What time period, or era, do you identify with?
Write what your life would be like if you lived then.
About the photo: This is a photo of my mother in her tap dance costume, taken in 1945. Those are envelopes and letters she wrote to her mother, circa 1943. The rest of the items are explained in the recently released The Write Spot to Jumpstart Your Writing: Connections. Available at Amazon.
Photo taken by Breana Marie.
Writing is playing with words and ideas. Writing is rewriting. Sometimes writing is . . . just writing.
Today’s writing prompts are about looking at stories through a different lens or from another point of view.
Rewrite a fairy tale. Change character details, change where story takes place, change the outcome. Reframe the bad guy into a good guy. Give the protagonist electrifying faults.
Or rewrite a folk tale. Switch characters, revolve story around a different moral compass, set the scene in the future.
Or reframe a family story. Write a familiar family story from a different point of view.
Just Write!
Photo by Christina Gleason
Set the Scene: Location, Timeframe, Characters
Location: Pick one: cruise ship, theme park, bar, parlor, or a location of your choice
Timeframe: Current, Past (what year?), Future (what year?)
Develop Characters
Character #1:
Name:
Nickname:
Personality trait most proud of:
How did character get this trait?
What do people least like about character?
What habit would character like to change?
If someone looked in character’s bathroom garbage right now, what would they find:
What scent does character like the most, and what does it remind him/her of?
What scares the character?
Character #2:
Answer the same questions for Character #2.
Writing Prompt: Use the following words in a conversation between these two characters.
The last time – How dare you – Explode – Blame – Fire – Party – Light – Dark – Attitude – Box – Present – Water
Photo by Christina Gleason
Write about a colorful character using similes and metaphors.
Simile – a figure of speech in which two essentially unlike things are compared, often using like or as, as in “eyes like stars.”
Metaphor – A figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate another; thus making an implicit comparison, as in the evening of life.
Metaphors are comparisons that show how two things that are not alike in most ways are similar in one important way. Metaphors are a way to describe something. Authors use them to make their writing more interesting or entertaining.
Unlike similes that use the words “as” or “like” to make a comparison, metaphors state that something is something else.
Brian was a wall, bouncing every tennis ball back over the net.
We would have had more pizza to eat if Tammy hadn’t been such a hog.
Cindy was such a mule. We couldn’t get her to change her mind.
The poor rat didn’t have a chance. Our old cat, a bolt of lightning, caught his prey.
Even a child could carry my dog, Dogface, around for hours. He’s such a feather.
—English Basics, Volume 3, Number 26, March 29, 1999, www.rhlschool.com
Imagine a conversation between two people of different backgrounds talking about March 13, National Day of . . .
Explain National Day [choose one from the list below] as if these two people were talking in person, over the phone, or via emails. They could be friends. Or perhaps they have never met in person.
National Elephant Day – Thailand
Coconut Torte Day – Australia
National Good Samaritan Day – United States. A day for unselfish actions to help those in need and to celebrate kindness.
National Earmuff Day – United States, in honor of the 1873 invention of earmuffs. At the age of fifteen, Chester Greenwood of Farmington, Maine was credited for inventing the winter wear out of necessity—his ears were cold.
National K9 Veterans Day – United States
A lot of things changed after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. Oil, leather and rubber were rationed. Men were drafted. Women rolled up their sleeves and built war supplies. And dogs were called to duty. During the first World War, the United States took notice of the European use of canines as sentries, message carriers and several other functions.
National Open an Umbrella Indoors Day There is a superstition that opening umbrellas indoors will bring bad luck. National Open an Umbrella Indoors Day encourages you to do just that and note if you have any bad luck.
Amber fluid = beer
Ankle biter = small child
Bikkie = biscuit (also “it cost big bikkies” – it was expensive)
Billy = teapot
Bonnet = car hood
Boot = car trunk
Brolly = umbrella
Cooker = stove
Drink with the flies = to drink alone
Dummy = pacifier
Holiday = vacation
Jumper = sweater
Lift = elevator
Mobile = cell phone
Nappy = diaper
Nick = steal
Ring = call
Rubber = eraser
Tap = faucet
Trainers = sneakers
Ready! Set! Just Write!
Write about a childhood ritual when you were sick. If there were no childhood rituals when sick, what would you have liked to happen? How would you have wanted to be treated when sick as a child?
Or write about a time you were sick.
Or write about any ritual from your childhood.
You can write about what really happened, or make something up.
You can answer from your fictional character’s point of view.
Your favorite time of day.