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SciFi/Fantasy – February 1
“Don’t forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he always wanted.” -Willy Wonka, who at 10:00 AM on this date welcomed Augustus Gloop, Veruca Salt, Violet Beauregard, Mike Teavee, and Charlie Bucket and their chaperones at the gates of his chocolate factory. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist receives a reward only because s/he is the last person to be disqualified from the competition to win it.
read moreSecondary – February 1
On this date in 1865, Pres. Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery when he signed the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution. If you were advising Pres. Lincoln, what would be your strongest argument for abolishing slavery?
read morePrimary – February 1
Explain how to do the thing you know how to do better than anyone else.
read moreLiterary – January 31
“There was that law of life, so cruel and so just, that one must grow or else pay more for remaining the same.” -Norman Mailer, born this date in 1923. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist deconstructs a moment from earlier in her/his life when s/he had a choice to grow or stay the same … and has since paid for making the wrong decision.
read moreJournaling + Fiction – January 31
“Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them become what they are capable of being.”Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about a time you helped someone become their best self. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which a person your protagonist counts on as a leader treats your protagonist as less than capable.
read moreBig Questions – January 31
What scares you? 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 images.
read moreRomance – January 31
“Every moment of one’s existence one is growing into more or retreating into less. One is always living a little more or dying a little bit.” -Norman Mailer, born this date in 1923. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist must choose between growing and living, or retreating and dying, a little bit.
read moreMystery – January 31
“Anyone can love a perfect place. Loving Baltimore takes some resilience.”- Laura Lippman, born this date in 1959 (the same day on which Homicide: Life on the Street — based on a book about Baltimore — premiered in 1993). Writing prompt: In your protagonist’s voice, describe a place s/he loves that everyone else finds a little less than perfect.
read moreSciFi/Fantasy – January 31
“I think we shrink from the immensity of the purpose we are here for.” -Norman Mailer, born on this date in 1923. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist shrinks before the immensity of her/his purpose.
read moreSecondary – January 31
In Zane Gray’s best-known novel, Riders of the Purple Sage, he wrote, “At the end of the day faith is a funny thing.” He was born on this date in 1872 and started writing after studying dentistry on a baseball scholarship at Penn. Write your best definition of faith.
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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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