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 – St. Patrick’s Day

“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.

Literary – March 13

Janet Flanner, who wrote The New Yorker’s “Letter from Paris” under the pseudonym Genêt for more than 50 years, was born on this date in 1892. She believed “genius is immediate, but talent takes time.” Writing prompt: Write a scene in which the struggle to cultivate talent proves your protagonist is no genius.

Literary – March 12

“People are strange, but more than that, they’re good. They’re good first, then strange.” -Dave Eggers, born this date in 1970. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which another character’s strangeness puts off your protagonist until your protag recognizes the other’s goodness.