Literary – March 21

“Words can sting like anything, but silence breaks the heart.” -Phyllis McGinley, born this date in 1905. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist learns that the opposite of love is not hate but indifference.

Literary – March 20

“It’s the choosing that’s important, isn’t it?” -Lois Lowry, born this date in 1937. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which the act of making a choice is more important to your protagonist than the choice or its outcome.

Literary – March 19

“Memories of the past are not memories of facts but memories of your imaginings of the facts.” -Philip Roth, born this date in 1933. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist’s memories cause her/him to utterly misinterpret something that’s completely clear to everyone else.

Literary – March 18

“Dreams have as much influence as actions.” -Stéphane Mallarmé, the poet who inspired such revolutionary schools of creative arts as Dadaism, Surrealism, and Futurism, and even forecast hypertext, born this date in born 1842. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which a recurring dream causes your protagonist to reconsider the wisdom of her/his action.

Literary – March 17

“Time moves in one direction, memory in another.” -William Gibson, born this date in 1948. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist’s memory of an event so fundamentally conflicts with the actual event that the memory prevents your protag from moving forward in time.

Literary – March 16

The first recipient of the Nobel Prize for literature, Rene-Francois-Armand Sully-Prudhomme, was born on this date in 1839. His declared intent was to create “scientific poetry.” Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist is frustrated in her/his intent to create something inherently contradictory.

Literary – March 15

“If truth is the main casualty in war, ambiguity is another.” -Paul Fussell, wounded by German artillery at Alsace on this date in 1945. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist takes an unambiguous moral from a truly ambiguous moment.

Literary – March 14

“If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor.” -Albert Einstein, born  this date in 1879. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which a parent or lover refuses to believe a truth your protagonist is professing because it’s too tidy.