Prompt #861

  • Prompt #861

    Prompt #861

    Hero’s or Heroine’s Journey . . .

    Brief definition: A hero or heroine goes on an adventure, is victorious, and is transformed.  

    This can be fiction or memoir.

    Examples: Dorothy in Wizard of Oz

    Kerrin in Amoran, recently published by Debra Koehler

    If you were to write a story of your life, or a real person’s life, or your fictional character life as a hero’s or heroine’s journey, what would the lowlights be?

    • The highlights?
    • What obstacle did you or your character overcome?
    • Write a scene where there is a conflict: Someone wants something. There is an obstacle.
    • Does the character get what they want?

    Prompt #861

    Write a scene involving a conflict or overcoming an obstacle.

    Marlene C

  • Prompt #860

    Prompt #860

    Walk In Your Character’s Shoes . . .

    Prepare to write:

    Get into the head of the character, real or fictional, that you want to write about. This could be a younger version of yourself.

    • See that character.
    • Notice their skin. Is it youthful? Smooth? Wrinkly? Sagging?
    • Notice their hair: Color, style, neat, messy
    • Look into their eyes, notice the main color, the subtle colors. Do their eyes look tired? Energetic? Hopeful? Hopeless?
    • How do they sound? Clear voice? Raspy? Slow talker? Fast talker?
    • What type of personality are they?
    • Usually happy?
    • Cheerful?
    • Grumpy?
    • Modest?
    • Full of themselves?
    • How does that person walk?
    • How do they move?

    Become that person, that character. It could be a younger you.

    Walk around as if you are the person you are going to write about.

    Pantomime an action, or activity, the character might do.

    Fully embody that person.

    Walk around for about 3 minutes.

    As you walk, imagine you are the character you have in mind.

    Feel that character in your body.

    After walking, write about what you just experienced.

    Then, write a conversation or an interaction from real life or imagination, with the character you just inhabited.

    Possible sentence starts:

    You always . . .
    I hate it when you . . .
    I love when you . . .

    Why didn’t you . . .

    Remember when . . .

    I thought . . . and then I learned . . .

    In my mind, the trouble started when . . .

    This exercise was inspired by author and writing teacher B. Lynn Goodwin.

    Prompt #860

    Use a situation from real life.

    Or:

    Make up something that could have happened with either a real person or a fictional character.

    Marlene C

  • Prompt #859

    Prompt #859

    A December Memory . . .

    Prompt #859

    Write a December memory.

    Marlene C

  • Prompt #857

    Prompt #857

    Hard to do . . .

    Prompt #857

    Make a list of things that are hard for you to do.

    or

    Write about one of those things that are hard, and yet you do it anyway.

    Marlene C

  • Your Path to Success

    Your Path to Success

    Excerpt from an excellent post by Dan Blank:

    “As a writer, it can be difficult to find a clear path that leads you to your goals.” “One of my biggest concerns is that someone has a vision for what they want to write and create, and they justify giving it up. That it’s too hard to publish, so they don’t. That they receive too many rejections, so they give up. That they read marketing is impossible nowadays, so they stop trying.” You don’t have to struggle alone. Dan Blank has answers. “We struggle alone. We succeed together.” The Creative Shift by Dan Blank, November 7, 2025  

    Marlene C

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  • As writers, we’re often . . .

    “As writers, we’re often trained to seek momentum—significant events, turning moments, the big emotional payoff. Especially in memoir, there’s pressure to magnify the trauma or spin a grand arc of triumph. But when I sat down to write, what called to me weren’t the headlines. It was the folds in between.” — Mary Monoky, “What Stillness Taught Me About Story,” August 6, 2025, The Brevity Blog

    Marlene C

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  • Prompt #856

    Prompt #856

    Misconception . . .

    Prompt #856

    Write about something someone thinks about you, but it’s not true.

    A misconception.

    Just Write!

    Marlene C

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  • Even Introverts Can Support Authors

    Charlotte Wilkins

    We had an interesting discussion in my Jumpstart writing group the other day about being an introvert and how hard it is sometimes to be around people.

    Well!

    As writers and readers, it’s important to support authors. One possibly easy way is to attend author events.

    Charlotte Wilkins offers suggestions on how to be a successful participant at author events.

    “I attended the two book readings to support these authors, yet I’m the one who learned so much from them: relax and be yourself; having a sense of humor about yourself puts your audience at ease; read short snippets that makes the listener wonder what’s to come (Woodson says you must have intention in every line to pull the reader forward); be generous with your responses; hope for the best, prepare for the worst; and stick a couple of questions in your pocket just in case. It seems literary citizenship is a win-win.”

    “Literary Citizenship: What’s in It for You” by Charlotte Wilkins, Brevity Blog, December 19, 2024

    By the way, I keep a note on my desk, “I am an introvert who can act like an extrovert.” From “A Reformed Introvert,” by Laurie Neveau, Chicken Soup for the Soul, July 19, 2025

    Marlene C

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  • Prompt #855

    Prompt #855

    Mistranslation . . .

    Playing With Abstract Poetry

    Abstract poetry is a form of poetry that prioritizes the auditory and emotional impact of words over their literal meaning or conventional grammatical structure.

    Prompt #855

    Prompt 1 – The Warmup

    Write for 2 minutes about something troubling or sad.

    Write for 2 minutes about something using the opposite emotion: joyful, hopeful.

    Write for 2 minutes on something from nature, something from the natural world.

    Keep that writing nearby for Prompt 2.

    Why write an abstract poem

    “Science has shown that when we engage in play, we increase brain activity in the prefrontal cortex, where creative thinking happens.

    “You are not striving for perfection. You’re striving for perfectly unpredictable.” — “Words Gone Wild,” by Dr. Finnian Burnett, Writers Digest, Nov/Dec 2025

    Prompt 2

    Write an abstract poem, using only the words you have written in Prompt 1. Write for 15-20 minutes. It doesn’t have to make sense. It shouldn’t make sense!

    Intro to Prompt 3

    Homophonic: Words that sound alike, spelled the same, different meaning

    Rose (flower) and rose (past tense of rise).

    Or, sound alike but different letters: carat, carrot, caret (blinking cursor)

    Examples

    Dylan Thomas, Under Milk Wood: “The shops in mourning” where mourning can be heard as mourning or morning.

    Thomas Hood, Faithless Sally Brown, birth & berth and told & toll’d

    Homophones of multiple words are known as oronyms.

    Examples of oronyms:

    ice cream and I scream

    depend and deep end

    this sky and this guy

    some others and some mothers

    night rain and night train

    my newt and minute

    Prompt 3 Mistranslation

    This exercise is homophonic translation: Changing text in one language into another language, with no attempt to preserve the original meaning.

    Translate one of the following poems any way you want. You can use the method of what it sounds like. Or what the shapes of the letters suggest to you. There is no wrong response.

    Your translation does not have to make sense. Have fun with this!

    1. Můj manžel a já jsme stáli společně v nové nákupní centrum
    která byla čistá a bílá a plná možností.
    Byli jsme chudí, takže jsme rádi projít obchody
    protože to bylo jako chůze přes naše sny.
    V jednom jsme obdivovali kávovary, modrá keramika
    mísy, opékače topinek velký jako televize.

    2.  my eggenoot en Ek het gestaan saam in die nuwe winkelplein
    wat was skoon en wit en vol van moontlikheid.
    ons was arm so ons gehou van om te loop deur die stoor
    sedert hierdie was soos stap deur ons drome.
    in een ons admireer koffie vervaardiger se, blou pottery
    bakke, toaster oonde as groot as televisies.

    Credit to writing teacher Terry Ehret, who first introduced me to abstract poetry and homophonic mistranslation.

    Contact Marlene if you want the languages and translations for these poems.

    Just Write!

    Marlene C

  • Get Into The Habit

    Get Into The Habit

    “Forget about inspiration and get into the habit of writing every day. Habit has written far more books than inspiration has. If you want the Muse to visit you, she needs to know where you are: so stay at your desk.”

    — Philip Pullman

    “Forget about inspiration and get into the habit of writing every day. Habit has written far more books than inspiration has. If you want the Muse to visit you, she needs to know where you are: so stay at your desk.” —Philip Pullman

    Quote in “Write it All Down” by Cathy Rentzenbrink.

    #justwrite #amwriting #iamawriter

    Marlene C