August Writing Challenges: Day 18 - Superhero to the Rescue!

August. The summer is nearly over. Kids are going back to school. You now have some time on your hands.  Okay, you still have a list of chores a mile long, but let's put writing at the top of the priority list, okay?

I am going to challenge you with a writing prompt every day this month. Are you up for it? I hope so.

The writing challenges will be about a variety of topics and hopefully cause you to dig into your writing toolbox to complete with emotional skill.

Watch out, I just might throw in a fun one, well, just for fun!

For the eighteenth challenge we're going to turn you into a Superhero!

Here is your challenge:
You are a Superhero. Your special power is the ability to walk through walls, pass through solid objects, and hid inside solid materials. What is your backstory, and how did you get this special power?

Right up Avengers alley, or are you an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.? Maybe you joined the Justice League? If you need to do research on Superheroes, go ahead. Then get as detailed as you can about your backstory, using character, plot, theme, and more to build it.

Have FUN!!

August Writing Challenges : Day 17 - What Happens Next?

August. The summer is nearly over. Kids are going back to school. You now have some time on your hands.  Okay, you still have a list of chores a mile long, but let's put writing at the top of the priority list, okay?

I am going to challenge you with a writing prompt every day this month. Are you up for it? I hope so.

The writing challenges will be about a variety of topics and hopefully cause you to dig into your writing toolbox to complete with emotional skill.

Watch out, I just might throw in a fun one, well, just for fun!

For the seventeenth challenge we're going to find out what happens next...

Here is your challenge:
You are driving home in blinding rain from a hiking trip in a southern region of Texas. It's very late, and there is no one for miles on the dark country road. Suddenly your car dips into a very deep puddle, stalls, and then stops. You have no way of calling anyone. After a while, you see headlights approaching. An old pickup pulls up right behind you and stops. 

But, no one gets out. 

What happens next?

I give you full rein to have as much fun with this as you want. Aliens, body snatchers, invisible creatures, whatever your imagination can dream up. Just be as detailed as possible using all your senses.

August Writing Challenges: Day 9 - Dream-Catcher

August. The summer is nearly over. Kids are going back to school. You now have some time on your hands.  Okay, you still have a list of chores a mile long, but let's put writing at the top of the priority list, okay?

I am going to challenge you with a writing prompt every day this month. Are you up for it? I hope so.

The writing challenges will be about a variety of topics and hopefully cause you to dig into your writing toolbox to complete with emotional skill.

Watch out, I just might throw in a fun one, well, just for fun!

For the ninth challenge we're going to reflect on a recent dream.

Here is your challenge:

Dream-catcher: Write something inspired by a recent dream you had.

 Imagine a beautiful dream you had once. Now write a story surrounding that dream. Maybe the event takes place in that area, or perhaps that is the same dream of your character, and so on. Do you have recurring dreams? Can you recall them? Draw upon your feelings about the dream and if it motivates you, create a character living that dream. Be detailed with your description, characterization, where the character lives, how the character reacts in your dream and dialogue.

Go all out. Embellish if it makes the story better. Use your imagination. 


TIP: Dreams are a series of thoughts, visions, or feelings that happen during sleep: an idea or vision that is created in your imagination and that is not real: something that you have wanted very much to do, be, or have for a long time.

Enjoy. I hope you realize you can recall more of your dreams than you thought.

August Writing Challenges: Day 7 - Story From Image

August. The summer is nearly over. Kids are
going back to school. You now have some time on your hands.  Okay, you still have a list of chores a mile long, but let's put writing at the top of the priority list, okay?

I am going to challenge you with a writing prompt every day this month. Are you up for it? I hope so.

The writing challenges will be about a variety of topics and hopefully cause you to dig into your writing toolbox to complete with emotional skill.

Watch out, I just might throw in a fun one, well, just for fun!

For the seventh challenge we're going to see how well we can create a story from an image:

Here is your challenge:

Find a visual image that makes you feel. Tape, staple, glue, paper clip, whatever, this image to the top of a piece of paper. Write, for thirty minutes, about what's going on with your connection of the image and yourself, and what is going on in the image. Tell a story. 

Answer these questions in your descriptive story (If the image has people in it.)

• Who are they? 
• Where are they?
• To whom do they belong?
• What are they doing right then and why?
• What will they be doing later?

These are bare ideas. Think about some familiar images from our / your culture and try to concoct a narrative from them.

Tell a story.  Let your imagination fly. Whatever you pick, you will be using your ability to pull a story from a frozen, static moment - kind of like a baker pulls a hot tasty baguette from a shapeless lump of dough.

This is an important writing challenge. I believe that the instant your characters and their destinies take shape on a page, they have life. They exist. And it is entirely up to you to make that world a valid place.

IMPORTANT POINT: This is not to say that your fictional world is obliged to be a rational, realistic world. If that were a requisite for literature, then Alice would have have dropped down the White Rabbit's hole.

So, find a picture of something and write about it. Make up a story of what's going on in that moment in that world right then. Fill in with as much detail as you can.

I hope you enjoy this challenge. I enjoy visual journaling. It's like telling a story with only images and words cut from magazines or other papers. 

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Friday Writing Prompt - Sentence Starter

I don't know about you, but I saw my blog numbers drop dramatically when I was offering Christian Writing Prompts. Were you all trying to tell me something?

If so, I got the message loud and clear. How about some good old-fashioned writing prompts? You enjoyed the Five Minute Writing Prompts I did before, so we'll deviate a bit from that and remove the time restraint.

Just Write.

Write whatever comes to your mind, through your heart, or flows from your fingers.

Here is your prompt: Complete the following sentence starter: "The plot for a novel or movie I would like to write involves..."

Really push yourself to describe the plot, characters and setting. Let your imagination run wild. There  is no judging ... it's just you and your paper.


Questions: Did you enjoy the change in prompt styles? Did you come up with a novel or movie idea? Is it a viable idea? Are you going to follow it further? Did you like this prompt? Yes, No? What did or didn't you like about it?

Please comment below.


Enjoy!

Writing Tips - What If?

We've all been there. We've written a great beginning to a story only to have it bog down in the middle.  Where do we go from here? Let's use the "what if" process to "unstick" our story and wrap it up.

Let your imagination run free with ideas. Don't think of ways to complete the story but continue it. For each idea, ask yourself "what if" and then continue the story.

For example, let's begin our story with two boys playing hooky from school. By using the "what if" process, we can continue the story by asking "what if these two boys went to the circus instead of school?"

From the "circus" lead, we can extend the "what if" question to encompass the kinds of animals that these two boys encounter while at the circus. "What if" can focus on the kinds of acts at the circus as well as the kinds of people the boys might run into while at the circus. You can get as specific as you want or keep the story purposely vague.

Find a story idea that you've been struggling with and see if you can come up with a list of "what if" options for it.

Does your story take place at the beach? In the mountains? In the city? Shake things up a bit. Put your character in a compromising situation. Lead your imagination on a wild chase.

Give yourself the freedom to come up with as many ideas as possible for your story then choose the one that most speaks to you. It's not about which idea makes sense, only that you give birth to the idea and follow through with plot points. Be extravagant. Be outrageous. Be creative.