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. Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer. Write a few pages in which a character uses that day to develop a bucket list of ten activities they want to do before the summer is out. Then, have them start with one.
2. What if there was a mysterious movie showing that no one has ever heard of, not even the employees at the theater? Write a few pages about a character who decides to see this movie buts sees something on the screen that makes their jaw drop.
3. Write a few pages about a character who decides to start a garden in their backyard and uncovers an ancient artifact in the dirt that certainly doesn’t belong there. How did it get there? What will they do with it?
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Tips:
1. Literature is a mirror into the author's mind, but also into the reader’s. Every story is open to interpretation: yours, mine and theirs. When discussing a story with others, focus on how the work elicits your interpretation, and be specific. Don't be dismissive of other people's interpretations. Instead, ask how they came to it.
2. Take a close look at the world of the story. Could the story be told somewhere else to the same effect? Does it drive the plot in any way? For example, Sue Monk Kidd's “The Secret Lives of Bees” would not be the same if it were set anywhere but in South Carolina in 1964. Any time you read, pay special attention to the storyworld in which it's set. Is that world integral to the plot? How so?
3. 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.
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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:
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Words
Minutes
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