Prompts
Sunday
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise — Title it “Sunday.” Write 550 words. The Objective — Certain words and ideas, such as retirement, in-laws, boss, and fraud, serve as triggers for stories or scenes in fiction. Sunday is one of these. Try to think of others.
By Denise E Lindquist11 months ago in Writers
The Winners of The Haunted Letter Challenge
We finally have the WINNERS of the Tales from Beyond: The Haunted Letter Challenge. As we move out of the trick or treat month of October and into the reflective month of November I will shift my gears from Groovy Ghoul to Thankful Talker.
By Rick Henry Christopher 12 months ago in Writers
Getting To School On Time
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise - Write five mini-stories (limit: 200 words each) to account for a single event or set of circumstances, such as a man and woman standing on a city sidewalk, hailing a cab. Each story should be different - in characters, plot, and theme - from the others.The Objective - To loosen the bonds that shackle you to a single, immutable version; to underscore the fact that plot is not preordained but something you can control and manipulate at will, like the strings of a marionette; and to demonstrate once more that there are many ways to skin a cat.
By Denise E Lindquist12 months ago in Writers
Days of Indian Summer. Top Story - November 2025.
Although the exact origins of the term are uncertain, Indian Summer was perhaps so-called because it was first noted in regions inhabited by Native Americans, or because the natives first described it to Europeans. Or, it had been based on the warm and hazy conditions in autumn when Native Americans hunted.
By Novel Allen12 months ago in Writers
Saving The Job
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts —The Exercise - On each of five 3x5 index cards, print a vocational label, for example, dentist, truck driver, or fashion model. On each of a second set of index cards, write a mildly strange or unusual behavior. The mistakes here are to be too mundane (brush teeth, clear car) or to be too melodramatic (strangled her lover, drove his flaming truck through the prison walls). Somewhere between lies the quirk of the odd that is interesting: set free the parakeet, pick lose the tennis racket strings, or sew closed his sweater sleeves. Some writers will keep their cards filed for use again and again, and will add to the original pack over time as interesting vocations or actions suggest themselves.Shuffle each pack of cards (not together) and turn over the first pair. The writer may now ask the following question: "Why did Card A do Card B?" Why did the dentist set free the parakeet?" "Why did the fashion model pick loose the tennis racket strings?" The writer may continue flipping cards until a satisfactory pairing is discovered. If no satisfactory pair develops, reshuffle the cards and repeat the procedure. If you have ten cards in each pack you will have 100 possible pairings; twelve cards per pack will yield 144 pairings.Bear in mind that the event suggested by the Story Machine should be thought of as the last scene of a story. Supply motive for the odd behavior. Supply a conflict that might be resolved by this behavior. Imagine a scene prior to the final scene that demonstrates the severity of the conflict. Imagine a scene that demonstrates the initial difficulty.This exercise may easily be adapted for a class. Instead of shuffling, students pass cards one way and then another so that no student is left with any of her original cards. The liberating outcome is that if the new pair lacks all resonance for a student, the student has no emotional investment in the product of the Story Machine. No one has made a mistake or performed badly, just some bad luck has occured. Class discussions of motive and structure can be lively.The Objective - Retrograde plotting is often a revelation to the beginning writer who has again and again found herself staring off into the space above the typewriter and asking, "Now what happens?" Writing toward a conclusion for some writers is easier than exploring the consequences of an imagined premise. One more easily discovers the beginnings of things if one knows the ending. That the Story Machine requires vocational labels gives students insight to the rudiments of characterization, as such labels suggest education levels and socioeconomic status.
By Denise E Lindquist12 months ago in Writers
Reworking A Story That Was Submitted To A Challenge
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts —The Exercise - Take a story you have completed and go through it and intensify the conflict, magnifying the tension and shrillness at every turn, even to the point of absurdity or hyperbole. Add stress wherever possible, both between characters and within them as individuals. Exaggerate the obstacles they face. Be extreme. The Objective - To create an awareness of the need for a high level of tension while encouraging a healthy regard for how easily it can become excessive. This exercise is not meant to "improve" the story, although it often provokes new and more dynamic descriptions and dialogue. It raises the writer's consciousness about the need for conflict in fiction.
By Denise E Lindquist12 months ago in Writers
A Catena Rondo Challenge
Introduction This was suggested by Calvin London. This will run til the last day of November, and five random dollar tips will be awarded to five random Catena Rondo poems that are posted in the comments with a link to this piece in your poem.
By Mike Singleton 💜 Mikeydred 12 months ago in Writers
Here Comes Judge!
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts —The Exercise - Look in your files for a story that seems stuck, a story that has a story block. Next, write at the top of a separate sheet of paper the two words. What If. Now write five ways of continuing the story, not ending the story, but continuing the story to up your thinking about the events in the story. Your what if's can be as diverse as your imagination can make them. More than likely, and this has proved true through years of teaching and writing, one of the what if's will feel right, organic to your story and that is the direction in which you should go. Sometimes you will have to do several groups of what if's per story, but that's okay as long as they keep you moving forward.The Objective - To illustrate that most story beginnings and situations have within them the seeds of the middle and end. You just have to allow your imagination enough range to discover what works.
By Denise E Lindquist12 months ago in Writers
