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SciFi/Fantasy – June 20
Edward Cullen was born on this date in 1901. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist encounters an obstacle in the form of someone who, or something that, is impossibly old.
read moreMystery – June 20
“Let me explain something to you, Walsh. This business requires a certain amount of finesse.” –Jake Gittes in Chinatown, which premiered on this date in 1974. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist acts in a way that contradicts his/her dialogue.
read moreLiterary – June 20
Lillian Hellman, born on this date in 1905, earned the enmity of fellow author Mary McCarthy, who famously said of Hellman, “Every word she writes is a lie, including and and the.” Writing prompt: List five similarly insightful and devastating insults your protagonist would like to say about her/his antogonist, but lacks the bravery to do...
read moreRomance – June 20
“People change and forget to tell each other.” –Lillian Hellman, born on this date in 1905. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist fails to achieve an important goal because s/he has changed in a way no one else realized.
read moreA word about self-publishing for writers so inclined.
The fact that no one in the legacy publishing industry knows what makes a best seller is indisputable. That fact does not mean everyone in the legacy publishing industry is an idiot. Even if J.K. Rowling experienced a dozen rejections before selling Harry Potter, and even if James Redfield self-published and sold more than 80,000 copies of The Celestine Prophecy from the trunk of his car, traditional (sometimes called legacy) publishing remains the surest path to selling large numbers of high–quality books. Thanks to technology, it is no...
read moreSciFi/Fantasy – June 19
“Contradiction is not a sign of falsity, nor the lack of contradiction a sign of truth.” –Blaise Pascal, born this date in 1623. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist is forced to confront the fact that an opposing belief is as true as your protag’s most deeply held belief.
read moreMystery – June 19
“I hate admitting that my enemies have a point.” –Salman Rushdie, born on this date in 1947. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist is proved wrong in dramatic fashion by your protag’s most insistent competitor.
read moreLiterary – June 19
“The beauty of a fragment is that it still supports the hope of brilliant completeness.” –Tobias Wolff, born this date in 1945. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist discovers a piece of something that used to be an essential part of your protag’s existence.
read moreRomance – June 19
“Throughout human history, the apostles of purity, those who have claimed to possess a total explanation, have wrought havoc among mere mixed-up human beings.” –Salman Rushdie, born on this date in 1947. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which a confident person takes adavantage of your protagonist’s mixed-uppedness.
read moreMystery – June 18
On this date in 1984, talk-radio shock-jock Alan Berg was shot and killed in his driveway. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist is called to investigate the murder of a person everyone hated.
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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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