Friday, September 27th, 2013 Today’s writing prompt is brought to you by the wonderful cephalopod: the octopus. The video below shows how quickly (less than a second in some instances) an octopus can blend into its surroundings.
Most people try to do the same thing, as first evidenced in grade school: wear what everyone else is wearing, get the most popular haircut, carry the same backpack.
What happens if you don’t? Nothing, if you’re lucky. But if you’re the kid (or the adult, even) who stands out, you often face a boatload of ridicule.
(An aside about ridicule: it’s nothing to be scared of.)
And it doesn’t even have to be your accessories which make you different: did you go prematurely gray in high school? I knew a fellow. Need the first “training” bra? Have ultra-curly hair?
You see where I’m going?
Here’s Your Prompt:
- Write about a character who needs to blend in: Maybe he’s a detective who’s following a kidnapper. Or someone with a notorious past who just wants to be left alone. Maybe your character is an alien who’s just trying to pass. Maybe it’s a girl in high school.
- Write the opposite: write about the guy who refuses to conform, fit in, or blend. What kind of abuse does he take? Maybe he’s too touch to be abused. Is he spurned or idolized?
- If you journal, write about a time you stood out, and really would have preferred not to.
Good Luck!
Friday, September 20th, 2013  Old habits die hard.
It’s a bit of cop out here to rely on tired aphorisms, but it gets my point across succinctly.
A change of habit–getting out of one’s rut–can take a monumental effort of strength and will. Creating new habits can take the same. (New Year’s resolutions, anyone?)
But from a fiction writing standpoint, they offer so much fresh material–so much potential for a character to grow and experience–that it might be worthwhile to add it to your Writer’s Toolbox. (You may prefer, to do as I do, and add it to your arsenal instead. đ )
Consider a character with an ingrained habit. Perhaps every day on his way to work, he walks three blocks on Franklin Street, catches the Number 9 bus which takes him downtown, gets off at the industrial center and takes the company taxi into the plant.
What if whether by chance, fate or choice, he’s late getting out of the house. He misses the Number 9, and has no choice but to take the Number 11 instead? Eleven will drop him off at the industrial center, but not before first driving to the docks to let off folks who work around the Harbor. It will make him 30 minutes late, but it’s better than waiting another 45 minutes for the Number 9 to come back around.
Your character’s routine is entirely off. What will he experience along this route? Maybe it makes him change his point of view about something. He decides to make a life change. Or maybe the Number 11 bus gets hijacked. Either way, he’s out of his comfort zone, and something new–for better or worse–is about to happen.
Here’s Your Prompt:
- Write a story in which your main character is forced to abandon his or her habit. What happens?
- Write about a character who deliberately changes his or her routine, hoping for the better. Make things worse for him or her.
- Write a poem about change or habit. What are the emotional repercussions?
- If you journal, write about something you’ve changed for the better, or something you changed for the worse. If worse, tell how you alleviated the new problem. If better, relate the steps you took to maintain it.
Good Luck!
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Have you read Lies?
The Queen lies dying, and the mage-physician holds the key to her health, but he doesn’t quite know how to use it. The Book of Lies has the capacity to heal, if only Beresh can write the proper words. But only a few pages remain in the book, and if they’re used before the queen is healed, she won’t be the only one to lose her life!
Short-Listed for the Aeon Award.
$2.99 at Amazon.com | $2.99 at Barnes and Noble |
Friday, September 13th, 2013  September is National Preparedness Month. Since I work for a government agency, we’re getting repeated reminders to:
- Stay Informed
- Make a Plan
- Build a Kit
- Get Involved
…all with the usual hype and rhetoric.
(I’m all for being prepared, btw, I just don’t think it should be a crazed, one-month endeavor. Shouldn’t you be prepared all of the time?)
I don’t know if it’s related to Preparedness month, but the local constabulary hijacked our public parking lot Monday morning to hold some kind of drill or training session. Most had on helmets and were holding those clear, riot-control, body shields.
All I could think of on my way out to lunch was, “Time to speed! Floor it!” With all the local police tied up playing war, there couldn’t have been a better time. I wish I could have laid down some rubber on the way out of the parking lot.
Here’s Your Prompt:
Good Luck!
Friday, September 6th, 2013  Family can be the source of great joy, or utter despair.
I love my family. I love getting together and seeing each other and just plain talking on the phone. When I get to yakking with my sister or brother or my Mom or Dad, even my auntâŠweâre nearly always on the phone for over an hour. We canât help ourselves.
This could be because nearly two thirds of my family lives out of state. (Funny that, theyâre all from here âŠbut moved away.)
The fact is, I see my out-of-state family a whole lot more than my in-state family. I think itâs because we chat on the phone, we send stuff via snail mail, we make plansâŠwe make the effort, and get together. I invite them, they invite me. The stars donât always align, but itâs all good.
The in-state side of the family: theyâre a little more insular. They prefer to stay in their own neighborhood, where church and close-proximity friends take precedence. Travel is anathema. They live over an hourâs driving distance away, and that feels like such an effort to overcome, apparently. (I drive that distance every day to work and back: itâs a nuisance, but certainly not the great divide.)
But those in-state folks are a whole lot more tech-savvy, I have to admit–always have been. We communicate via email and Facebook and occasionally, Skype. Though itâs all very metaphorical distance-making: family through the telephoto lens. (But still family, even if they keep the rest of us out of their neat little box.)
Hereâs Your Prompt:
- Make a list of the three best things about someone in your family: these traits could come from a single person or three different family members. Do the same for worst traits. Now, build a composite family character using those traits. Introduce this character in your work in progress as an impediment to the hero getting his way.
- Similar to above: write an essay about how your family gets in the way of your dreams.
- Write about a time when your family came to your aid unexpectedly.
- Write about a family betrayal.
- If youâre a poet, write a poem about growing up in your family. Describe a singular event that epitomizes what it was like.
- Describe âthe most perfect family.â Write a story about someone who has no family at all, and dreams about being in this perfect family. Does he or she achieve this dream in the confines of your story? What happens?
- If you journal, write about how you are like your mother or your father. Or, write about how you are unlike your mother or father. Skip the obvious physical distinctions, instead pay attention to opinions, mannerisms and thought.
Good Luck!
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Photo copyright © Peter Elvidge | Dreamstime Stock Photos
Friday, August 30th, 2013  I got a phone call this morning, inviting me on an adventure.
(It was a fairly mundane adventure–more of an errand, really–but an adventure for me nonetheless.)
I summoned up my courage, belted on my longsword, picked up my rucksack and walked out the door.
(Okay, I decided whether or not I really wanted to do this, grabbed some extra cash– and my purse, and headed to the car.)
Despite perils (speed traps and dump trucks, a deer in the road, a box I tripped over…) I returned triumphant…
…and a good day was had by all.
I know this is all kind of vague, deliberately so, because I wanted to use it as an example.
The phone call this morning reminded me of Joseph Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey,” a formula for writing stories, in which the first step is “the call to action.” I wanted to make clear from the start that Campbell’s formula is an excellent method for telling stories, despite the genre or method.
Campbell postulated that stories from all regions of the world, from all time periods, share common themes and patterns.
The first step in many stories is that the hero gets a call to action. Mine today was literally a phone call, but this call could come in a myriad of forms:
– a near-deathly accident could cause a person to change his life
– a stint in jail could cause a woman to reevaluate her priorities
– a college opportunity causes a student to change majors
– physician discovers something that sends him down a path of research
Basically, a call to action is an event, an opportunity, a discovery– a change from the norm–that brings a person to a decision point.
This “something” usually happens at the very beginning of a novel or short story.
Here’s Your Prompt:
- Write the opening of a new novel or short story: write your hero’s “call to action.” Develop your character enough for us to believe this “call” (and subsequent change in his life) is believable.
- The second part of Campbell’s formula is the “refusal of the call.” Many heros are faced with situations they can’t tolerate. Write the call to action, and follow it up with a scene in which your hero refuses to heed it.
- If your journal, write about a time you received the call. What happened?
Good luck!
Friday, August 16th, 2013  Sometimes I find themed writing prompts to be less than inspiring. When that fails, I find a random word generator and offer myself the challenge of using all the words in a story or poem.
Three words seems just about right. I’ve tried more, but the resulting prose can feel contrived — unless you can find a relationship among the many. Sometimes you can. Most often, you can’t.
Today’s three random words come from the Creativity Games.net random word generator. I like this one because you can choose between 1 and 8 random words be generated.
(And I love the three words! My mind went right to the macabre! How about you?)
Here’s Your Prompt:
Use the following three randomly-generated words in some form of written creative expression:
coffin bench arch
Creative expression can include:
- a short story
- a poem
- a vignette
- an essay
- a journal entry: derive your inspiration from real life experiences. You may need to focus on one word of the three.
Good Luck!
Friday, August 9th, 2013  Happy Birthday, Smokey the Bear!
I have a fondness for Smokey, and it started long before I started work at the USDA. There’s just something about his forlorn seriousness, captured in so many US Government posters, that tugs a little at my heart strings.
Smokey the Bear gets his name from “Smokey Joe” Martin, the assistant chief of the New York City Fire Department from 1919-1930. He was first painted by Albert Staehle in 1944, then by others, most notably Rudolph Wendelin who painted images of Smokey from 1949 until his retirement in 1973.
The National Agricultural Library in Beltsville, MD has an on-going exhibit of Smokey Posters, and their Special Collections Unit has so much more available for perusal in the stacks (you’ll need to make an appointment). You can read about the Library’s Smokey the Bear Collection here. (Scroll down for some great pictures!)
Smokey’s message remains the same after all these years: Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires – though there were some additional messages along the way, like during war time — “Careless matches aid the AXIS” — mostly faded now into history.
The Library’s Smokey the Bear Collection consists of 115 linear feet of stuff, including 20 map case drawers, 53 boxes, and over 100 films.
I’ve used information in the the container list for today’s prompts. It’s not a long stretch to see how forest fires might have some far-reaching consequences. A little carelessness can go a long way.
Here’s Your Prompt:
The following slogans come from Smokey the Bear posters through the years. Use one or more of the phrases as a leaping off point for a scene, poem or short story.
Feel free to deviate. For example, substitute some other crisis or disaster for fire. Or, substitute another place in lieu of a forest.
- Careless matches aid the AXIS.
- Fire means less schools, roads, tourists, game timber and higher taxes.
- Another enemy to conquer. Forest fires 9 out of 10 times can be prevented.
- A forest’s future is in your hands.
- Please be careful with the future.
- Think.
- Every tree is a family tree. So, please help Smokey.
- Forest Fires catch fish, too.
- In the time it took to grow this tree, we grew a country.
Good Luck!
Friday, August 2nd, 2013 August is National Eye Exam Month.
Coincidentally, I just had my eyes examined. This year, the doctor took photos of my eyes to check for abnormalities. It was a completely painless â and quick â procedure, but anxious-making if only because itâs considered a âmedicalâ test and had to be scheduled outside of the regular eye exam.
And after the exam, which meant the doctor saw something she didnât like.
What she saw, if unchecked, could result in total blindness for me. (Iâm safe, by the way. But itâs still something the doctor wants to watch.)
But the process reminded me of a question someone asked me once: would you rather go blind or go deaf?
I apologize if Iâve offended any of my deaf or blind friends with this question, but I hope youâre agree that it makes for an interesting discussionâif just in the abstract. The point is: what type of major lossâperhaps something you take totally for grantedâcould you live without the best?
Itâs still an awkward question, I know.
My answer: Iâd rather go deaf. Tough choice for me, really, but those of you whoâve ever visited or driven in a car with me know: Iâve got music blasting all the time. It’s a major part of my life. Music is pure emotion without any words.
(Song writers, I promise you, are geniuses.)
I think living without music would kill a little part of me. If I couldn’t be a writer, I’d definitely be a musician. But still, I’d rather go silent then dark.
I think I could remember the music better than I could remember sight. Memories fadeâimages fadeâbut Iâm not certain about tunes. Then again, maybe itâs me.
Try this experiment: picture in your mind the face of a relative long gone. Describe their features, exactly how you remember. Now find a photo and compare. How accurate were you?
Next: try to sing an old nursery rhyme you learned as a child. Can you do it? Maybe Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star or the ABC song… Try one you canât remember the words to. Can you still hum the tune?
Hereâs Your Prompt:
- Write: would you rather be deaf or blind?
- Sit for one minute with your eyes closed in a busy or semi-busi location. After a minute or so, write down the sensations you had, the things you noticed with your other senses: touch, taste, sound, etc. Now try the same experiment with your eyes open. Whatâs the difference?
- Find someone who wonât mind you invading their personal space. Now, look into his or her eyes. What do you see there? (Do you see something you havenât seen before?) Is this the first time youâve been this close? Eyes are supposedly the âwindows of the soul.â Write about your friendâs soul.
- Write about a memory âthrough the eyes of a child.â That is, exactly how you remember feeling as a kid about it. Now try writing the same scene as âthrough the eyes of a stranger.â How do the perceptions differ?
Good luck!
Friday, July 19th, 2013  We’re having a heat wave, which is no surprise, because it’s July on the East Coast.
Unfortunately, the AC decided to give out today. I’m waiting for a call back from some AC Repair companies to let me know if they can make it out anytime soon.
(This rots, because I had plans for today. Big Plans!)
Instead, we’re sitting here stewing – literally, not figuratively, because at least the basement is a cool 73 degrees. And I have iced-tea brewing – my favorite.
Hope you’re keeping cool!
Here’s Your Prompt:
- Temperature spikes usually make people uncomfortable. Write about heat. Irritable people, tensions escalating, tempers flaring. Write about:
- Tempers flaring out of control in the office, or
- Tempers flaring out of control on public transportation: a bus, in a taxi, or on an airplane.
- Write about a married couple — or a young couple living together — trapped in a sweltering apartment and no funds to get to the movies or somewhere where they might spend some time getting cool.
- Heat also brings up the possibility of passion. Write about sex on a tropical island, or in a candle lit room. Write about hot, passionate kisses. Write about forbidden sex or your deep-in-your-heart sexual fantasy. Write long, torrid sex scenes designed to make your reader squirm, where the climax is, achingly, pages and pages later.
Good luck!
Friday, July 12th, 2013  I’m getting ready for vacation.
Besides my computer, the one thing I always take with me is my camera. So, I’m charging batteries, cleaning accessories, and cleaning off data cards (Hello, Christmas photos! That’s where you are!)
I take a lot of snapshots no matter where I go.
And I’m terrible about cleaning off the data cards…which is why I have so many of them. I tend to keep taking pictures until they’re full, and then rush in a mad scramble to get them cleaned off before the next event. So, I buy extras. And now they’re all full, too.
I know some people who clean them off right away, tossing the blurries and labeling the people. I’m rarely that organized. (I’ve got better things to do! Don’t you?)
By the time I get to the photos, I’m often surprised by what I see on the camera. Not just the event, but the expressions, the feelings, the emotion.
Some good story stuff there.
Here’s Your Prompt:
- Open a photo album to a random snapshot. Write the story of what’s happening. If you journal, perfect. Write this moment. If you write fiction, make up a story about what you see. Bonus points if you use someone else’s photo album. (If you don’t have a photo album, use Google Images and search for “people.” Use the first photo you see.)
- Write about an autographed photo.
- Write about someone — or something –missing from a snapshot.
- Here are some story starters or journal ideas:
- In this snapshot, I am…
- It was picture perfect.
- He refused to hold still.
- “We agreed, no photos.”
- Capture this image.
- It shook the camera, and this is what we got.
- Write about light and dark, shadow and substance, frame and focus.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Nature paints the best part of a picture, carves the best part of the statue, builds the best part of the house…” Do you agree or disagree? Why or why not?
- Write about something written on the back of a photo.
Good luck!
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Photo of Liberty Cap Bell Yellowstone National Park © Raymond Kasprzak | Dreamstime Stock Photos
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Writers - Maryland Writer's Assn.
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