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Big Questions – January 6
What’s the best practical joke you’ve ever pulled? 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 – January 6
“What most people think of as history is its end product, myth.” – EL Doctorow, born this date in 1931. Writing prompt: Describe an event in your protagonist’s life as it actually occurred, and then as your protagonist has mythologized it.
read moreMystery – January 6
“To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman. I have seldom heard him mention her under any other name.”- Dr. John H. Watson, narrating the life of Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective who was born this date in 1854 on the farmstead of Mycroft, near Sigerside, in the north Riding of Yorkshire. Writing prompt: Describe your protagonist’s “the” woman or man from the point of view of your protagonist’s best friend.
read moreSciFi/Fantasy – January 6
“You must enjoy being beat. Let me remodel your face one more time.” -Cammy White, born this date in 1974. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist advises a dangerous Type-A personality to chill out.
read moreSecondary – January 6
Samuel F.B. Morse and his partner demonstrated the telegraph for the first time on this date in 1838. Describe how you think people will communicate about 175 years from now.
read morePrimary – January 6
If you could learn the answer to any question in the world, what would you ask?
read moreHeroes, Old and New
“When I talk of the triumph of Nietzsche, all I mean is that do-it-yourself morality, informed by personal passion rather than old-fogey morality, is the new norm.” Jonah Goldberg in “Empty Integrity,” in the November 17, 2014, issue of National Review. This article has some ideological and religious references you can skip over because they aren’t particularly relevant to the interesting discussion of heroes — what they were, what they are, how the cultural perspective on what constitutes a hero has...
read moreLiterary – January 5
“Nothing gives a fearful man more courage than another’s fear.” -Umberto Eco, born this date in 1932. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist is motivated out of terrified paralysis by the needs of someone who is even more scared.
read moreJournaling + Fiction – January 5
“To be a good citizen, it’s important to be able to put yourself in other people’s shoes and see the big picture. If everything you see is rooted in your own identity, that becomes difficult or impossible.”Eli Pariser Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about the first time you realized that not everyone shares the same life experiences. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist is blocked from achieving an important goal by someone who refuses to put on your protagonist’s...
read moreBig Questions – January 5
What random event over which you had no control has most influenced your life? 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...
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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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