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Literary – July 8
18-year-old Ernest Hemingway was wounded on this date in 1918 by an Austrian mortar while serving in Italy during World War I. Writing prompt: Write the scene from earlier in your protagonist’s life when the injury that defines him/her occurs.
read moreBig Questions – July 8
What would you do if you knew the person you most love had one month left to live? 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...
read moreJournaling + Fiction – July 8
“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.”Epicurus Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about something you enjoy today that you’d never dreamed possible. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist’s desire for something s/he doesn’t have spoils your protagonist’s joy of something precious s/he does have.
read moreRomance – July 8
“After all those years as a woman hearing ‘not thin enough, not pretty enough, not smart enough, not this enough, not that enough,’ almost overnight I woke up one morning and thought, ‘I’m enough.’ ” -Anna Quindlen, born this date in 1952. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which a loved one makes your protagonist feel s/he is not enough.
read moreMystery – July 8
“Like art, love, and pornography, noir is hard to define, but you know it when you see it. For the purposes of the book and my longtime working understanding and definition of it, noir stories are bleak, existential, alienated, pessimistic tales about losers — people who are so morally challenged that they cannot help but bring about their own ruin.” -Otto Penzler, born this date in 1942. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist defeats him/herself.
read moreSciFi/Fantasy – July 8
“Army Debunks Roswell Flying Disk As World Simmers With Excitement: Officers Say Disk Is A Weather Balloon.”- Roswell Morning Dispatch, 9 July 1947This date in 1947, the Roswell Daily Record reported that a UFO had crashed near Roswell Army Air Field, New Mexico on July 2nd. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist tries to convince her/his community that a highly unlikely event occurred, and succeeds in convincing only those members that your protagonist would rather not have associated with her/his...
read moreLiterary – July 7
Marc Chagall was born on this date in 1887. Writing prompt: Describe your protagonist’s response to this Chagall painting: Then describe the same painting from your antagonist’s perspective.
read moreBig Questions – July 7
Why do fools fall in 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 moreJournaling + Fiction – July 7
“Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.”Paul Boese Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about how your future improved after you received forgiveness. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist receives an unexpected gift from a person s/he forgave a long time ago.
read moreRomance – July 7
“Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own…. Jealousy is a disease, love is a healthy condition. The immature mind often mistakes one for the other, or assumes that the greater the love, the greater the jealousy.” -Robert Heinlein, born this date in 1907. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist realizes s/he has mistaken her/his romantic partner’s jealousy for love.
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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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