“To survive it is often necessary to fight and to fight you have to dirty yourself.”- Eric Arthur Blair, born this date in 1903. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist must choose between fighting dirty and losing the fight.
Posted by
dbschlosser on Jun 25th, 2025 in
Blog |
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In her craft book Write Away: One Novelist’s Approach to Fiction and the Writing Life, Elizabeth George spends an entire chapter on the value of what she calls “bum glue.” She defines it as that which keeps one’s bottom firmly attached to the chair in which one sits while writing. Although bum glue goes by many different names, the vast majority of successful authors confirm – or, at least, confess – it’s the...
Pablo Picasso was first exhibited in Paris by art dealer Ambroise Vollard on this day in 1901. This painting is among Picasso’s creations that year: Writing prompt: Describe from your protagonist’s point of view what this painting shows, and then do the same from your antagonist’s POV.
Is there a talent that can’t be taught? Journaling prompt: Spend 15-20 minutes writing your answer in the spirit of exploring yourself and the world around you. If you can answer with a simple “yes” or “no,” explain the sources or implications of your response. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene that forces a character in your story to answer the question, or spend 15-20 minutes answering the question in...
“I, for one, have never met a fanatic with a sense of humor. Nor have I ever known anyone capable of making a joke at his own expense become a fanatic.”Amos Oz Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about what you’ve learned observing someone with no sense of humor. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which an ally skewers your protagonist for taking a subject too...
Posted by
dbschlosser on Jun 24th, 2025 in
Romance |
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Jacqueline Bouvier and US Senator John F. Kennedy announced their engagement on this date in 1953. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist expects to be asked to accept a proposal of marriage and is surprised not to receive it.
Posted by
dbschlosser on Jun 24th, 2025 in
Mystery |
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A mail-bomb attack on Yale University computer science professor David Gelernter on this date in 1993 — the 15th such attack since 1978 — prompted the formation of the UNABOM task force. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist is asked to examine a package believed to have an explosive in it.
“The hardest tumble a man can make is to fall over his own bluff.”- Ambrose Bierce, born this date in 1842. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist fails to bluff her/his way out of a dangerous circumstance.
