Blog
Big Questions – January 3
What chore do you most dread? 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 3
“R-E-S-P-E-C-T” – Aretha Franklin, the first female artist inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on this date in 1987. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist addresses your her/his romantic partner’s lack of respect.
read moreMystery – January 3
“The five senses are the ministers of the soul.”- Leonardo da Vinci Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist discovers four clues using senses other than sight.
read moreSciFi/Fantasy – January 3
“It’s wisdom to recognize necessity, when all other courses have been weighed, though as folly it may appear to those who cling to false hope.” -John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, born this date in 1892. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist must persuade a group of false-hoping allies that s/he is not leading them on an irrational course.
read moreSecondary – January 3
JRR Tolkien, who wrote The Lord of the Rings trilogy, was born on this date in 1892. Explain what you think he meant when he wrote, “Deep roots are not reached by frost.”
read morePrimary – January 3
JRR Tolkien, who wrote The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, was born on this date in 1892. Explain what you think he meant when he said, “Courage is found in unlikely places.”
read moreRube Tube
Author William Gibson has an essay on his web site in which he contemplates becoming “exactly the sort of introverted, hyper-bookish boy you’ll find in the biographies of most American science fiction writers … dreaming of one day becoming a writer myself.” It’s all interesting, even if you’re not familiar with his work, and he concludes with this compelling insight: “I suspect I have spent just about exactly as much time actually writing as the average person my age has spent watching television, and...
read moreLiterary – January 2
Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist must confront the thing or issue that most terrifies you.
read moreJournaling + Fiction – January 2
“An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.”Oscar Wilde Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about the bravest idea you’ve never told anyone about. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist must express a dangerous idea to an audience that doesn’t welcome it.
read moreBig Questions – January 2
What was the first step on the path that brought you to where you are right now? 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...
read more
David B. Schlosser is an author of award-winning fiction and non-fiction, and an editor of award-winning fiction and non-fiction.
Read More...