Friday, December 7th, 2012  The setting in a story is the place and time the story occurs. Every story has one. It lends context to the tale.
The settings for different types of stories will be different, as will the approach to creating them. One thing to consider is the audience reading the book.
For instance, the setting for a story taking place in modern Washington, DC might include a description of the Lincoln Memorial, the terrible traffic, diesel fumes from buses, protesters on the corner, etc. It might include some details on the weather: the oppressive heat of a July sun baking all that marble or the sleet of a November rain. And that’s it: just enough detail to ground the reader to location and atmosphere. He’ll fill in the rest with his own imagination.
A period romance might include the description of a brownstone townhouse in England, gas lamps on the sidewalk (if you’re in the rich part of town) or ragamuffin children (on the poor side of town). It will usually infer the economic status of the heroine, and some background, so we know how she got to this place and time. And, it might include a description of the historical events taking place, so that the reader gets an idea of the main character’s thoughts and motives. This description might go on for several paragraphs, because this audience enjoys rich detail.
Science Fiction readers will want explicit details on science, mechanics, atmosphere, politics, etc. But you don’t want to include detail, for detail’s sake. For instance, while you’re setting the scene, if you have machine that creates breathable atmosphere on a planet formerly known for its deadly gases, you don’t need to explain how that works…unless one of your characters is knowledgeable about it, or questions how it works, AND that information is crucial to the story.
If specific details aren’t important, but you point them out, you’ll either a) bore the reader, or b) leave him wondering why you included the detail. You don’t want that bouncing around in the reader’s head when she should be enjoying the story.
Also, a good rule of thumb when setting the scene is to include details related to the five senses. So, describe:
- what is seen
- what is heard
- what is felt (or touched)
- what is smelled, and,
- what is tasted
The hard part is writing the scene without making it sound like a checklist, like this:
The chaotic barnyard was filled it with animals. I could hear the cows mooing, the chickens squawking, and in the background somewhere, an old hound dog. The dirt was hard-packed beneath my feet, and I could feel every pebble through my shoe. Someone hadn’t mucked out the barn in ages. I could smell the dung all the way across the pasture. The wind kicked up, blowing dust in my face. I could taste the corn feed Farmer Brown just strew for the hens.
Terrible!
Here’s Your Prompt:
Here are a few suggested locations and time periods, choose one and write the scene.
- A junior high school in the US, mid-1970s.
- Modern day in a Scottish castle.
- A 1950s traveling carnival.
- A rock ‘n’ roll concert during the holidays, and the singer is late.
- Thanksgiving Dinner – the week before Thanksgiving.
- A fictional planet, during a civil war.
- The coast of any continent, 1800s, during a powerful storm.
- Today, in your home town.
- England, during the middle ages, in a small cottage
- Santa’s workshop, in July.
- Alice’s Wonderland – only set the scene of somewhere Alice didn’t go.
If none of these strike your fancy, choose your own time and place.
Good luck!
Friday, November 30th, 2012  Toys.
It’s that time of the year, right?
(But I drafted this prompt back in April, when I contemplated the purchase of a new toy…so that time of year? Not working here.)
I never did buy that toy: not enough bang for the buck. And the new version isn’t scheduled to ship until at least January. No toys under my Christmas Tree this year.
How about yours?
Here’s Your Prompt:
- Write a scene from a play or novel where a toy plays an integral role. It could cause an argument between characters, be bestowed as a gift, be stolen. Anything, so long as it’s crucial to the plot.
- Write a free-verse poem about a toy. Or, write a poem where the first word of each line starts with one letter in the name of your favorite toy. (So, if your fav toy is the xylophone, the first line of your poem starts with a word starting with X, the next line starts with a word starting with Y, etc.).
- The little toy dog is covered with dust,
But sturdy and stanch he stands;
And the little toy soldier is red with rust,
And his musket moulds in his hands.
Time was when the little toy dog was new,
And the soldier was passing fair;
And that was the time when our Little Boy Blue
Kissed them and put them there.
~ Little Boy Blue, by Eugene Field
- Design a toy you’d like to own. (This toy can be mechanical, electronic or old fashioned wood and springs. It’s your toy, you design it!)
- Write an essay about your favorite childhood toy. Or, write an essay about your favorite current toy (your car, your laptop, your iPod…all these qualify).
- Leaving the things that are real behind
Leaving the things that you love from mind
All of the things that you learned from fears
Nothing is left for the years
~ Aerosmith, Toys in the Attic
Good luck!
Friday, November 23rd, 2012 Did you get up at 4 a.m. for all the door busters?
I didn’t. I’m not a Black Friday shopper. (Actually, I’m not a shopper at all. You won’t catch me in a Mall or Discount Store unless I absolutely have to be there. I can’t remember the last time I was at the Mall…)
Here are some of the 2012 Newspaper and Internet News headlines for Black Friday:
‘Gang fight’ at Black Friday sale…
Man Punched in Face Pulls Gun On Line-Cutting Shopper…
Shots fired outside WALMART…
Shoppers smash through door at URBAN OUTFITTERS…
Customers run over in parking lot…
Woman busted after throwing merchandise…
Thousands storm VICTORIA’S SECRET…
VIDEO: Insane battle over phones…
Shoplifter tries to mace security guards…
Men Steal Boy’s Shopping Bag Outside BED, BATH & BEYOND…
For me, these are the most compelling reasons for not shopping on Black Friday.
Anyone reconsidering for next year?
Here’s Your Prompt
- Write about a character who gets hurt while shopping on Black Friday. Or, write about a character who was standing next to someone who got seriously hurt (or killed!) on Black Friday. (Does this character’s feelings about shopping change? What about life in general?)
- Write the scene of Black Friday Mayhem™ from a bystander’s point of view.
- If you journal, write about some of your Black Friday experiences. If you don’t shop on Black Friday, write about some other memorable shopping event.
If Black Friday isn’t your cup of tea either…
- Write a character sketch or short poem about something associated with the color black: witches, funeral processions, black ice on the highway, black and white keys on the piano, the Black Death (Bubonic plague), black licorice, black squares on a checkerboard, etc.
- Write about “black thoughts:” being depressed or depression in general.
- Write about bad luck: being under a black cloud.
Good Luck!
Friday, November 16th, 2012  We recently purchased a new wood stove at the House of Awesome™.
It’s a classy cast-iron affair with a glass window to look through while the fire burns and a fan on the back if we want to heat the place up like a sauna.
Needless to say, we’ve been playing with fire for the last week or so. Lots of fun.
Here’s Your Prompt:
Good luck!
Friday, September 28th, 2012  A diamante poem is formulaic in nature, often discusses two opposite ideas, and when finished, takes the shape of a diamond.
For teachers, it’s a wonderful method to help students learn about nouns, verbs and adjectives.
For writers, it’s a great exercise to warm up the brain and get you stretching your vocabulary: you’ll want to choose nouns, verbs and adjectives beyond the usual.
Here’s the formula for each line:
- A simple noun
- two adjectives which agree with, or describe, the noun in line 1
- three verbs as modifiers which also agree with the noun in line 1
- four nouns: two should be related in some way to the noun in line line 1, and two should be related to the noun in Line 7.
- three verbs as modifiers of the the noun on line 7
- two adjectives which agree with, or describe, the noun in line 7
- one simple noun which is the opposite of the noun in line 1.
Here’s my first stab at it:
Crustaceans
calcified, clawed
scuttling, scavenging
cooperative, omnivorous — carnivorous, singular
blooming, pulsating, stinging
gelatinous, tentacled
Medusozoa
Here’s Your Prompt:
Your turn!
Images available from Wikipedia, Creative Commons License:
Friday, September 7th, 2012  September is National Coupon Month.
If you could make your own coupon, what would it be for?
Me?
I want more days in the week. I feel like I never have enough time to do all the things I want to do.
I’d like, perhaps, two extra days per weekend. I’d hit the Time Store during their “50% off Every Day” sale and buy a few extra days for each week for the rest of the year.
(Maybe I’d get all those things on my ‘Too Much To Do List’ done.)
Basic “Mix and Match” Components of a Coupon
- The name of the product that is on sale.
- The location of the sale.
- The amount of the sale, either in a percentage or “cents off.”
- An expiration date.
- A bar code.
- A graphic or clip art.
- The “Fine Print:” The conditions of the sale, where it’s void, how many products can be purchased with the coupon, etc.
What about you?
Here’s Your Prompt:
- Make a coupon for something you’d like more than anything. Be creative: whip out the crayons or a graphics program on your computer and get to work. Make it look genuine. (See if you can fool your friends!)
- If you don’t feel like your art skills are up to par, write the sale out in narrative.
- Once you’ve set up the conditions of your coupon: write an essay or journal/diary entry about why you desire such a coupon and how you would use the item if you were able to use the coupon.
- Write a story about someone who finds a fantastic coupon (in the newspaper, at the library coupon exchange, in his mailbox, etc.) and what happens when he redeems it.
Good Luck!
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The hourglass graphic in the image I made for this blog post came from http://www.wpclipart.com/.
Friday, August 24th, 2012  I’m reading a novel right now which includes Benjamin Franklin as a character. Although he’s not truly “in the story,” he is much talked about and the novel includes exploits about many of his inventions.
He’s probably most famous for creating bifocal lenses: Franklin owned two sets of glasses, one pair to see near things and one pair to see far things.
Tiring of switching his glasses back and forth, he had the lenses of both pairs cut in half and put back together in one frame so he wouldn’t have to keep switching.
He also created the “Franklin” stove, which allowed people to heat their homes more effectively by providing more heat and less smoke. It also burned less wood.
Swim fins and the extension arm – that nifty device which lets you grab things off high shelves – are also two of Franklin’s creations.
I could go on.
Reading about Franklin’s inventions has been nearly as exciting as the story.
Serendipitously, August is National Inventor’s Month. Thus…
Here’s Your Prompt:
- Invent something which will make your life easier. Pretend you have all the tools, the knowledge and the money to make it happen.
- Write a story about an invention which is supposed to make life easy for the protagonist, and then does the complete opposite!
- Write an essay about an invention the world would be better off without. Be persuasive. Use facts to back up your opinion.
- Rather than writing about an invention, write a story about an inventor who creates something fantastic, horrible, praiseworthy, frightening, or (you fill in the blank). How does he or she do it? What are the accolades or consequences?
Said American Inventor Thomas Alva Edison: To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.
Good Luck!
Friday, August 17th, 2012 Today’s writing prompt is a very special edition: it’s packed with ideas and includes a writing contest which could net you several ebooks, including a copy of Terri Bruce’s Hereafter.
It was hard for me to give up a writing prompt slot when I enjoy creating them so much, but Terri and I have been friends for quite some time now, and when she pitched this idea, I couldn’t resist.
I hope you enjoy her spot as much as I do!
 A huge “thank you” to Kelly for turning her “Writing Prompt” post over to me today!
I love her writing prompts and they always manage to awaken my imagination, so I was thrilled when she allowed me to step into the driver’s seat for a day to help celebrate the release of my first novel, Hereafter—a contemporary fantasy about a woman’s search for redemption in the afterlife. I hope you enjoy these prompts as much as I enjoyed crafting them!
Today marks the first day of Chinese Ghost Month, a time in which it is believed that the spirits of the deceased leave the land of the dead and visit the living, similar to Halloween. While the spirits of the dead, particularly one’s ancestors, are not seen as malevolent per se, it is considered an inauspicious time to travel, move, change jobs, get married, or make any other major life changes as there may be evil spirits bent on mischief about.
At the end of Ghost Month, the dead return to the land of the dead—the living often light lanterns or float candles on waterways to guide the dead back to the afterlife, which I think is beautifully evocative. In between, there is Ghost Festival, which you learn more about in my guest post on that subject on August 30th at the Making Connections blog.
 I first became fascinated with Chinese afterlife mythology when I heard of the Terra Cotta Warriors—which was so long ago now that I forget exactly when and where I learned of this miraculous undertaking by the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. Moved by the story of the emperor’s kindness (?), mercy (?), amazing sense of justice (?), or whatever it was that resulted in him taking life size replicas of his soldiers and servants with him to the afterlife, rather than the actual people, I delved further into Chinese afterlife mythology and became hooked. Though I tried to pull from all cultures and religions equally for Hereafter, I think it did end up slightly slanted toward Chinese mythology and folklore.
So…without further ado— Here’s Your Prompt:
- It’s Chinese Ghost Festival, a time when the living leave offerings of items for the dead—what offerings do you leave for the deceased? Describe the offerings (food? objects?) in detail as well as where you leave them (at a grave? On the sidewalk? At an altar?).
- The spirit of one of your ancestors visits you during Ghost Month—describe the encounter. What does the spirit look like? How do you feel? What does the spirit want? How do you react?
- Describe Ghost Month from the perspective of the ghosts—are they happy to be turned out of the spirit realm or annoyed? Are they pleased with the offerings left for them or disgusted? Can they touch, smell, and taste the offerings? Does everything feel, taste, and smell like it did when they were alive?
- What does the spirit realm/afterlife look like?
- Write the story of a man or woman preparing an offering for the dead—what is he/she offering? Why that particular item? How does he/she feel as he/she prepares the item—sorrow? Duty? Pride? Love?
- Write the story of spirits punishing someone for not preparing an offering during Ghost Festival—what penance would the spirits exact?
- At the end of Ghost Month the spirits return to the spirit realm—how is this accomplished? Do they voluntarily return or are they compelled? Are they compelled by mystical forces or is it someone’s job?
- A spirit is refusing to return to the spirit realm at the end of Ghost Month. Why? What will he do instead of returning?
And now…for a SPECIAL BONUS! Using any of the above writing prompts, write a 200-word (MAX) story for a chance to win a prize pack of books about ghosts! Visit the Writers Lens web site for details! Contest ends September 7th, 2012.
Where to Find Hereafter:
Where to Find Terri:
Friday, July 20th, 2012  Today marks the 43rd anniversary of Armstrong’s moon walk.
I remain amazed – and yet feel we should have done so much more by now. We’ve lost momentum along the way.
Don’t you feel that there ought to be colonies up there by now? Vacations?
I think the moon would be an awesome place to take a writing retreat. Few distractions, and an up close and personal look at space for those of us who write that type of science fiction.
Here’s Your Prompt:
- Write a story about colonization on the moon. How do politics come into play? How do the nations of the world divide up the acreage of the moon?
- Giant steps are what you take, Walkin’ on the moon
I hope my leg don’t break, Walkin’ on the moon
We could walk forever, Walkin’ on the moon
We could be together, Walkin’ on, walkin’ on the moon
Walkin’ back from your house, Walkin’ on the moon
Walkin’ back from your house, Walkin’ on the moon
~ “Walkin’ on the Moon, by the Police (Lyrics by Sting)
- Pretend you’ve been granted a deed for 100 acres of space on the moon and you’re going to turn it into a resort. What kind of resort do you build? What attractions will you have for your customers? How will people get there?
- Neil Armstrong is quoted as saying, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” when he stepped out onto the moon’s surface. Write a story where the same quote could be applicable, but don’t mention the moon (or anything related to space) anywhere in the story.
- A twist on an old favorite: if you were stranded on the moon, who would you NOT want to be stranded with? Now, pretend you’re stranded on the moon, and it’s that person’s fault. Write the argument. You’re not allowed to write only dialogue: make certain you set the scene and show what both of you are doing during the fight.
- Write a poem about walking on the moon. This poem can’t be about the moon, but walking on it. Use your imagination to decide what it would be like to hop across the surface, or do some research to get the facts straight. Your choice.
- Write a letter to your best friend about staying for a week on the moon. How was the commute? Are you camping or staying in a hotel? Do you plan to site-see or relax?
Good luck!
Friday, June 22nd, 2012 I’m playing a word association trick with you today.
What’s the first thing you thought of when you read the title, “bugs?”
Sometimes the shortest words can have the most meanings, depending on context.
I deliberately didn’t post a photo (like I am wont to do) when presenting a writing prompt, because I didn’t want to influence what your initial reaction might be to the word “bugs.” I assure you, there is a picture.
Here’s Your Prompt:
- Write a story, poem or journal entry about the first thing you thought of when you read the word, “bugs.”
- Take the first thing you thought of, and see how it applies to an old memory. Write about that memory involving bugs.
- Write about a flu bug, cold germ or cooties.
- Write about a room being bugged.
- Write about someone who bugs you (or a time when you bugged someone else). Write about things that bug you.
- Write about a master computer programmer who inadvertently programs a bug into a program. Writer about a hacker who deliberately puts a bug in the program. Write about one person this bug affects, and how he or she solves the problem.
- Write literally about bugs: flies, ants, cockroaches, bedbugs, head lice, spiders or stink bugs.
- Write a favorable (or at least, not negative) poem about a much-disliked bug, like a roach. For example:
How delightful to suspect
All the places you have trekked:
Does your long antenna whisk its
Gentle tip across the biscuits?
Do you linger, little soul,
Drowsing in our sugar bowl?
Or, abandonment most utter,
Shake a shimmy on the butter?
(From Nursery Rhymes for the Tender-Hearted, by Christopher Morley, 1921. Read the full poem here.)
- Write about catching a bug, a wild enthusiasm or obsession, for something.
Good luck!
p.s. If you want to see the photo that made me think of bugs, here it is.
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