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Literary – March 7
“After a while you learn that everything stops.” -Bret Easton Ellis, born this date in 1964. Writing prompt: Describe from the point of view of your protagonist’s closest friend something your protag should stop but cannot or will not.
read moreJournaling + Fiction – March 7
“A very small degree of hope is sufficient to cause the birth of love.”Stendhal Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about a time you fell in love with an idea or person based on a degree of hope that was too small. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist finds out the hard way that hope is not sufficient.
read moreBig Questions – March 7
How deep is your love? 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 the voice of a character you want to know more about. Photo from Unsplash, the internet’s source of freely usable...
read moreRomance – March 7
“The last thing we learn about ourselves is our effect.” -William Boyd, born this date in 1952. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist realizes for the first time her/his significant influence on someone your protagonist believed was laregly unaware of her/his existence.
read moreMystery – March 7
“To be brave, by definition, one has first to be afraid.”- Robert Harris, born this date in 1957. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist discovers whether s/he is brave.
read moreSciFi/Fantasy – March 7
Piet Mondrian was born on this date in 1872. Writing prompt: Describe his painting Landscape with Farmhouse from the points of view of your protagonist and your antagonist.
read moreSecondary – March 7
Robert Frost’s poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” was first published in The New Republic on this date in 1923. Write a scene describing what the narrator had to do before sleep. Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year. He gives his...
read morePrimary – March 7
Robert Frost’s poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” was first published in The New Republic on this date in 1923. Write a story that explains where the author is going. Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year. He gives his harness bells a shake...
read more10,000 Hours
In Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers: The Story of Success, he details the concept of the 10,000-hour rule. That’s a reasonably well-accepted theory that to become thoroughly proficient at something, a person needs to practice for about 10,000 hours. Gladwell’s most famous examples include the Beatles and Bill Gates. Prodigies — the exceptions who prove the rule — are popularly known. However, they account for a very small percentage of the people we consider “successful” at anything — music, sports, business, math,...
read moreLiterary – March 6
“What matters in life is not what happens to you but what you remember and how you remember it.” -Gabriel García Márquez, born this date in 1927. Writing prompt: From the point of view your protagonist, write the scene of a formative conflict in your protag’s early life at the time of the dispute. Then rewrite the scene at your protag’s current age.
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David B. Schlosser is an author of award-winning fiction and non-fiction, and an editor of award-winning fiction and non-fiction.
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