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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. Studies have found that there are 27 emotions. Imagine a 28th is discovered, totally unlike any others, that changes the way we think of emotion altogether. Come up with a name for it and define what it is. Then write a few pages showing how a character discovered it.

2. Write a few pages set at a Halloween bash where everyone has come in costume—everyone, that is, except for one person. Maybe they are a real-life vampire or a celebrity. It could be dark or funny, or darkly funny—it’s up to you!

3. 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.

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Tips:

1. The most valuable takeaways from a story are those that stay with us for hours, days or even years after reading. Contemplating what you can recall from a story is a useful tool to better analyze which aspects of the writing are effective and make an impact.

2. Don’t just say you like or dislike an aspect of a story. Dig deeper to support your view and get at the heart of your reaction. Did you find a particular metaphor effective? Or did a passage confuse you? In a workshop setting, it benefits the writer if you’re as specific as possible.

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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