Write about something that always get you, or your fictional character, in trouble.
Photo by Breana Marie
-
Something that gets you in trouble . . . Prompt #59
-
All Fools Day . . . Prompt #58
The roots of All Fools Day date back to at least the 1500s as an occasion to perpetrate tomfoolery, possibly in reaction to spring’s mercurial weather. It’s observed on April 1 in many Western countries.
In Italy, France, Belgium, and French-speaking areas of Switzerland and Canada, pranksters cry “April fish” as they tape paper fish to people’s backs.
In 1957, the BBC pulled a prank, known as the Swiss Spaghetti Harvest prank, where they broadcast a fake film of Swiss farmers picking freshly-grown spaghetti. The BBC were later flooded with requests to purchase a spaghetti plant, forcing them to declare the film a prank on the news the next day.
Source: Wikipedia
Prompt: Write about pranks you used to play on April Fool’s Day, a prank pulled on you, or make up a story about how April Fool’s Day started.
-
Watershed moment . . . Prompt #57
This prompt is inspired by Ianthe Brautigan from her Writers Forum workshop.
Draw a circle with radiating arms, ending in circles (see below).
In the center circle, write a note about a watershed moment where nothing was the same after that: A pivotal moment.
Write details on the radiating circles. Include as many circles as you want for details.
Write into the questions . . . how did this moment shape me? How did this affect the rest of my life?
Use this prompt to spark a freewrite.
When you are finished with freewriting on this prompt, if you keep a journal, use that for details to flesh out the story.
-
See your story and tell it.
Tips to writing deeply and comfortably.
Stretch – either standing or sitting in a chair. Do whatever whatever stretching feels good to you.
Sit easily in a comfortable chair.
Take a deep breath in through your nose, exhale out through your mouth, like you are blowing out a candle.
Take several deep breaths and whoosh out on the exhalations.
Relax into your chair. Smile. Escort your inner critic out the door.
Shed your ideas about what perfect writing means.
Give yourself permission to write the worst stuff possible.
Writing isn’t about talent, it’s about practice and going into another dimension.
Creative writing is an act of discovery.
Take another deep breath. Relax into your breathing. Exhale with a satisfying sigh.
Rather than write for an audience, write from an instinctual level.
Immerse yourself in writing. Let go of your worries and write. Just write to a satisfying inner desire to go to a meaningful place.
Go deeper into the recesses of your mind and really write.
Write from the well that stores the fears. Let the tears come. Let the stomach tie up in knots.
It’s okay to write the story that is difficult to tell.
Get through the barriers to go to a deeper level.
See your story and tell it.
When you are writing, if you run out of things to say, write “I remember. . .” and see where that takes you.
Or write, “What I really want to say . . .”
You can use the prompts on this blog to jumpstart your writing.
Photo by Jeff Cullen. Click here to see Jeff’s portfolio on fotolia.
-
In a perfect world . . . Prompt #56
Prompt: In a perfect world . . .
Set timer for 12 minutes. Write.
Post your writing here. Come on . . . share your writing with us.
In a perfect world . . .
-
In this photo . . . Prompt #55
This is a two-part prompt.
Part 1: Get a photo of yourself. We’ll wait.
Toe tapping . . . humming. Photo in hand? If not . . . close your eyes for a moment and picture a photo of yourself.
Write, starting with: “In this photo . . . ”
Go! Now! Write before reading Part II.
Wait. . . did you write on the prompt?
If yes . . . proceed to the next part. If not, take 10 or 15 minutes to write, “In this photo . . . ”
We’ll wait for you to catch up. Maybe we’ll hum a little tune. . . la. . . de. . . dum. . .
Ready?
Part II:
Add three sentences after every sentence you have just written. Start first additional sentence with “I felt” and then add two sentences after that.
Example of adding three sentences to what you have already written.
Original Sentences: In this photo, I’m opening a present. I’m four years old. It’s Christmas.
Original sentence #1 plus three sentences: In this photo, I’m opening a present. I felt happy. I loved being surrounded by my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. I’m excited to open this present.
Original sentence #2 plus three sentences: I’m four years old. I felt happy. I am older than my sister. I liked playing with her.
Original sentence #3 plus three sentences: It’s Christmas. I felt content. I liked being in Nana’s living room. She made the nightgown and robe that I’m wearing in the photo.
This is one way to go deeper in your writing.
I first experienced this writing prompt with Adair Lara, at a writing class in her home, Summer 2009. She teaches classes in her home. If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area and are interested, contact her. Click here for information about Adair Lara.
-
Klutz or dazzling . . . Prompt #54
Tell a story from your past that has something to do with being a klutz or a time you were dazzling.
-
The nervousness of writing — Francisco Goldman
“When you’re beginning a book, or getting back into a book, as I am now, you have to learn to deal with the nervousness and stress of it. The blank page or the stalled page is incredibly intimidating. And you have to turn that nervousness – rather than into something that blocks you, rather than into something that makes you try to over-think, that makes you feel that you can’t proceed unless you have a clear idea of where you’re going – you have to harness that nervousness, almost like a natural force, and make it work for you. You have to trust that you’re just going to get inside the page and get inside the sentences, and you have to release the desire to feel in control and just follow the writing where it takes you and have faith that you’re eventually going to find the way. — Francisco Goldman
January 2014 issue of The Writer magazine.“Writers on Writing: Find the power to overcome writing fears.”
The Writer magazine article written by Gabriel Packard
-
What I want to say . . . Prompt #53
Today’s Prompt: What I want to say . . .
Post your writing and watch for comments.
-
I am from . . . Prompt #52
Based on the poem, “Where I’m From,” by George Ella Lyon.
Learn more about this woman, with the unusual name (for a woman): George Ella Lyon.
“In the summer of 1993, I decided to see what would happen if I made my own where-I’m-from lists, which I did, in a black and white speckled composition book. I edited them into a poem — not my usual way of working — but even when that was done I kept on making the lists. The process was too rich and too much fun to give up after only one poem. Realizing this, I decided to try it as an exercise with other writers, and it immediately took off. The list form is simple and familiar, and the question of where you are from reaches deep.” George Ella Lyon
Watch and listen to George read her poem.
Note from Marlene: I had the good fortune to first hear this poem at a writing workshop with Pat Schneider. I’ve written on this prompt many times . . . each time I feel closer to the family I inherited.
I am from . . . Prompt #52
Prom, Tonga Room, Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco, 1965
