Your Prompts and Tips

Some free resources to help you write better and achieve the success you deserve

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Prompts:

1. Our earth is full of mysteries, with many areas, including the vast majority of our oceans and deep parts of our rainforests, largely unexplored. Write a few pages in which someone goes where no one has gone before, right here on our home planet.

2. Romance writers aren't horsing around. Write a few pages of a romantic scene set in a moving vehicle.

3. Write a few pages set at a local café where a character overhears a conversation that they can’t pretend they didn’t just hear.

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Tips:

1. 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.

2. One of the best ways to learn is to teach someone else. When it comes to reading, an effective way to make sure you understand a story is to tell it to someone else. Make it a point to summarize a story in a few sentences after you finish it. How would you explain it to a friend? If you find yourself struggling to encapsulate it, it may be time for a reread.

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!

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TO DO SCRATCHPAD PRIVATE JOURNAL TRACKING Update Assessment
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TRACKING:
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