Posts Tagged ‘prompts’

Writing Prompts at Home: For Writers in Quarantine

April 27, 2020

When you’re stuck at home, the right writing prompt can transport you.

I’m really lucky! Many of my closest friends are writers. This means that sometimes, when I’m stuck (thanks COVID) and looking for writing prompts at home, a pal will step in and show me another way. That’s the case this week. Usually, I’m quite fond of creating writing prompts. In fact, I consider myself pretty darned good at cooking up dynamic, engaging exercises that take writers (me included) into new territory.

This week, though? I’m freakin’ dry. And just when I want to offer you guys something fresh to while away the l-o-n-g, isolated hours—or, even better, give you a head’s start on a new writing project. Which brings us to my gratitude for writer friends in general—and Teri AnpoWi Saveliff in particular.

When I was sighing to Teri about my dearth of creative spark, she offered up her services. “I’ve been challenging myself with a bunch of different writing prompts,” she told me. “I’d be happy to share a few with your readers!” Now, that is team spirit, people! Team SPIRIT!

So, without further ado, I offer you …

Teri’s quarantine-easing writing prompts at home

I suspect I’m not the only writer who, now involuntarily hunkered down in place with hours of unforeseen free time, has not been able to pick up the pen and finally finish that long-neglected novel. In fact, I have become far less productive than usual. One time-honored solution is to take on a smaller, less daunting project with an eye to shaking out your hands and getting the juices flowing again.

Without the outside world to inspire me, I have tried to look at the objects in my home with new eyes. I shared my approach with Jamie, whose enthusiasm made me think these prompts might catch your fancy, as well. Try these writing prompts at home:

1) The Previously Undetected Voice in the Room

I have several beautiful statues of goddesses adorning my altar. Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of prosperity and good fortune, has, depending upon her manifestation, two, four, or eight arms. She usually holds lotus flowers and fruit in some of her hands; others are open, offering blessings.

What if she were to choose to come alive, right now? What would she say? What questions would she ask? What might she cause to happen in my house? Or would she ignore me altogether, cavorting with my figurine of the Vetruvian man?

Perhaps you have no three-dimensional art in your home to galvanize your imagination. But perhaps you do have a watercolor of an aging barn. What if the barn could speak? What if it had witnessed a crime, or two young lovers’ first kiss? What if it wanted to divulge its history before gravity triumphs over its rotting wood and rusting nails?

Pick any piece of art in your house and give it a voice. Let it tell you what it’s seen, what it imagines, what it longs for. If possible, give it a happy ending.

2) A Pen with a Story

Find the oldest pen among your writing implements, one you didn’t acquire new. More likely than not, it’s a nondescript ballpoint, perhaps pocketed by mistake when you signed a credit slip at that antique store you visited six years ago. This pen had a history before it came into your possession. Who owned it? What does the pen know of this person? Did they use the pen to write frivolous checks? Compose love sonnets? Craft a Dear John letter? Let the pen tell you as it slips across the page.

3) Living Upside Down

Many tarot readers say they feel we are living in Hanged Man times. No, not strangling in a noose—suspended upside down. It is a time for waiting, reflection, and looking at things from a different perspective.

When I was a child, oh, how we reveled in our days of idleness! I would lie on the carpet, looking up at the ceiling, and imagine that it was the floor. I pictured myself stepping over raised thresholds that separated room from room. I saw a space where light fixtures were planted into the floor, illuminating the rooms with a far different quality. I wondered how it would feel to walk across floors of popcorn (thank goodness popcorn ceilings are no longer in vogue!).

What does your space look like upside down. How would you move through it? What looks different? What is still familiar? Does gazing at it up-ended give you vertigo? Does your view suggest white rabbits with pocket watches ready to dive into Wonderland? What adventure beckons you into your inverted world?

Have fun with these writing prompts at home and stay safe.

Writing coach

Need help with your book? I’m available for book coaching and manuscript review! And check out “Should I Hire a Writing Coach” in THE WRITER magazine.

* * *

Thanks so much to Teri AnpoWi Saveliff for sharing her inspiring prompts with us. If you like these, you might enjoy her ideas about using tarot to help you plot your novel and develop your characters. She’s also the author of the charming novel SIGNATURES.

Thank you to Llewellyn Worldwide for kind permission to use the image of The Hanged Man from the EVERYDAY WITCH TAROT.

Plotting a Novel: 3 Tips (with Tarot!)

April 13, 2020

Tips for Plotting a Novel

TERI ANPOWI SAVELIFF AND I WERE TAROT FRIENDS before we were writer friends. Many’s the evening we’ve spent on the phone throwing cards for one another or sharing images from our newest decks. Then I read her charming NaNoWriMo-inspired novel, SIGNATURES, and was delighted to learn we had a whole other dimension of commonality to explore—including plotting a novel!

In this post, Teri draws from our shared worlds, offering three ways to use tarot—a system of evocative visual images—to develop your novel. Here are her tips for plotting a novel.

* * *

Before I published my first novel, SIGNATURES, the main characters and the bookshop where they worked had been inhabiting my head for decades. But characters, and even settings, have lives of their own, and they may insist on telling their story in ways you might not anticipate. As an avid student of tarot, I knew the cards would play a role in my novel. And I was right. Once tough-talking, tattooed Paloma—complete with her tarot deck—strolled into the bookshop and insisted on joining my cast of characters, she and her cards played a very large part in my novel, indeed.

In the past, I’ve often used the images, symbolism, and divinatory meanings of tarot cards to illustrate a point or move a plot along. In SIGNATURES, however, I didn’t merely toss the appropriate card into the story at the right time—I conducted actual readings for my characters. If you have some experience with tarot, I highly recommend this strategy when you need additional backstory for a character, want to test a character’s mettle, or want to explore secondary themes in your novel.

You don’t need to be a tarot expert to find the cards useful, however! Here are three different ways you can use a deck of tarot cards to explore your novel.

Tip #1 for Plotting a Novel

Know a smidge about tarot? Conduct a tarot reading as part of a scene.

One late addition to my cast of characters was Hanz Lippman, an author clinging to past achievements. He enjoyed holding court in the bookshop and flirting with coeds studying his book in their literature classes. I didn’t anticipate developing his character, further, though, until Paloma conducted a reading for him:

“Don’t draw more than one card,” commanded Hanz. “I don’t think I could stand any more than that.”

Paloma made a face and drew a solitary card. It depicted a young man, a small dog nipping at his heels. The man was perilously close to the edge of a cliff, but seemed unconcerned.

“The Fool,” said Paloma. “You seem to be at the beginning of a journey or undertaking.”

“Ha!” crowed Hanz. “I knew these cards were nonsensical bullshit. Tell me, dear, what sort of journey am I beginning? What project am I undertaking?”

“Well, this is usually why my client and I work together,” Paloma answered irritably. “I’ve told you, I’m not a fortuneteller. I would also draw a few more cards to answer the question. One card doesn’t always say enough.”

“My sweet little dove,” Hanz said with a smile, “I am far too old to be a fool, at the beginning of a journey or otherwise. You should have drawn an old man … a man without even a dog to accompany him on his travels.”

“The Fool can also represent someone at the beginning of a spiritual journey … or an emotional journey,” Paloma added.

“None of this resonates at all,” Hanz insisted stubbornly. He turned the card face down and slid it back toward Paloma.

“Of course, you could also be getting ready to walk right off the cliff,” Paloma retorted. “Not looking where you’re going, too confident in yourself. The good news is, the fall won’t be fatal.”

“Good news for whom?” teased Hanz. “I have a feeling you wouldn’t mind if I broke a bone or two.”

Paloma smiled noncommittally and gathered the cards into a single stack.

This reading added some depth to Hanz’s character and inspired me to create for him a much bigger role in my novel.

Tip #2 for Plotting a Novel

Not a tarot reader? Just one image can add intrigue or foreshadowing

Even a single card can add dimension or reinforce a theme in your story. The card may appear very straightforward, such as the card of Justice, usually depicting a blindfolded woman with a sword in one hand and a set of scales in the other, or The Tower, often shown with lightning striking its peak and people falling from its windows.

In the case of this little scene, Maggie, the main character in SIGNATURES, draws her own card out of curiosity, and that card adds a bit of foreshadowing.

[Maggie] spied Paloma’s tarot deck sitting on the low round table not far from the window. On an impulse, she shuffled the cards and then drew one from the deck. She had to laugh. “The Lovers,” she smirked.

It so happens that Maggie pulled this card just before she goes on a date!

Tip #3 for Plotting a Novel

Don’t know the first thing about tarot cards? Tarot is character-centric! Let the figure on a card suggest an attitude or trait for one of your less-developed characters. (P.S. The internet abounds with pictures of tarot archetypes. Just Google “tarot cards” for a free treasure trove of inspiring images!)

You don’t need any experience with the cards to put them to work as a literary aid! Since tarot’s visual language can be said to be universal, even the most random tarot draw can spark fresh ideas. For instance, If you are looking to add a character to your story, or describe a character you haven’t fleshed out, you could draw a card to give your character a face.

One of my favorite decks, the GAIAN TAROT, depicts people from numerous ethnic backgrounds and cultures. When I was looking for a bit more information about the character of Paloma after she barged unexpectedly into my book, the GAIAN Seven of Fire suggested her multiple tattoos and air of independence.

Whether you utilize a few captivating illustrations on the internet, purchase an intriguing deck of your own, or become a full-blown tarot enthusiast like me, tarot can enrich and add dimension to your writing endeavors. Above all, have fun exploring a new tool!

* * *

WRITING (AND TAROT) INSPIRATION

If you want to try this tip for plotting a novel there are literally thousands of tarot decks to choose from. You might visit Amazon and search “tarot decks,” to get you started. However, the AECLECTIC TAROT site might be a better place to start. AECLECTIC offers decks categorized by art style, as well as sample images of all decks and even reviews of many decks.

Corinne Kenner’s TAROT FOR WRITERS offers many approaches to applying tarot imagery and meaning to enhance your creative writing project.

You’ll also find dozens of tarot-based writing prompts on this website. Just search “tarot,” using the magnifying-glass icon you’ll find in the top right hand corner of every page.

Writing coach

Need help with your book? Wondering “why hire a writing coach“? I’m available for book coaching and manuscript review! And check out “Should I Hire a Writing Coach” in THE WRITER magazine.

* * *

Thank you to U.S. Games Systems, Inc. for kind permission to use the image of The Fool, from the RIDER-WAITE (SMITH) TAROT.

Thank you to Llewellyn Worldwide for kind permission to use the image of The Lovers from the LLEWELLYN TAROT.

Thank you to Joanna Powell Colbert for kind permission to use the image of the Seven of Fire, from her GAIAN TAROT).

And special thanks to Teri AnpoWi Saveliff for her generous sharing of a few of her tarot-centric novel-writing tips and tricks!

Ethical Will: What Really Matters?

April 6, 2020

What is an ethical will?

The other day, my new writer friend Rabbi Rami asked me if I knew what an “ethical will” was. “Nope,” I said, “not a clue!”

Turns out, an ethical will, also called a “legacy letter,” is quite different from the legal document we imagine when we think of a last will and testament. While what’s called a “simple will” indicates our wishes for the distribution of our possessions after death, an ethical will gives us an opportunity to pass on to future generations what we’ve learned through our experiences—our most profound lessons, values, and perspectives.

In addition, according to Next Avenue’s Deborah Quilter, ethical wills quite often include blessings for those who outlive us (particularly our children), our “hopes for the future, apologies to those [we] fear [we] have hurt, or gratitude to those [we] think [we] have not thanked enough.”

In a way, you might see an ethical will as a mini-memoir—one that gets right to the point: I did this; I learned this; I want to share this. And like any other memoir, there’s no need to wait until we are at the end of our lives to write it. In fact, in his article “Why Write an Ethical Will?” Dr. Andrew Weil says, the “main importance [of an ethical will] is what it gives the writer in the midst of life.”

WRITING YOUR ETHICAL WILL

We’re living in troubling times. Taking a few hours to create such a deep life inventory could help us remember what’s most important to us. We might focus our ethical-will writing on recognizing the positive impact we’ve had on others, or on the gifts that have been given to us by others. We can name for ourselves our true values: what’s most important to us; the influence we would like to have; the legacy we would like to leave.

On the other hand, this might be a months’- or years’-long process, a document we begin now and add to as our lives and understanding unfold—continuing to write “… in times of reflection,” as mentioned on Everplans, “whether in moments of happiness or hardship.”

10 questions to help you write your ethical will

1) List ten turning points in your life. What decisions did you make at those crossroads that impacted your future?

2) List the three most difficult challenges you’ve faced. What did you learn from each?

3) What sacrifices have you made? Were these for others? Or have you also sacrificed pleasures of the moment for longer term goals?

4) What had you hoped to have accomplished by this point? What have you actually accomplished? Which accomplishment gives you most satisfaction?

5) Which five people have had the most significant influence on you?

6) If you had the opportunity to give three pieces of advice to the world at large, what would they be?

7) What roles have you played in your family? At work? In your community?

8) What do you love to do most? List up to 100 items.

9) Have you had what you’d consider spiritual experiences? If so, write about one or more of them. If not, how have you been guided so far in your life?

10) What would you want to see as your legacy?

WRITING ETHICAL WILLS WITH YOUR FAMILY

No matter how young we are, we have learned something from the time we’ve lived. Rather than embarking on your ethical will alone, you might create a family event—just you and your children gathered at a table responding to questions like the ones above, or several generations sharing the experience via video call.

You might all agree to respond to a single question, then write together for perhaps ten minutes, before sharing what you’ve written. If time permits, repeat the process. This could become a family tradition—a weekly or monthly opportunity to dig into deep topics and learn what your loved ones think about the things that matter most.

WRITING INSPIRATION

Some folks have published their ethical wills. Here are a few examples:

THE MEASURE OF OUR SUCCESS: A Letter to My Children and Yours, by Marian Wright Edelman

EVERYTHING I KNOW: Basic Life Rules from a Jewish Mother, by Sharon Strassfeld

Barack Obama’s legacy letter to his daughters, written on the eve of his 2009 inauguration.

Writing coach

Need help with your book? I’m available for book coaching and manuscript review! And check out “Should I Hire a Writing Coach” in THE WRITER magazine.

* * *

Image: JGI/Jamie Grill/Getty Images

How to Keep Going: A Writing Coach’s Lowered Expectations (now, with Writing Prompts!)

March 30, 2020

Lowered Expectations (now with Writing Prompts!)

WELP. MANY OF MY CLIENTS ARE SOLDIERING ON. In the face of global pandemonium, they are managing to get words on the page—and good ones at that! If you’re making significant progress on your book, I salute you! And, really, what else are we going to do? I mean, suddenly we have all that time we’re always saying we need to work on our big, ballsy writing projects.

On the other hand, if we’re following strict protocols, every single thing in our lives is taking, like, twelve times longer than usual. For instance, although I was a late adopter of the sanitizing-your-groceries-before-bringing-them-into-the-house routine, as of yesterday, I am fully on board! Which means it took three hours to conclude my “quick” face-masked, gloved, hand-sanitized grocery run yesterday.

And once every disinfected item was in place, I was exhausted! Partially by the close attention I was paying to NOT GETTING INFECTED and partially, I think, just from vibrating to the tune of others’ panic.

So, while I could be working on my book-in-progress, I find myself alternately consumed by mundane tasks—watering my new sod lawn for example (it’s hot as hell here in Central Florida)—or watching YouTube videos. (AMERICAN IDOL* is shaping up to deliver a series of nicely dramatic live shows this spring!)

I still journal most days, though, which helps me sort my anxiety from that of those around me. And (obviously) I’m continuing to write posts for my blog. But as for other writing? Nada. I just don’t seem to have the focus. And I’m coaching myself to be okay with that.

I’ve lowered my expectations, understanding that I may have maxed out my writing mojo for the week simply by writing this note to you.

How about you, though? if you’re channeling your energy into a writing project—big, ballsy, or otherwise—that’s great! It’s the perfect time to explore your vivid imagination and write about what you find there. The perfect time to follow your characters into the wilderness of stakes-raising adventures. The perfect time to organize the past events of your life into a meaningful arc for the encouragement of future readers.

However, if you need permission to just ride the roller coaster of our current reality—even if that means your creative output looks more like making to-do lists than it does completing your fantasy trilogy—here it is: Permission granted!

Low-expectations writing prompts

If your pen is itching for a little workout, though, here are a few less-is-more writing prompts you can treat as “writing opportunities” you might want to avail yourself of while waiting for the storm to pass.

Three Writing Prompts

1) Sending letters or greeting cards through the mail is a risky business these days. But you could write a newsy email to a friend, attaching a (virus-free!) image that illustrates your current state of mind.

2) There’s a curse attributed (rightly or wrongly) to the Chinese that says, “May you live in interesting times.” (Hmm. Think this counts?) In the face of so much to be “interested” in, you might write a haiku about living in such an interesting time. Have you forgotten the rules of haiku? Esther Spurrill-Jones reminds us in her article “How to Write Haiku,” which you’ll find on the very helpful, cool The Writing Cooperative.

Poet MK Swanson of Writing Dreamer was kind enough to share her call-and-response haiku, “Fifth Element,” written with this prompt in mind:

Fifth Element

Coronaviridae,
enveloped, positive-sense,
one-strand RNA.

Humanity, though,
we are made of stars
and fragility.

3) Not feeling poetic? How about this final writing prompt. Go ahead and take your cue from fishermen and -women who, famously, mend nets when they can’t go to sea, you might dig out some short pieces of not-quite-completed (or not-entirely-successful) work and, picking a likely candidate, spend a happy hour or two piddling with it to see if you can make it better do your bidding.

Of course, if all that fails, there’s always AMERICAN IDOL.*

* Oh, well, We’ll have to find something else to keep us busy, as I just learned AMERICAN IDOL has suspended its live finals. Of course.

Writing inspiration

LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA, by Gabriel García Márquez

* * *

Writing coach

Need help with your book? I’m available for book coaching and manuscript review! And check out “Should I Hire a Writing Coach” in THE WRITER magazine.

Cartoon by Maddie Dai, published on THE NEW YORKER cartoons Facebook page, March 23, 2020.

A Not-Too-Sweet Love-Letter Writing Prompt

February 17, 2020

BACK IN THE DAY, Shakespeare, sick of the sticky-sweet love sonnets of his time—the kind that compared women’s eyes to placid lakes and their tresses to molten gold—penned a send up, “Sonnet 130.” In it, the Bard refutes any likeness his lover might have to the beauties of nature. Instead, mocking his sonnet-making contemporaries, Shakespeare harshly negates his love’s charms. And yet … and yet …

My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun (Sonnet 130)

My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.

—William Shakespeare

Writing prompts

1) Now, that you’ve read (and enjoyed?) “Sonnet 130,” try modeling it! Is there someone (or something) you love in an unconventional way? Or whom you see as unconventional? How does your love stray from the ordinary way of things?

Even trickier, can you do the opposite of damning with faint praise by, as Shakespeare does, praising with a two-edged sword of truth?

2) Alternatively, write a love letter (or a poem or a personal essay or a scene for a novel or a short story) in which you or a character declares love for someone—at length and in detail—without using the word “love” or any of its synonyms!

(Bonus points for creating a sonnet! You’ll find descriptions of various sonnet forms and some instructions to help you get a sense of how they’re constructed on the LITERARY DEVICES website.)

Writing inspiration

Want some musical inspiration? Here’s a link to Sting’s song “Sister Moon,” which appears on his album NOTHING LIKE THE SUN.

Need help with your book? I’m available for book coaching and manuscript review!

Quick-Start/Fast-Finish Writing Prompt! For Writers with Little Time

January 13, 2020

THIS IS A QUICK WRITING PROMPT, great for when you want to stretch your creativity but don’t have much time to play!

Writing prompt

First, pick a short form to write in today. Poem? Flash fiction? Short story? Snapshot memoir? Profile? Exposé?

Next, pick the first line of a published novel, poem, essay, or even a particularly enticing recipe!

For instance:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times …
- A TALE OF TWO CITIES, by Charles Dickens, or
Last night watching the Pleiades …
- “An Autumn Morning in Shokoku-ji,” by Gary Snyder, or
Soak the pearl barley enough to cover …
- Pearl barley and Asian mushroom pilaf recipe, from VEGGIE FOOD, edited by Kay Scarlett

Then, pick the last line of a different published novel, poem, essay, recipe or _____ (fill in the blank), that’s not necessarily in the same genre as the first line.

For instance:

… and wake up to ourselves, nourished and surprised.
- “For the Sleepwalkers,” by Edward Hirsch
… Don’t let anything take it away.
- “Wanting It Bad,” by Natalie Goldberg, in WILD MIND: Living the Writer’s Life
… So I ask you, now what?
- ON BEING HUMAN: A Memoir of Waking Up, Living Real, and Listening Hard, by Jennifer Pastiloff

Finally, using the published (or found) first line as your first line, and the published (or found) last line as your last line, write your way from first line to last line, taking as many lines as you need to incorporate the ending in a way that makes (some) meaning of the journey from first to last.

Writing inspiration

Need more examples? Writer’s Digest has a list of Best Opening Poetry Lines just for you!

* * *

That photo of someone stretching a rubber band like you stretching your creativity is from Science Generation.

Snapshot Memoir: Short Form, Big Impact

December 30, 2019

Writing a snapshot memoir

On the longest night of the year, my mom and I strolled softly lit paths through the wooded grounds of the Central Florida Zoo during the Asian Lantern Festival—and I’m so glad I preserved this precious experience as a “snapshot memoir.” As we wandered, we encountered illuminated lanterns shaped like crescent moons and meerkats and life-sized hippotamuses—and, yes, tigers. Oh, my!

Now that she’s 85, I treasure sharing quiet adventures like this with my mom. So I took pictures—lots of them. Of the tigers and cheetahs and dragon lanterns, yes. But also of my mom. Because these are moments I’ll want to remember, and the pictures will help me do so. But I know I can drop even deeper into those moments by writing about the photos that capture them.

In a blog post titled “Why Do We Write? A New Year’s Exploration,” I quick-list a dozen reasons I write and help others write (and in the post, I invite you to explore your reasons for writing, too!). While I somehow forgot to include “preserving memories” on that list, doing so is one of the wonderful gifts writing gives to us.

I’m not alone in thinking this. Natalie Goldberg says writers live twice: first in their immediate experiences and second in writing about them. Of course, if we have photos of our experiences, we have the opportunity to home in on details we might have forgotten otherwise. And vice versa: When we write from photographs of our lives, we tend to discover what’s hidden beneath a photo’s surface.

Snapshot memoirs

A sub-genre dedicated to writing from our pictured memories, in the snapshot memoir (also known as flash memoir), we may be writing from actual images—on our phones or in our photo albums—or from indelible snapshots in our mind’s eye. Either way, though flash memoir is different from flash fiction—because we focus on our own lives rather than on the created lives of imagined others—many of the rules of flash fiction apply to this super-short snapshot memoir form, too.

Readers Write: THE SUN MAGAZINE

THE SUN MAGAZINE has a wonderful feature called Readers Write, in which SUN readers are invited to write and submit their own snapshot memoirs. On THE SUN’s site, you’ll find examples of published Readers Write pieces as well as the prompts and guidelines governing their submission process.

Snapshot memoir writing prompt

Setting aside just ten minutes with pen in hand and a photo in front of you, travel back to the moment the snapshot has captured in its frame. Allow yourself to enter the picture. Look around carefully. Now, peek outside the frame to your memory of the wider context. What’s going on to the left of the image? To the right? Who’s taking the photo? Why?

You might take a deep breath and dive into the emotions the image evokes—both the sweet feelings and the bittersweet. Or maybe the photo calls to mind associated memories that add to the meaning and magic of that particular instant in time.

However deep you’re ready to delve, imagine the photo as a treasure map. It’s full of possibilities for sure! But to access the gold it promises, we need to follow the path the map reveals. When we write about the image before us, sentence by sentence, we step steadily toward riches the photo can only hint at. Because the real treasure lives inside us. And our pen creates the road that will take us there.

Would you like a writing coach on your side?

Are you interested in writing stories about your life? And would you like some support as you do so? I’d love to talk with you about becoming your memoir writing coach! You can schedule a free consultation and be sure to check out “Should I Hire a Writing Coach” in THE WRITER magazine.

Give YOURSELF These 12 Gifts for the New Year, Writer!

December 23, 2019

DAYS SPEED BY, BUT WRITING GOES SLOW. It’s in its nature. We pre-write, draft, redraft, review, revise, edit, and proofread—just to get 500 decent words where we want them. Instead of railing against the constraints time puts on our writing process, we can choose to drop below time’s dictates and give ourselves an opportunity to move at the pace of writing, rather than demanding our writing perform at the hectic pace of life.

To that end, here are twelve gifts to give to your writerly self this coming year. You might want to unwrap one a month between now and next December. May each of these exercises nourish your writing needs and give your creative self a chance to breathe.

1. Visit a used bookstore. Browse dusty shelves for treasure. Settle on the floor in the picture book aisle and allow your inner kid to journey through the illustrated worlds you find there.

2. Journal. Curl up on the couch one Sunday morning and write with no agenda, no goal. Take this time to discover what you think, what you feel, what you mourn, what you hope for … all by writing it down.

3. Discover a new-to-you author. Ask writing pals to recommend writers they think you’d enjoy. Check out the new releases section of your local library. Or read THE NEW YORK TIMES Book Review, join a book group, or sign up for Goodreads. Let other writers share their gift with you this year.

4. Start a manageable new writing project. Perhaps you’ve always wanted to create a kids’ book about a favorite toy. Or compile your grandmother’s recipes, updated to make the most of today’s kitchen gadgetry. Or collect photographs of your cats, caption the images, and produce a few copies just for you and your cat-crazy friends (or is that just me?). A new project can add fuel to your writing life. Just make sure it’s the right size to bring to completion this year. Because writing “The End” on a draft is a sweet reward for a (small) job well done.

5. Make a date with a writing pal. A cup of coffee, a croissant, and congenial company create the perfect ambiance for a few quick, free-writing sessions. (I’ve got about a zillion writing prompts on my blog that you’re welcome to use for this purpose! Just search “prompts.”)

6. Take a walk. While you’re strolling, keep an eye out for interesting sights and occurrences. Maybe snap a few pictures along the way. When you get home, take just ten minutes to write about what you saw.

7. Record your dreams. Keep a notebook by your bed and jot details from your dreams a few mornings in a row. This lets your unconscious know you’re listening, making it more likely that it will offer up the fresh goods next time you need access to its wild, imaginative leaps.

8. Nap. Or, if you’re not a napper, steal an hour out of an otherwise busy day for horizontal couch time. Flick through a magazine (check out THE SUN MAGAZINE!), or read a short story or personal essay. Snuggling with an available cat, optional.

9. Take a writing retreat. Depending upon your resources, this might be a month-long writing residency on Martha’s Vineyard, four days at the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers retreat, or a weekend holed up in your own cozy den with no interruptions and no other plans but to read and write.

10. Follow your nose. You know how sometimes you’re online looking for one thing and something else catches your eye? And reading about that next thing, you see something even more intriguing? Great! Indulge that! Follow your nose from interest to interest, filling the thirsty well of your mind with tidbits that may come in handy in some future writing project—or may not. Even if you never use any of that cool stuff, I bet your writing self considers the time well spent. (Brain Pickings is a great place to start your nose-following quest!)

11. Earmark November. Each November, writers around the world take on the NaNoWriMo challenge. Short for “National Novel Writing Month,” NaNoWriMo provides support to get bigger projects done. While the NaNo official goal is 50,000 words on the first draft of a new novel, you might piggyback on NaNoWriMo’s energetic community to complete a more modest project—a short story, for instance, or one of those manageable projects you started back at number 4!

12. Throw your writer self a party. Pull out all the writing you’ve created this year and celebrate the sheer number of words you got on the page. Raise a glass, bake a cake, fling confetti. You’ve done good. Congratulations!

* * *

Marina Shemesh has released this “Balanced Stones On White Background” image under Public Domain license CC0 Public Domain. I appreciate the opportunity to use it here.

Improv + Writing = High-Wire Fun (A Tarot-ish Writing Prompt)

December 16, 2019

I TOOK IMPROVISATIONAL ACTING CLASSES FOR A COUPLE OF YEARS. This exercise is the perhaps unorthodox child of those experiences and my crazy love of a complicated writing prompt. Here’s how I offered it in a writing workshop, once upon a time …

Writing prompt

With Six You Get Egg Roll
Start by describing a vacant setting. One character enters—with justification. (Why did your character come “on stage”? What are they after? Add some internals to let your reader know.)

After a bit, a second character joins the first—also with justification. Characters One and Two interact. Then Character Three joins the cast. All three play their roles, until Number Four, and then Five, enter in turn. (Add a Number Six, and you win the egg roll!)

Five Fingers on My Hand
The trick? All your characters enter with reasonable justification, each has an agenda, and your drama engages them all: Think, mini-scenes, embroilment, cross-talk, cross-purposes, competition.

Count Down
Then, for equally good reasons, in reverse order of their entrances, each character leaves the scene until your setting is once again an empty stage.

Harold and Maude
Improv actors will recognize this exercise as a Harold, a classic improv device. Writers will recognize this exercise as a neat trick that forces them out of the box of two- or even three-character scenes. Past Monday night workshoppers will recognize this as a fresh pat of butter used to sizzle the creative (vegan) bacon of their agile brains.

What do you think?
Five? Six? Seven? How many characters can you get on and off the stage of your story while still holding tight to the belt loop that suspends your reader’s disbelief?

Tarot-ish

The “tarot” part of this writing prompt is illustrated by the Five of Wands from THE STEAMPUNK TAROT, by Barbara Moore and Aly Fell, and used here with kind permission of Llewellyn Worldwide.

As you can see in the image above, five characters are engaged in a confrontation of some sort. The Five of Wands typically represents a hotly contested competition, a chaotic bid for power between factions, opposing voices or ideas, or a flair-up of conflicting goals.

Whether it’s a family drama, a bar brawl, or a political debate gone bad, it’s never pleasant to find ourselves smack in the middle of such a real-life clash of energy. However, if your fictional characters start acting out like this, you’re in luck!

Writing inspiration

From A GAME OF THRONES, by George R. R. Martin; to THE KNOWN WORLD, by Edward P. Jones; to SCORPION STRIKE, by John J. Nance, big conflicts drive big stories. Dramatic books about sports, like CHARIOTS OF FIRE, by W. J. Weatherby; SELECTION DAY, by Aravind Adiga; and FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, by H. G. Bissinger, get much of their juice from the tension brought by competition. And family dramas? Well, they are dramatic precisely because of the strife experienced between characters with the most intimate of bonds.

So, while you probably don’t want to court such struggle in your day-to-day relationships, when you’re writing fiction, slap a version of the Five of Wands up on your inspiration board as a reminder to let your major characters knock each other around with big (metaphoric) sticks … until the dust settles and a winner emerges from the fray.

Bet You Can Do Better Than IKEA! (A Very Useful Writing Prompt)

December 9, 2019

WRITING CAN LIFT US TO FLIGHTS OF FANCY or, like a draft mule, it can pull the plow of practicality from one end of the field to the other. Here, we explore the mule end of the spectrum, with what’s called a “process essay.”

The process essay (which you might remember from your Comp 1 class) offers step-by-step directions to guide a reader through a task. Sure, it’s more about treading the well-tilled field of communication than lifting off into the wild blue of fantasy. But it can be a playful form as well as an informative one—and it’s a good exercise in organizing your thoughts on the page. (Sound too boring to even consider? Look below for some reasons you might want to give it a try!*)

Writing prompt: the process essay (which, with some clever packaging, can double as a holiday gift, if you’re well and truly stuck!*)

Start by identifying a skill at which you excel. It could be something simple, like writing an Amazon review, driving a stick shift, or grooming a standard poodle. On the more complex end of the spectrum, you might know exactly how to prepare for an Ironman Triathalon, paint the exterior of a house on the National Register of Historic Places, or outline a novel!

This is the stuff of YouTube video tutorials … but you’re going to slow it down, writing out each step in a way that a reader can follow. (Think IKEA assembly instructions—only with words … and humanly possible.)

*Why write a process essay?

Since ’tis the season, you might include a process essay as part of gift! For example, you could write out your mulled cider recipe and package it with the ingredients needed to brew up a pot. Or you might wrap up a few dreidels, with instructions about how to play the classic Hanukkah game. Or, if you’re a killer door-wreath creator, along with the wreath you give, share the details of how you fancy up those bauble-laden bad boys!

If you blog or teach or coach, you might want to use this opportunity to create written instructions for something your students or readers would benefit from, then use those instructions in a blog post or lesson. (Handouts, anyone?)

And if you write fiction, writing a process essay can take you deep into your main character’s area of expertise. Our fictional folks have entire lives gliding beneath the surface of the stories we tell about them. Knowing your stuff about what they do and how they do it will add depth and authority to your literary worlds!

Finally, if you really, really, REALLY like doing this exercise, you might have a calling as a technical writer.

Writing inspiration

Want some step-by-step directions to writing your step-by-step process essay? Check out this article on the BEST ESSAY TIPS website.

Travel essays often include aspects of process writing. For instance, the writer might explain how to get to a location, how to stay safe once you’re there, how to find the best bargains, or how to discover the most exotic meals. Check out the 2019 edition of the annual THE BEST AMERICAN TRAVEL WRITING, edited by Jason Wilson and Alexandra Fuller for examples.

Previous 1 2 3 4 … 9 Next