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Primary – May 9
Peter Pan author JM Barrie was born on this date in 1860. He once wrote, “I’m not young enough to know everything.” Explain why you think JM Barrie was correct or confused.
read moreLiterary – May 8
“There was no difference between the behavior of a god and the operations of pure chance.” -Thomas Pynchon, one of the world’s most notoriously reclusive authors, born this date in 1937. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which a random event forces your protagonist to consider whether making any plan at all is pointless.
read moreBig Questions – May 8
What would you do if you knew the person you most love had one year left to live? 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...
read moreJournaling + Fiction – May 8
“If you can’t fly, then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”Martin Luther King, Jr. Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about what you will do to move forward on something you have been too long static. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist must crawl when s/he would prefer to fly.
read moreRomance – May 8
“The past is a palimpsest. Early memories are always obscured by accumulations of later knowledge.” -Pat Barker, born this date in 1943. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist gains knowledge that irretrievably upends one of her/his favorite memories.
read moreMystery – May 8
Andrew Svenson, the unnamed Stratemeyer Syndicate author behind many Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mysteries and other young-adult adventures of earlier generations, was born on this date in 1910. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist learns that someone else is going to get the credit for something your protag achieved.
read moreSciFi/Fantasy – May 8
“It must be, I thought, one of the race’s most persistent and comforting hallucinations to trust that ‘”‘it can’t happen here'”‘ — that one’s own time and place is beyond cataclysm.”- John Wyndham describing the 8th of May, a day the he made better known as the Day of the Triffids. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist must lead a group of blind beings to safety.
read moreSecondary – May 8
Born on this day in 1937, Thomas Pynchon said, “If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about the answers.” Explain your understanding of this idea.
read morePrimary – May 8
“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” -Harry Truman, 33rd president of the United States, born on this date in 1884. Why do you think a US President would say that?
read moreLiterary – May 7
“A battler is someone who struggles forever and will never, ever, really get anywhere.” -Two-time Booker Prize recipient Peter Carey, born this date in 1943. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist must confront her/his fear that s/he will never amount to anything more than a battler.
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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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