Pixel

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 about a time-traveling romance. Maybe the characters are from the same time period but meet while jumping ahead to the future, or maybe your protagonist travels back in time and falls in love with someone there.

2. Write a few pages about a character who finds an ominous—or romantic—note written in red ink.

3. Write a few pages with a literal take on the “dog days of summer.” Does it mean a period when people worship dogs? Or is it a time when dogs are able to talk? Be creative!

For more prompts, please Sign in or SET UP A GUEST ACCOUNT if necessary.

Tips:

1. All writers draw from the same well of arts that are created by others. When you read, you probably notice that some stories and characters remind you of others that you have read about. Perhaps they are even an outright reimagining of them. Pointing out those connections can help us understand a story on a deeper level.

2. Mood can be defined as the certain feelings and vibes that are evoked. This can be hard to trace, but, when you read, you may simply feel happy vibes or even an aura of menace. This can be created by anything from a thunderstorm looming on the horizon, threatening a summer day at the beach, to cheerful dialogue. Mood helps place us in the world of the story.

3. Toss Perfectionism. Or, as Voltaire candidly quoted in his Dictionnaire Philosophique of 1770: "Il meglio e l'inimico del bene": the great is the enemy of the good. Excessive self-editing sabotages creativity and completion. Free yourself up on your first draft. Revision is your ally!

For more tips, please Sign in or SET UP A GUEST ACCOUNT if necessary.

TO DO SCRATCHPAD PRIVATE JOURNAL TRACKING Update Assessment
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,
ADD DO
Show Dones
Metric:
Words
Minutes
ADD
Click anywhere to close