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Big Questions – January 12
What achievement do you most strive for? 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 12
“Whatever it is you’re seeking won’t come in the form you’re expecting.” -Haruki Murakami, born this date in 1949. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist realizes s/he failed to find what s/he was seeking because it came unexpectedly.
read moreMystery – January 12
“It was a great game, and exciting and dramatic and even at times tragic — but funny it emphatically was not.”- John Cecil Masterman, author of An Oxford Tragedy among several acclaimed mystery novels and head of the Twenty Committee, born this date in 1891. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist fails to find any humor in another person’s wit.
read moreSciFi/Fantasy – January 12
“This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.” – HAL 9000, which went online on this date in Arthur C. Clarke’s 1992. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which a technology your protagonist relies on for protection becomes her/his greatest mortal threat.
read moreSecondary – January 12
“Taking crazy things seriously is a serious waste of time.” -Haruki Murakami, born on this date in 1949. Use examples from your own experience to prove this statement is false.
read morePrimary – January 12
Describe the three most important qualities you want your best friends to have.
read moreNews flash: Economics applies to publishing, too!
Virginia Postrel has a great article on publishing and Amazon’s new lending library (which works sort of like Netflix for e-books) that’s worth reading in its entirety: click here to read it.Here’s the most important takeaway: A former publishing executive recently told me he simply didn’t believe that “if I really want a book for $9.95 I don’t also want it for $10.95 or $12.95.” People in publishing say things like that all the time. While they admit that charging $100 for the typical hardback would be foolish, they don’t...
read moreLiterary – January 11
Alan Paton was born on this date in 1903. In his most famous work, he bemoaned the fate of South Africa’s unborn child: “For fear will rob him of all if he gives too much.” Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist withholds from his/her partner that which the partner most needs because your protag fears the power such a gift would grant.
read moreJournaling + Fiction – January 11
“To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day.”Winston Churchill Journal prompt: Reflect on your previous journal entries and spend at least 20 minutes writing about a time you caused or observed the destruction of another’s efforts. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist’s hard work is thoughtlessly destroyed by someone your protagonist considers an ally.
read moreBig Questions – January 11
What’s the one material object you’d save from your burning home? 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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