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. Plants may respond to music, but imagine they could actually talk. What would your house plants have to say? What about the grass on your lawn? Write a few pages about a character who is the first to communicate with plants.
2. Write a few pages in which a character is on the receiving end of an embarrassing prank at work. How can you make readers really feel the embarrassment, as if they have experienced it themselves?
3. Write a few pages about someone trying to track down a long lost family member who has a good reason to stay lost.
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Tips:
1. 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?
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. Reading a story requires patience and paying attention to detail. With so many available distractions, we can sometimes miss important aspects of a story we’re reading, especially if we’re multitasking or face interruptions. A quiet, distraction-free environment is ideal, but no matter where you’re reading, try to focus on the story alone. There is no shame in re-reading either!
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TO DO LIST:
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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,
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Show Dones
Metric:
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Words
Minutes
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