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. Write a few pages about a character who is visiting the zoo when animals escape from one of the exhibits. Is it something harmless like flamingos or terrifying like grizzly bears?
3. Write a few pages about a private investigator who is hired by a stranger to uncover a surprising truth about a recent spree of jewelry robberies.
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Tips:
1. 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!
2. Whether it’s between a mother and daughter, two long lost friends, or an old man and his pet iguana, relationships are a dynamic part of any story. As you write (and read), keep in mind how all the different relationships in any given story drive the plot forward and raise the stakes.
3. Writing is a holistic process: whatever you’re thinking and feeling inevitably makes itself known on the page (or screen!). Try writing when you’re mad and when you’re happy. Make note of any differences you notice. Was it easier or harder to write when you were angry? Did you struggle with anything in particular with your happy session?
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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