . . in the middle, the sentences tend to be longer and more complex. It allows for a kind of velocity to happen . . . A shorter sentence you actually have to read more slowly . . . If you are a writer, you have more power than the greatest tyrant in the world because of punctuation. You get to tell people how to breathe . . . a sentence that has very little punctuation, you actually have to read more slowly because you’re not stopping to breathe. So it’s a slowing down and then a kind of build up – a crescendo and…
First car . . . Prompt #190
Write about your first car, someone else’s first car, or your fictional character’s first car. You can use this as a way to get to know your fictional character better. You probably won’t use this information in your fiction, but you might! Write about a first car. See where it takes you.
What are you angry about? Prompt #189
Prompt #1: What are you angry about? Mad about? Annoyed about? Complain! Go ahead and vent. Spit it out. You can answer from your experience, or from your fictional character’s point of view. Prompt #2: Regarding Prompt #1, is there anything you can do about it? If yes, write possible solutions, compromises, ideas, brainstorm. If not, let it go. Write about how you can release it, breathe it away, banish it, whisk it away. How can you let go of your fears, worries, annoyances? How can you just let go?
Sensory Detail – Taste
When writing simmers with sensory detail, readers digest the story and perhaps, are satiated with emotionally charged memories. Do you remember dipping graham crackers in milk and eating it quickly before it broke off and became a soggy mess? You might use something like this in a scene where the hero/heroine has just been dumped by a boyfriend/girlfriend. Perhaps your character can’t make decisions. Employ a scene where he taste tests while walking a buffet line; a bite here, a nibble there, unable to settle on a nourishing decision. Employ sensory detail to involve readers in the story’s emotional ingredients. Match emotions with taste receptors: Bitter: She recoiled and didn’t know whether it was from her bitter coffee or his abrupt, “We’re done.” Salty: “The oysters were so fresh they tasted like my tears. I closed my eyes to feel the sensation of the sea.” — Laura Fraser, “Food for…