Literary – August 30

Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist shares with a trusted advisor her/his compare-and-contrast ideas about your protag’s best friend and worst enemy.

Literary – August 24

Oscar Hijuelos was born on this date in 1951. Writing prompt: Write the same scene twice — first, as your protagonist actually experienced his/her first exposure to another culture or class; second, as your protagonist remembers the experience years later.

Literary – August 21

Writing prompt: Use the following items in a scene requiring your protagonist to achieve a romantic goal: a spork, a quarter, a watch, and bottle of insect repellant.

Literary – August 20

Writing prompt: Using each letter of the alphabet, A through Z, describe your protagonist’s mother in the adjectives your protag would use.

Literary – August 14

Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist and a sibling or close friend debate which two famous people they would prefer to have for parents.

Literary – August 10

Writing prompt: If given the opportunity to receive a single lesson from the leading expert in any field, living or dead, what would your protagonist choose to learn from whom?

Literary – August 9

“Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes, well, he eats you.” -Sam Elliott, born this date in 1944, as The Stranger in The Big Lebowski. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which a bear your protagonist had previously eaten comes back to eat your protag.

Literary – August 8

On this date in 1968, Richard M. Nixon earned the Republican nomination for President of the United States. On this date in 1974, Pres. Nixon announced he would resign the office. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist achieves a perfect reversal from circumstances just a few years before.