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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August Writing Challenges: Day 5 - Affirmations

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 fifth challenge we're going to get a little personal and hopefully in a positive way:

Here is your challenge:

Create several affirmations that are specific to you and provide uplifting words to help you stay positive.

What is an Affirmation? In New Thought and New Age terminology refer primarily to the practice of positive thinking and self-empowerment—fostering a belief that "a positive mental attitude supported by affirmations will achieve success in anything."

There are several general rules for writing affirmations. After you review those rules, you will begin to see that you truly can achieve that which you can conceive. Further, you will being to see that you want to!


Rules for Writing Affirmations:

Use the Here and Now
Write the affirmation as if you're already doing that which you desire to accomplish.

Keep it Real
Write affirmations that are realistic to you here and now. Don't set yourself up for failure. Know it, write it, and do it.

Write About What You Want
Write affirmations that state what you want and not what you don't want.

It's About You
Write affirmations about you and not about others.

Paint a Picture
Write affirmations that paid word pictures for you. Your words should be full of action and power.

Beware if You Share
Write affirmations that are only for you. If you share them, share only with people who will encourage you and not the "it can't be done crowd."

After you have written your affirmations, read them everyday. Read them with power and work at them with passion.

BE AS SPECIFIC AS POSSIBLE!

Good affirmations start with words such as:

• I control my ...
• I am personally accountable for ...
• I take great pride in ...
• I have a positive ...
• I enjoy ...
• I believe in ...

Here is an affirmation to get you started. 

Get the Picture - A Tip from Robert Newton Peck

I've had the pleasure of hearing Robert Newton Peck speak not once, but twice. And each time, was a treat. The man is a one person entertainment extravaganza. But, all of that aside. He knows how to write and he does it very well.

He's written a book titled "Secrets of Successful Fiction - A fun-to-read, easy-to-master toolkit for writers of all ages." And that's exactly what it is. I'm going to reference it from time to time, as it's full of genuine nuggets of writing information that I want to share with you.

Today's piece is "Get the Picture" and it's about Showing not Telling.

He uses a wonderful example about how millions of Americans used to "watch" their radios every evening before television was invented. Why did they do this? Because they wanted a picture. Not just the voices. Readers do the same thing, he wrote. They want the pictures, not just the words.

Mr. Peck tells us that an amateur writer would tell us a story while a pro shows the story. For example, he went on to use the following:

An amateur would write: "Bill was nervous."

The pro would write: "Bill sat in a dentist's waiting room, peeling the skin at the edge of his thumb, until the raw, red flesh began to show. Biting the torn cuticle, he rubbed it away, and sucked at the warm sweetness of his own blood."

You can see the obvious difference can't you?

Don't bore your reader with a lot of telling. Paint pictures for your reader to see the action, the emotion, the pictures.

As Robert Newton Peck would say, "Do this, and you are a pro. Writing is not listing emotions. Writing is physics. Moving parts. Things. Writing is show business. Get the picture?"