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 inspired by this famous couplet by Ezra Pound (“In a Station of the Metro”): “The apparition of these faces in the crowd / Petals on a wet, black bough.” Does a character interact with one of the people in the crowd? What is the meaning behind the gloomy setting?
2. Imagine a character finds an old velvet couch in the middle of the woods while on a hike one day. When they sit down on it, they find themselves suddenly transported to a different world. Where do they go? Write a few pages telling us what they do there, and maybe how they get back.
3. Write a few pages about a character who is isolated from others in a refreshing way. For example, they could be in a one-person spaceship or be solo backpacking through the mountains of Peru. Do they stay connected via a phone or other means or do they cut off the outside world altogether?
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Tips:
1. 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?
2. Reading and talking with others about what we’ve read brings us together. Think about the point of view the writer chooses to utilize in a story. Is it first-person, second-person, third-person, or a mixture? Would you say the POV chosen is the ideal one to tell the story? How would the story change if it was written from a different POV?
3. Whether it’s a long-winded passage or a complicated plot point, we all scratch our heads while reading from time to time. In these cases, we recommend first pausing and taking a breath before slowly rereading. Walking away and coming back to it later is a good idea if you are feeling particularly lost.
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TRACKING:
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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,
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