Your Prompts and Tips
Some free resources to help you write better and achieve the success you deserve
This is a selection we've harvested from our archives, RELOAD THE PAGE for more!
Prompts:
1. Write a few pages set at a graduation ceremony (could be preschool, grad school, or even basic training), in which the graduation speaker gives a speech that brings the audience to their feet—in excitement about what they’re saying or strong disagreement with their message.
2. Inspired by the proverb “Fortune favors the brave,” write a few pages about a character who faces an emergency at the grocery store and has to be braver than they've ever been in their life.
3. Write a few pages in which the protagonist’s grandmother tells him or her a secret about their family history that no one else knows. How does this affect the character’s life? Do they spill the secret to someone else?
For more prompts, please Sign in or SET UP A GUEST ACCOUNT if necessary.
Tips:
1. Style may seem difficult to nail down, but think of it as what sets a writer’s work apart. It goes beyond the content: it is the way a particular person tells the story. It’s comprised of everything from tone and figurative language to sentence structure. When you read, think about how you would describe the writer’s style. What elements in their work contribute to it?
2. We joke about the cliché of a psychologist asking “How does that make you feel?” but it’s valuable to take stock of how a story makes you feel. Since emotions can be complicated in the world of stories and real life, oftentimes it’s a mixed bag. Do you think the writer intended for you to feel that way?
3. Whether they are about clowns, climbing a treacherous mountain, or a fear of rejection, scary stories get our hearts beating because they are able to achieve a level of suspense. While it may seem like you'd want to utilize fast pacing in such a story, mix it up with slower-paced moments too. These help create anticipation.
For more tips, please Sign in or SET UP A GUEST ACCOUNT if necessary.
CLICK A TAB TO USE WILL.POWER
TO DO LIST:
Add tasks to your sortable list, then revel in checking them off.
SCRATCHPAD:
Cache your gems as they fall in this always accessible place.
PRIVATE JOURNAL:
Reflect on your process — good, bad and ugly — in your dated diary.
TRACKING:
Measure your progress with key writing metrics, automatically,
TO DO LIST:
Add tasks to your sortable list, then revel in checking them off.
SCRATCHPAD:
Cache your gems as they fall in this always accessible place.
PRIVATE JOURNAL:
Reflect on your process — good, bad and ugly — in your dated diary.
TRACKING:
Measure your progress with key writing metrics, automatically,
ADD DO
Show Dones
Metric:
ADD
Words
Minutes
Click anywhere to close