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Literary – June 3
“It isn’t enough for your heart to break because everybody’s heart is broken now.” -Allen Ginsberg, born this date in 1926. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist’s attempt to share some deep emotions with a friend fails because your protag’s friend plays an escalating game of one-upmanship.
read moreBig Questions – June 3
To what is it easiest for you to say, “No”? 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 – June 3
“The perception of beauty is a moral test.”Henry David Thoreau Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about your first experience of awe at the beauty of an object or landscape. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist mistakes beauty for goodness.
read moreRomance – June 3
” ‘Do I perceive a softening in your heart for me, damoiselle?’ He laughed at her scowl. ‘Beware maid. I will tell you true. After you will come another and then another. There are no strings that can tether me to any woman. So guard your heart.’ ” -Kathleen Woodiwiss, the originator of the historical romance genre, born on this date in 1939, in her novel The Wolf and the Dove. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist’s heart softens toward someone who doesn’t...
read moreMystery – June 3
“Incompetents invariably make trouble for people other than themselves.” -Larry McMurtry, born this date in 1936. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist gets into a dangerous predicament because someone else is incompetent.
read moreSciFi/Fantasy – June 3
“Never name the well from which you will not drink.”- Marion Zimmer Bradley, born this date in 1930. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist is forced to do the thing that most terrifies her/him because s/he mistakenly allowed someone to learn what that is.
read moreSecondary – June 3
“I worked night and day for twelve years to prevent the war, but I could not. The North was mad and blind, would not let us govern ourselves, and so the war came.” -Confederate States of America President Jefferson Davis, who was born on this date in 1808. Explain your beliefs about the concept of a justifiable war.
read morePrimary – June 3
On this date in 1888, the poem “Casey at the Bat” was published in the San Francisco Examiner. [youtube width=”250″ height=”202″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xWtysMlrcA[/youtube] Write a story describing how you felt when you let down someone who expected you to do something you couldn’t do.
read moreLiterary – June 2
“And yet to every bad there is a worse.” -Thomas Hardy, born this date in 1840. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist is astonished to learn that her/his circumstances can, in fact, get worse.
read moreBig Questions – June 2
What’s the most over-hyped experience you’ve ever suffered? 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...
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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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