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Mystery – December 16
On this date in 1951, NBC debuted Dragnet in a special preview. Sgt. Joe Friday once said “there are over 5,000 men in this city, who know that being a policeman is an endless, glamorless, thankless job that’s gotta be done.” Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist explains to a doubtful observer why s/he has to do the job s/he is doing.
read moreSciFi/Fantasy – December 16
“In a society of criminals, the innocent man goes to jail.”- Philip K. Dick, born this date in 1928 (the same date as Arthur C. Clarke was born in 1917). Writing prompt: Write a scene in which a technology that was supposed to empower and liberate individuals is used against your protagonist to disempower and constrain him/her.
read moreSecondary – December 16
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” -Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás, known as George Santayana, born on this date in 1863. Describe the best method you’ve discovered for remembering the past.
read morePrimary – December 16
“Nothing is more intolerable than to have to admit to yourself your own errors.” -Ludwig van Beethoven, born on this date in 1770. Describe a time you had to admit that you made a mistake and how it made you feel.
read moreDon’t Envy – Improve
A few years ago, when I finished Margaret Atwood’s The Blind Assassin while doing the eleventythousandth revision of my own novel manuscript, I closed her book and looked at mine and thought, “Why bother?” The bother is that I’ve got my own story to tell. It’s not Atwood’s story, or Melville’s or Twain’s, or even yours. You’ve got your own story, too. Because it’s your story, the issue isn’t whether you write as well as Hemingway or Fitzgerald or King or Roberts or anyone else whom you admire or sells bigger. The issue is whether you can tell...
read moreLiterary – December 15
“In our deepest moments we say the most inadequate things.” -Edna O’Brien, born this date in 1930. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist’s well-intentioned words have exactly the opposite effect on a loved one in crisis.
read moreJournaling + Fiction – December 15
“Knowledge is proud that it knows so much;wisdom is humble that it knows no more.”William Cowper Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about what you don’t know about a topic about which you’ve earned significant expertise. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which an ally humbles your protagonist by asking a question that reveals your protagonist isn’t as knowledgeable as everyone assumed.
read moreBig Questions – December 15
How would you respond if you lost everything you owned today? 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 – December 15
“She said the reason that love is so painful is that it always amounts to two people wanting more than two people can give.” -Edna O’Brien, born this date in 1930. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist finally realizes that a suitor is withholding something the suitor could freely give.
read moreMystery – December 15
Writing prompt: Write the scene of your protagonist’s most self-deceptive presumption of victory.
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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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