Write about shoes.
Your shoes, a baby’s shoes, or a grandmother’s slippers.
A pair of shoes hanging by the laces on a high wire.
A favorite pair of hiking boots.
Ballet shoes.
Sandals worn on vacation.
Shoes.
-
Perseverance . . . Prompt #562
Today’s prompt is inspired from the Perseverance Rover landing on Mars.
What do you think about the Mars landing?
Is this as impactful as man’s first walk on the moon?
OR:
Where were you on July 20, 1969 when Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin landed on the moon?
OR: Write about perseverance.
About the parachute that helped land Perseverance:
The parachute that helped NASA’s Perseverance rover land on Mars unfurled to reveal a seemingly random pattern of colors in video clips of the rover’s landing. NASA officials said it contained a hidden message written in binary computer code. The red and white pattern spelled out “Dare Mighty Things” in concentric rings. The saying is the Perseverance team’s motto, and it is also emblazoned on the walls of Mission Control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion. “The Verge”
-
If you knew . . . Prompt #561
If you knew then what you know now, what would you do differently?
-
Finding Peace
Finding Peace
By DS Briggs
When in Switzerland I wandered into a large ornate cathedral. The choir was singing. The voices soared with the organist’s notes. I didn’t understand the language but sitting in the back pew I felt entranced and relaxed.
I live with a lot of silence within my home. I don’t usually have the radio, tv or music as background. I don’t know why. Habit? Or just a need to keep calm.
I have experienced calmness in walking outdoors. I was on the dog path, walking Boo. I heard a splash in the creek. I saw a pair of ducks swimming, dipping and eating with their bottoms-up. I took time to watch how the sunlight dappled the creek and how the brilliant red-leafed tree stood out from the myriad of greens and browns. I just stood, leash in hand, and looked. I enjoyed the calm while I watched the ripples of circles the ducks made. It was a great moment to just be in the now.
Other examples of this quiet-calm have been in walking with large, huge trees. I first noticed my heart quieting and healing when I camped in Sequoia National Park. Closer to home I found time in Armstrong Redwoods provided similar feelings to Sequoia until our most recent wildfire destroyed many of the trees.
I find more calming and quiet healing in the mountains than at the ocean. Although the waves moving in and out are mesmerizing, I don’t experience the same calming quiet that mountains provide.
Sheltering in place because of Covid, I could not go to the mountains. My experiences of quiet-calm came, however, when I would sit outside in the early morning before leaf blowers or phone calls. I just watched the birds flit . . . while sipping coffee from a warm mug in my bathrobe. Bliss.
DS Briggs writes and resides in a small cluttered kingdom, with a gigantic dog. She discovered joy in writing while in elementary school. A brief stint as a newspaper reporter while in high school, DS thought journalism would be her college major. However, her writing career stalled in college when she realized she hated analyzing comma placement and switched to social science. DS became an elementary school teacher and later specialized in teaching independent travel skills and braille to students with visual impairments. Retired now, DS has returned to her love of writing thru Marlene Cullen’s Jumpstart Writing Workshops.
-
I am a writer . . . I use story to reimagine worlds
“I am not a writer because I write a certain number of words every day. I am a writer because I use story to reimagine worlds. My value as a writer, citizen, and human is not rooted in my productivity, I tell myself on those brain foggy, exhausted days in which small humans climb on my limbs with no mercy.” —Ruth Osorio, excerpt from Ruth’s guest blog post in Brevity magazine.
As of Fall 2018, I am living my undergraduate student dream as an Assistant Professor of English and Women’s Studies at Old Dominion University. My family lives in Norfolk, VA, where we spend our days chasing kids on the beach. I am also involved in local grassroots organizing tackling the school-to-prison pipeline and school suspensions in Norfolk Public Schools.
-
Winter Thoughts . . . Prompt #560
Winter.
What is the best thing about winter?
What is your earliest winter memory?
Or:
Most memorable thing that happened in winter.
-
Time Travel . . . Prompt #559
Think about a relative or an ancestor who you know very little about. You can jot down names or how the person is related to you if you don’t know their names. Take about two minutes for this.
Choose one person to focus on. Time travel to when that person lived.
Write about that person in a “take me back” way . . . using location or place, date, other characters or people who lived then as details to learn about this person.
You can make things up, imagine conversation, imagine circumstances.
There are no wrong answers. Have fun exploring the possibilities of “what if?”
What if you lived during this time, what would you be doing? Where are you in this scene?The Free February 18, 2021 Writers Forum event features Kate Farrell, Waights Taylor, Jr., and Bev Scott chatting about how to research family history and shape your story.
-
Explore Characters . . . Prompt #557
The character could be you . . . when you were younger.
Or: Someone you know, dead or alive
Or: A fictional character
Walk in your character’s shoes.
Get up and walk around, looking at things, touching things, as if you were that character.
Look through the eyes of the character you are writing about.
Spend 6-8 minutes on this.
When you return to your chair, respond to the prompts below from your character’s point of view.
Use one of these prompts as a springboard to write about a character of your choice.
What did your character see that interested them?
What does your character want to know more about?
Write from your character’s point of view:
I think . . .
I suppose . . .
I remember . . .
I know . . .
-
Character Sketch #1 . . . Prompt #556
Character Sketch . . . fill in the details about your character.
5 positive traits
5 negative traits
3 least favorite things
3 favorite things
What does this person love?
What is this person looking for?
What is this person afraid of?
What is most important to this person?
What is this person’s secret?
-
Photos Develop Characters . . . Prompt #555
You can use photos to develop ideas for creating characters.
Turn your imaginary characters into believable characters.
Use photos to establish physical characteristics
Look at images in magazines or in photo albums or online.
Choose an image for a character you want to develop.
Write a character sketch, just as an artist would draw with charcoal. Flesh out what your character looks like.
Add details that make your character unique and memorable: body shape, statuesque, angular, plump, scars, tattoos, piercings, lanky, a hulk, petite, piercing violet eyes, honey brown eyes, disarming smile, large ears, moles, hair style.
Craft your character’s personality
Analyze photos to build a personality for this character.
Is your character touching anyone in the photos?
Are they leaning towards anyone?
Note how their looks imply character traits: stoic, friendly, menacing, open-minded, pleasant, formidable, playful, serious.
A furrowed brow might indicate stress. Crow’s feet at the sides of the eyes could indicate someone who laughs often, or is frequently outdoors in the sun.
Expand your analysis
What feelings do you get when you look at your character in the photo?
Does their facial expression match their physical posture?
Imagine what happened right before the picture was taken.
Conjure up what happened right after photo was taken.
Who took the photo?
What is the photographer’s relationship to the person in the photo?
Images in school yearbooks
What do their photos and captions in their yearbooks say about them?
What is revealed in these photos? Is your character in any clubs or active in sports?
On the debate team? The newspaper or yearbook staff?
Bring your character to life
Look into the eyes of the character in the photo. What is the story behind the story?
What do their clothes say about them? Where did they shop for clothes? Did they make their own clothes?
Of course, jobs and hobbies are also important to invent a character.
How do they spend their time?
How do they spend their free days?
If they had a million dollars, how would they spend it?
Speculate
How much schooling did they have?
What did they have for breakfast?Favorite snack?
Favorite color?
Use these ideas for starting points to produce original characters.
More prompts on character development.