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Literary – Valentine’s Day
The Importance of Being Earnest opened on this date in 1895, staging Oscar Wilde’s story of two women in love with two men who are each pretending to be a third person. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist discovers that the person s/he loves is not the person your protagonist thinks s/he knows.
read moreJournaling + Fiction – Valentine’s Day
“When people talk, listen completely.”Ernest Hemingway Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about how you made the person with whom you were talking feel the last time you didn’t listen completely. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist is talking but not being heard.
read moreBig Questions – Valentine’s Day
Does lightning strike twice? 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 – Valentine’s Day
Charles, Duke of Orleans, wrote the first valentine from captivity in the Tower of London, when he wrote St. Valentine’s Day love poems to his wife during his imprisonment from 1415-1440. Writing prompt: Write a letter from your protagonist’s partner to your protagonist after they have been forcibly separated for a year or more.
read moreMystery – Valentine’s Day
“Only Al Capone kills like that.” On this date in 1929, in what became known as the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, gunmen believed to be working for Al Capone killed seven members of the rival George “Bugs” Moran gang in a Chicago garage. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist, investigating a brutal murder, discovers a clue suggesting the victim thought the killer was a cop.
read moreSciFi/Fantasy – Valentine’s Day
“Figures don’t lie, but liars figure.” – (quoted by) Robert Heinlein, in whose 1907 on this date was born George Edward Smith. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your antagonist misleads your protagonist with data.
read moreSecondary – Valentine’s Day
Famous abolitionist Frederick Douglass, born on this date in 1818, once said, “A man’s character always takes its hue, more or less, from the form and color of things about him.” Explain why do you agree or disagree with him.
read morePrimary – Valentine’s Day
If you could write a Valentine’s Day card to anyone, what would you write and who would you send it to?
read moreWords Not Pages
I frequently hear from writers who are interested in a manuscript review or editing services, or who want to pitch an agent or publisher, and they tell me their book is 200 or 425 or howevermany pages long. When I’m feeling indulgent and patient, I’ll spend some time explaining why I don’t care how many pages their manuscript is – and why they shouldn’t, either. What counts is the number of words in the manuscript, because that’s how “long” the work actually is. Back in the day of Royals and Selectrics, “page” meant “page.” It meant, “About...
read moreLiterary – February 13
On this date in 1974, the Soviet Union expelled dissident author Alexander Solzhenitsyn. He once said, “Everything you add to the truth subtracts from the truth.” Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist’s attempts to clarify the truth of a situation make everyone increasingly doubt his/her veracity.
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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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