ARCHIVED WRITING PROMPTS
September 30, 2009 Writing Prompt:
Last week’s prompt got me thinking about another poem by Browning: “The Last Duchess.” If you haven’t already had the pleasure of exploring this poem, you’re in for a treat. If you are familiar with this great work, now might be a good opportunity to revisit it. You will find the entire poem at the end of this posting (it’s public domain). Read “The Last Duchess” at least five or six times. It has many layers, and you should discover more meaning with each reading. I’m not going to give it away, but if you wish to learn more, you will find dozens of analysis on the Internet. Try to figure it out for yourself first though, it’s like exploring a puzzle.
After reading the poem several times (don’t read once or twice you’ll only be cheating yourself) reflect on Browning’s ability to incorporate hidden meaning into his work - he’s very sneaky - then write your own story (poetry or prose) with a hidden meaning.
The Last Duchess
by Robert Browning
That's my last duchess painted on the wall,
Looking as if she were alive. I call
That piece a wonder, now: Frà Pandolf's hands
Worked busily a day, and there she stands.
Will't please you sit and look at her? I said
"Frà Pandolf" by design, for never read
Strangers like you that pictured countenance,
The depth and passion of its earnest glance,
But to myself they turned (since none puts by
The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)
And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst,
How such a glance came there; so, not the first
Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, 'twas not
Her husband's presence only, called that spot
Of joy into the Duchess' cheek: perhaps
Frà Pandolf chanced to say "Her mantle laps
"Over my lady's wrist too much," or "Paint
"Must never hope to reproduce the faint
"Half-flush that dies along her throat": such stuff
Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough
For calling up that spot of joy. She had
A heart--how shall I say?--too soon made glad,
Too easily impressed; she liked whate'er
She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.
Sir, 'twas all one! My favor at her breast,
The dropping of the daylight in the West,
The bough of cherries some officious fool
Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule
She rode with round the terrace--all and each
Would draw from her alike the approving speech,
Or blush, at least. She thanked men--good! but thanked
Somehow--I know not how--as if she ranked
My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name
With anybody's gift. Who'd stoop to blame
This sort of trifling? Even had you skill
In speech--which I have not--to make your will
Quite clear to such an one, and say, "Just this
"Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss,
"Or there exceed the mark"--and if she let
Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set
Her wits to yours, forsooth, and make excuse,
--E'en then would be some stooping; and I choose
Never to stoop. Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt,
Whene'er I passed her; but who passed without
Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands;
Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands
As if alive. Will't please you rise? We'll meet
The company below, then. I repeat,
The Count your master's known munificence
Is ample warrant that no just pretense
Of mine for dowry will be disallowed;
Though his fair daughter's self, as I avowed
At starting, is my object. Nay we'll go
Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though,
Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity,
Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!
September 25, 2009 Writing Prompt:
Robert Browning is one of the greatest poets of all time. Here is a line from “The Ring and the Book”:
Faultless to a fault.
Reflect on this quote, and write what comes to mind.
August 21, 2009 Writing Prompt:
What’s in a name? Have you ever asked yourself this question?
Whether it’s through childhood associations, or a cultural sense of what a name implies, our names have significance. It’s often through these, and other, associations that our personalities are subtly influenced – maybe even shaped.
I was named after my father: Robert. My father died shortly before I was born, so I’ve never had a close connection with him. But even though we never met, my name, our shared name, creates a link that’s difficult for me to describe. It’s like I carry something tangible of him wherever I go.
We each have stories of how our names have affected us, and that’s what I’d like you to write about.
You can tell the story of your connection to the person whose name you carry. You can write about the play ground taunts and how they shaped your self-perception. Or you can write about the cultural connotations surrounding your name and how that has effect other people’s first impression. You can talk about one particular incident and tell it as a story or you can reflect upon a multitude of thought. That’s your prompt – and go!
August 6, 2009 Writing Prompt:
I’m going to be just a tiny bit lazy this week (sort of). I just wrote two articles on writing prompts for Suite 101, and I’m all prompted out, so instead of giving you another prompt this week, I’ll direct you to the 10 prompts I give in my articles.
Story Prompts to Inspire Your Inner Muse
More Story Prompts to Inspire Your Inner Muse
You’ll probably find some prompts that are familiar, but I know you’ll also find some that aren’t.
July 29, 2009 Writing Prompt:
In some ways, writing is all about having access to resources, so I’m going to share one of mine with you.
Other Voices is a small, but respected, literary publication out of Edmonton. OV hosts a monthly writing competition they call The Monthlies. The winner of The Monthlies receives an OV t-shirt, travel mug OR tote bag and publication of their winning entry on the Other Voices website. So why not give it a try?
To check out The Monthlies click here. You will find all the rules and details of the contest as well as The Prompt.
Good Luck.
July 23, 2009 Writing Prompt:
Well, I just got back from a brief road trip into BC. I went to the island to conduct more interviews for my book, but on the way home, I stopped at my aunt’s place in the Okanagan. Her house is on the western shore of Lake Okanagan. If you’ve been watching the news, you may know they’ve had several forest fires in that area.
The entire valley is kindling dry. It’s been hit by drought, the mountain pine beetle and the usual hot summer temperatures. (It was up to 38 degrees today around Vernon.) Two of the major fires are either out or under control, but the one closest to my aunt’s place, the Terrace Mountain fire, is out of control. Although news reports were downplaying the severity of the fire, the day before I left, the sky began raining ash. The morning I left, I woke to an eerie red sunrise, and the nose-smarting acrid smell of thick smoke in the air. My aunt, uncle and their cat were evacuated today, and as I write this ,the fire marches toward their house.
Anyway, my little story has a purpose. The events of the last few days got me thinking of past fires in my life, and what a powerful force fire still is in our mostly controlled environment. It’s one of the elements that, despite our technology and formidable resources, can still cause fear and panic.
As a young child, I lived for some years in the McLure train station. That was a long time ago, but to the best of my memory’s ability to remember, I recall a fire on a nearby caboose. For whatever reason, the caboose was on the tracks outside the station, and it was spouting flames. There was a group of shouting railroaders, and maybe some firefighters but I can’t quite remember, trying to put out the fire, and at the same time, there were a couple more on the roof of my home, the station, hosing it down. They were concerned that a stray spark might catch on the station’s ancient cedar shakes. It was an exciting moment for a five-year-old.
There were often exciting happenings at the station, but this moment was brought back to me as I extended my hand out to a reddened sky and watched the ash settle in my palm. Our lives are often effected by fire. Now is your chance to write about your experience.
For this week’s prompt, I’d like you to think back to a time when your life was effected by fire. Was it a fearful experience or was it (as with my five-year-old self) an exciting one? Tell about your impressions: the smells, the sights, the sounds. We often don’t think about these past experiences until our memories are jogged, so think back, and remember.
This photo was taken several hours after sunrise, looking across the lake, away from the fire.
I took this photo of the ash that had settled on the roof of my car shortly before I left to drive home. The ash fall got much worse as the day progressed.
July 17, 2009 Writing Prompt:
I just got a new old car. It’s a 2005 lime green Smart car (I call it my Glow Bug), and I’m still convinced it was a good deal. In fact, it was a standup car until only a few hours ago.
I’m on the island right now - Vancouver Island. Yes, that’s right, I drove here from Edmonton in my little Smart car, Glow Bug, and up until a short time ago, I couldn’t understand why so many people were shocked by this revelation. In just the last 24 hours, I’ve already been stopped several times in the street by well-wishers (once they’ve see my license plate and questioned my origins) who say, “Wow. You’re brave.” or “Did it take long to get here?” This all seemed a little misguided and a touch annoying until a few hours ago.
I’m on the island to conduct an interview. I was on my way to this interview, on what is undoubtedly the most isolated road on this part of the island, that my tire went flat.
After a few choice words, I resigned myself to my fate. My little Glow Bug didn’t come with a spare. Smart cars don’t. They come with “Tire Repair Kits”: a bottle of Goop and a mini-air compressor that plugs into the cigarette lighter.
I switched on my hazards, (and feeling very MacGyveresque) rolled up my imaginary sleeves and got to work. All went well - until I tried to re-inflate the tire.
No one told me that Goop comes with an expiry date - and that’s right - Glow Bug is pushing five.
After a few choice words, I resigned myself to my fate. I pulled out my cellphone. AMA to the rescue. As it turns out, the most isolated road on this part of the island doesn’t get cellphone service.
After a few choice words, I resigned myself to my fate...
* * *
Okay, I admit it. I can’t write humour, but it was a valiant try. What I did do was demonstrate some humour writing techniques, and although they may have been poorly executed, I hope they give you the idea. I used techniques like irony, foreshadowing, specifics and repetition. I also named my car, an inanimate object. I didn’t need to use exaggeration. That’s really what happened.
For this week’s prompt, I’d like you to write about a road trip gone wrong. Oh, we’ve all had them. Living in a vast country like Canada, they’re almost a right of passage. So write about a road trip gone wrong, and make it funny. Try using some of the techniques I’ve mentioned. If you’re not accustomed to writing humour, it can be a little scary at first, but try it anyway. No one is watching.
July 9, 2009 Writing Prompt:
Here’s an fun one:
Use the following five words in a story: ketchup, sunflower, cell phone, yippie, frothy.
If you don’t like those ones, try these: straw, grail, vulgar, Easter Island, Kleenex.
Enjoy.
June 26, 2009 Writing Prompt:
I’ve been tired, busy and just incredibly stressed out this entire past week, so stressed out that I couldn’t get back to writing my book. So there I was feeling even grumpier because I wasn’t getting much accomplished. Well you know what they say, “Necessity is the mother of invention.”
I decided to google “writing jobs Alberta.” I know, it was a long shot. One of the hits I got was for Orato.com. I probably would have gone on without paying much attention, but I recognized the name. Last winter I took an editing workshop with their editor-in-chief Joy Guegeler. After the workshop, I had planned to see what Orato.com was all about, but just hadn’t gotten around to it. Then I forgot all about it.
The best way to describe Orato.com is to say it’s an online information source. Articles are supplied by both professional and amateur writers on topics ranging from “Entertainment” to “World Affairs.” You get paid based upon the online advertising on the page of your article. An ad gets a hit = you get paid. I’m not sure if anyone is going to get rich from this system, but there are some benefits.
Orato.com asks for non-exclusive, perpetual online rights. That means you can recycle articles that have been previously published. That also means that you can have the same articles somewhere else on the internet. Not a bad deal.
You must write a web friendly article, but Orato’s guidelines are straightforward. The articles must be no longer than 600 words, so these are fairly short pieces. Nothing too challenging.
The other bonus for amateur writers is the mentoring you receive from Orato’s editors. Although your article goes live when you hit “publish,” your article isn’t “featured” until the editors have looked through it. Hence the high quality of the website’s content.
I started out by recycling a few older articles. I figured, “Why not get these back out there and see what happens?” Not much at first. Not until I scooped the “Michael Jackson Has Died at 50” story. Then suddenly my articles were all over the site. “Luck,” you say? “Good research skills,” I rebuttle.
Here’s my suggestion. No, here’s my prompt:
One of my primary reasons for writing for Orato is the experience. Coming up with story ideas and then writing short, concise articles for the web is good practice.
This week, I challenge you to write a piece for Orato.com. Begin by looking through the various categories, read a few articles, familiarize yourself with their guidelines, create an account, think of a story idea and write it. It’s actually pretty straightforward. You’re out nothing. You’ve gained valuable experience, and who knows where it will take you.
If you’d like, you can start by going to my Profile and accessing the links to my articles, or you can just go straight to Orato.com and get to work. You’ll notice there are icons all over the website to access the writers’ guidelines. They really walk you through it, and it’s kind of fun. Give it a try, and email me to let me know how it goes. Good luck.
June 14, 2009 Writing Prompt:
Having just returned from a trip overseas, I’ve been thinking of the many opportunities that can be had while travelling, whether it’s locally or internationally. While I was away, I filled one-and-a-half journals. In my case, this was necessary. I was conducting research for my upcoming book. However, being in a position where I had to discipline myself to write something about my experiences every day taught me some valuable lessons:
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1.By writing down your experiences, you will be able to more effectively trigger your memories and write, in more depth, once you return home - being able to recreate the flavour of those experience once you’re out of the environment that initially triggered your enthusiasm.
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2.There’s a lot to be said for travel writing. When you’re travelling, you’re often experiencing new smells, new sounds, new textures while gaining new insights about yourself and your life. The newness of these experiences is the key. Think of a child and how they explore the world. They soak up every sensation because it is all new. We lose some of that as we age. We don’t pay attention to the sights and sounds around us. They become background noise. Travelling to foreign countries and learning about other cultures allows us to tap into that sense of freshness.
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3.Whenever I return from a trip, I can do one of two things: I can go back to my regular life and let the experience fade or I can write about it. And Wow, that’s pretty cool when you think about it. Imagine the possibilities.
Here’s your prompt:
Take one experience from the last trip you took (anywhere) and write about it. I say the last trip because that’s the one you’ll have the sharpest recollections for. I say one experience because if you try to write about the whole trip it will turn into a list. “I did this, then I did this ...” Instead focus in on one small event. Savour your surroundings, recreate the sounds, the smells, the colours of that one event.
Hope you enjoy this exercise, and let me know where your travels take you.
February 28, 2009 Writing Prompt:
Stories, poems and songs we remember from childhood can be very evocative. And in turn, those memories are often powerful and vibrant. They make great fodder for our writing.
One of my first books was the Treasury of Nursery Rhymes. It was big and filled with lots of colour pictures. I loved it. One of the rhymes I recall with pleasure isn’t the typical “Humpty Dumpty” or “Hey Diddle Diddle,” although loved those too, but “Two Little Kittens.”
Two Little Kittens
Two Little kittens, one stormy night,
Began to quarrel, and then to fight.
One had a mouse and the other had none,
And that’s the way the quarrel began.
“I’ll have that mouse,” said the bigger cat.
“You’ll have that mouse? We’ll see about that!”
“I will have that mouse,” said the older one;
“You shan’t have the mouse,” said the little one.
I told you before ‘twas a stormy night,
When those two little kittens began to fight.
The old woman seized her sweeping broom
And swept the to kittens right out of the room.
The ground was all covered with frost and snow,
And the two little kittens had nowhere to go.
So they lay them down on the mat at the door,
While the old woman finished sweeping the floor.
Then they crept in, as quiet as mice,
All wet with the snow, and as cold as ice.
For they found it much better, that stormy night,
To lie down and sleep, than to quarrel and fight.
I have copied out this little poem in its entirely for a reason: every word is precious. As I sit here typing at my computer, the ghosts of my grandfather, my grandmother and my mother stand in a row behind me. They look over my shoulders and read the words along with me. I’m not speaking metaphorically. I feel their presence. Apart from my dreams, this is when they are the closest. Such is the power of memory and of story.
You can use the above poem as your prompt or you can go digging. Find an old book that was special to you for whatever reason, and write about why. Be creative. Delve deep into your bank of memories. How do you feel now when you read the book and look at the pictures? Why? How did you feel when you received the book or when it was read to you? Why?
February 13, 2009 Writing Prompt:
I have been horribly remiss in keeping up my prompts. There is no excuse this behaviour, but I will at least tell you what I was up to. Last month I drove to Victoria to interview someone for my upcoming book. Christie recently completed nearly a year of chemotherapy and was just about to start a five-week course of radiation, so I knew it might take us a while to get through the interviews. I stayed on the island for a week and then visited my sister and my aunt on the way home.
Virtually the instant I hit the Cocquahalla, it began to snow. Quite the shock after staying amidst the sun dappled rolling hills and sheltered old-growth forests of the island. Within an hour the snow banks were closing in, and I was praying that I’d make it as far as Merritt. Obviously I did otherwise me and my little car would have been left to wait for the spring thaw. The rest of the drive wasn’t much better. It snowed the entire trip home.
Now to the point of my story (obviously I’m just using this opportunity to vent). There’s a cute little antique shop just off the highway in Louis Creek. It burned to the ground in the fire of 2006, but they’ve rebuilt, and I usually stop by whenever I’m traveling through. As usual I spent my money on something that I’m sure my husband would find incomprehensible: photos. For those of you who don’t frequent antique shops, you probably don’t know that many unnamed family photos find there way onto the dusty shelves of antique shops across the country. They’re sad things, all those dead, anonymous faces looking out into their future, our past. Forgotten men, women and children. Each one with their own lost story.
So that brings me to this week’s prompt. I bought all the photos they had at the shop. They would make great writing prompts for my classes. These are two of my favorites. There is writing on the back of the photo of the little boy, but I couldn’t make out his name or age. However the photo was taken in February 1898 and he is wearing his skating costume. I was also drawn to the old tin type. I immediately felt as though I knew this portly gentleman. I won’t tell you my conjectures because they would probably only cloud your own imagination. All I can tell you about this photo is that because it’s a tin type, it was probably taken around the middle of the nineteenth century.
Use one of the following photos as your writing prompt. I won’t say anything more.
January 17, 2009 Writing Prompt:
They say a picture is worth a thousand words - well - more or less.
Using the following photo. Write a story - fact or fiction. And no, it doesn’t need to be a thousand words, unless you want it to be.
January 7, 2009 Writing Prompt:
Okay, here’s a fun one, and it’s short. Woo hoo.
Write a story in 55 words - no more, no less.
Now wait. Before you say, “I can’t do that!” Here’s an example. Remember - even though it’s short - you still must have a plot, characters, setting, etc. P.S. The title doesn’t count.
December 29 Writing Prompt:
Margaret Atwood said, “We are all on some list.” If you’ve read Atwood’s essays or short stories, even her poetry, you’ll know she likes to play with lists. There are numerous examples in her book Good Bones and Simple Murders (you can probably find it in the library), but there are other examples throughout her work. Lists are a lot of fun and can be enlightening as well.
Write a piece based on the Atwood quote: “We are all on some list.”
OR
Write a list of your favourite books of 2008 - complete with commentary.
OR HOW ABOUT
List the 10 things you would never change about your life (and why).
Hope you enjoy this exercise. Maybe you’ll learn something about yourself in the process. (I did.)
December 21 Writing Prompt:
There are many adaptations of Charles Dicken’s The Christmas Carol - everything from Alastair Sim’s classic to the Mickey Mouse version (at least Tiny Tim is cute). Anyway, that got me thinking.
Write a spoof on The Christmas Carol.
I understand that most of you are probably crazy busy right how, but if you have the time, this could be a lot of fun.
December 17 Writing Prompt:
Since Christmas is just around the corner, let’s have a prompt in keeping with the season. Christmas is full of tradition, traditions surrounding family get-togethers, gift-giving and of course food.
Write about a dish that reminds you of Christmas past. Maybe it’s that special stuffing that only your grandmother could make or maybe it’s those mincemeat tarts your dad loved, you thought were a fate worse than death. Food can be very evocative, so include smells, tastes and the other senses. You may even want to include the recipe.
December 10 Writing Prompt:
I’m not sure if you’ll find this one easy or difficult. I guess it will depend on your perspective. As writers we struggle to find time to write, but the time is there. We just have to make it work. I can already hear the excuses, but remember J. K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter books as a single mother, working a full-time job. So NO EXCUSES. If you want this, you’ll figure it out. On that note, here’s your prompt (well -assignment).
Design a writing schedule for the week. This will be your writing schedule for every week from now on. Make it specific, but not so ambitious that it’s impossible to accomplish. Remember you will be following this same schedule each and every week. No excuses. Specificity is important. Without specificity, it’s too easy to cheat. Draw a chart. Be neat. Made a row for each day of the week and a column each for place, time and duration. You can also put in other categories if you like. For instance, you might want to specify the type of writing you’ll be doing on that day.
Okay. So no complaining. Go get at it.
December 3 Writing Prompt:
When I have a school assignment that I enjoy, I like to share it with you. This is one of those.
Write about a book you love. Now maybe you love that book because you read it so many times as a child that you can quote every word by heart, but it doesn’t have to be that kind of book. It can be a book that you love because of who gave it to you and the inscription inside the front cover. Maybe it’s the book you care about because your pet rabbit Boris chewed the cover, and it’s the last thing you have to remember her by. Maybe it’s the family bible that your great grandparents brought from the old country. Tell the story of your book. Why is it special to you. What are the physical characteristics of the book? Does it have a special smell, feel, look? Describe its colour, weight and dimensions. I’m including a link to my own response to this assignment. You could have some fun with this one.
November 23 Writing Prompt:
This week I’m turning to Margaret Atwood for the writing prompt. This prompt comes from her book of poetry, Morning in the Burned House. I’ll give you the choice of two prompts. One of these prompts will be the opening sentence to your story:
Some centuries ago, when we lived at the edge of the forest ...
OR
A man looks at a beautiful woman ...
November 16 Writing Prompt:
In his new book of short stories, Just After Sunset, Stephen King says, “There are lots of things in life that are like riding a bike, but writing short stories isn’t one of the. You can forget how.” In the early days, Stephen King wrote a lot of stories between his days teaching English and his summers working at an industrial laundry. They paid for “car repairs, doctor bills, or what Tabby and I called “kidshit”: toys, a second-hand playpen, a few of those maddening Richard Scarry books.” But after years of writing novels, he felt he was losing the touch. There were stories that he didn’t write, but there were stories he couldn’t write. So when the opportunity came to edit the 2006 edition of Best American Short Stories, he snapped it up. It came with the task of reading hundred of stories from the best literary magazines across the country. And sure enough, “I got excited all over again, and I started writing stories again in the old way.”
There are two morals to this story. The first is one I tell my students at most of the writing classes I teach, “You must read if you want to write. You must read a lot.” I’m always surprised and secretly shocked when I run into would-be writers who tell me they don’t read much, or worse yet (gasp) don’t like reading that much. To me that’s like expecting a body builder to increase his muscle mass without lifting weights. “It just ain’t gonna happen.”
The second moral is one I tell my students at all of the writing classes I teach, “If you want to write well, you must practice, practice, practice. That’s how the masters of the trade honed their craft. There are no shortcuts.”
Writing is not as magical as most people think. It is a skill, a skill that must be fueled and practiced, fueled with lots of reading and practiced with regular writing. And - okay - maybe just a pinch of pixy dust.
Here’s your assignment for the week:
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1.Read: Read one short story a day for a week. If you don’t have any on hand, here are some suggestions. The following books are not difficult to find and should be available at your closest library or book store:
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•Any one of the Best American Short Stories. These are always good.
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•From the Fourteenth District by Mavis Gallant
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•Any of Alice Munro’s collections of stories. She’s the queen of the short story.
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•Anything by Ernest Hemingway. He’s the king of the short story.
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•Just After Sunset by Stephen King.
2. Write: Write at least one short story. If you’d like a prompt: go to the Welcome page of my website. Scroll down, and on the right hand side, you’ll see a link to the article “Lost Continents of Garbage Adrift in Oceans.” The first thing I thought when I read this article was, “OMG. It’s worse than even I thought.” The second thing I thought was, “There’s a story in there somewhere.”
November 11 Writing Prompt:
I’ve been falling behind on the Writing Prompts again. It’s been a busy time: lots of assignments and lots of planning for Memory’s visit to Canada. It’s hard to believe I’ll be seeing her next week. Thinking about Memory and our periodic meetings helped me think of a prompt.
We live in a very different world from that of our grandparents. It is a world that is both further apart and closer together. We can travel anywhere in the world in a relatively short period of time. We can phone, email or text message anyone almost anywhere - instantly. We no longer need to wait days, weeks, months or even years to learn if a letter has reached its destination. But of course - there is always another side to the coin. With all our technology and innovation: families and friends still drift apart, perhaps more now than ever. People move to distant cities and countries. They travel for years at a time. Sometime they take their relationships for granted. They don’t always make the effort to gather for dinner, for dances, for weddings. They forget to stay in touch.
Write a letter to a friend (or family member) you have lost touch with. You don’t need to send it. This is a creative exercise. But maybe when you are done, you’ll want to.
November 3 Writing Prompt:
Now that Halloween has passed, the dark days of November are upon us. Tomorrow we will learn the identity of the next America president. It’s been a long eight years with W. at the helm, hopefully the next eight years will bring hope and peace. Well - we’ll see.
It would have been impossible for Bush to weld the power he did had it not been for the terrorist attack of September 11th, 2001. The attack has made an imprint on our collective consciousness. It’s one of those events that most people remember in the context of the ordinary daily activities they were caught in when they heard about the attack.
Write about what you remember from that day. Your thoughts, your impressions.
OR
Write about how the experience has effected your life or the life of someone close to you.
Once again feel free to email your response.
October 26 Writing Prompt:
In keeping with the season, let’s have one more prompt in honour of things that go bump in the night.
I attended a writers’ retreat at the Glenora B&B this weekend. The Glenora B&B is a beautiful, historic building. Before it became a bed and breakfast, the Buena Vista Building was a seniors’ home and before that an apartment building. The oldest part of the building has been around since 1912 and has been home to many generations of Edmontonians, including Wop May the famous aviator. As you might guess, a building with such a storied past might have its share of ghosts, and it does. There are tales of mysterious figures, flickering lights and moving vases - among other ghostly occurances.
With all that ambiance, our writerly conversations inevitably turned to the paranormal. Maybe most people have experiences of the supernatural variety, or maybe it’s a symptom of an active imagination. We found we all had unexplainable experiences to share. It was great. I began to wonder if everyone has these kinds of experiences. Whatever the case, there are many stories out there. Here’s your chance to write your’s.
Write about your own experience with the paranormal.
If you’d like to share your experience, send me your story, and I’ll post it on Creative Whispers. Your deadline is October 31 (midnight).
October 19 Writing Prompt:
I bet some of you saw this one coming. With Halloween around the corner, let’s have some fun. I’m going to throw out some first lines. You pick the one that speaks to you and go with it. Your story should be in the spirit of Halloween, but it doesn’t need to be scary. Tongue in cheek is fun too. So here we go.
Write a story beginning with the following words:
There was a time when I wasn’t afraid of the dark ...
OR
“Fetch - (Old English faecce, also known as fylgia) A guardian spirit or familiar. The fetch is an attendant spirit held "to appear as an animal resembling one's disposition” ...”
“I knew it,” he yelled and slammed the dictionary closed with a Thwump.
OR
It was a dark and stormy night ...
Go nuts. I hope you have fun with this, and remember you can submit your piece to the Creative Whispers website by clicking here.
October 12 Writing Prompt:
I had an interesting assignment for my Print Culture History class last week. It was not only fun but by time I was done, I realized I had learned a great deal about myself. The assignment was this:
Write your reading biography. Begin with your earliest experiences of reading and being read to. What family traditions or personal experiences shaped (and continue to shape) your reading habits? How has your reading evolved and why do you think this is so?
Here is a link to my answer to the assignment. It should help you get started.
I hope you will try this exercise. You may learn something about yourself as I did, and if you don’t, I think you’ll enjoy it anyway. I’d love to publish some of your responses on my website, so don’t be shy. Send me what you’ve written.
October 5 Writing Prompt:
Thanksgiving has always been a time of celebration, family get-togethers and enormous turkey dinners.
For this week’s prompt, I’d like you to think back to a memorable Thanksgiving. It can be memorable in a good way. Lots of food, lots of laughter. Or it can be memorable in a way you’d like to forget. The turkey burned. Your family couldn’t make it. It’s up to you. Write about your experience. Don’t forget to include the smells, the sounds, the tastes. Enjoy.
September 28 Writing Prompt:
Only Week 2 and I’m already falling behind. Drat! Oh well. I’ll soldier on.
While I was in Malawi this year, I had the opportunity to teach classes in both Creative Writing and Kung Fu. It was sooo much fun. I was teaching at Atsikana Pa Ulendo Girls’ Secondary School. The girls were wonderful - giggly, excited and eager to learn. In some ways it was easier to teach Kung Fu because of the language barrier. I could show. I didn’t have to tell. But at least one of the writing exercises did work well for the girls. That will be this week’s prompt.
I asked the girls to write something beginning with “I remember ...” This begins a story that exists within us all. We all remember.
So pick up your pen and begin: I remember ...
You can write for as long as you like. Don’t worry about grammar or punctuation. Get your story onto the page as fast as you can.
September 21 Writing Prompt:
Death has been on my mind this week. Yes, I can be a bit gloomy at the best of times, but these past two weeks have been particularly somber. On September 3rd, one of our kung fu students died in a car accident. He was young and his death was sudden. These sorts of events have a way of stopping us in our tracks and forcing us to look at our lives through fresh eyes. Two years ago a girl whom my daughter had grown up with was killed in a similar accident. I could remember helping out in her kindergarten class, driving my daughter to her birthday party and meeting her only a week earlier at the HMV store where she worked. She recognized me then, “You’re Nastassja’s mom, aren’t you?”
While she was dying, I was sitting in my favorite coffee shop, drinking a latte and writing. At the next table sat a group of RCMP (their favorite coffee shop too). A call came in about an accident on the Yellowhead and two of the officers rushed off. Crystal was already dead. It was difficult to accept Crystal’s death then, and it’s been difficult to accept Travis’ death too. He had come to my fitness class the week before he died. I answered his question about leg lifts. And then he was gone. His death was too abrupt. How can a person prepare for that. He was such a nice kid, and he had his whole life ahead of him. Didn’t he?
Even long and painful deaths seem, in the end, to catch us off guard. We keep expecting that person to reappear and be there for us as they’ve always been. It’s been over a year since my grandmother died, but I still catch myself thinking of a question that I need to ask the next time I see her. I keep thinking I should stop to get her flowers. Or I’ll see something pretty in a shop, and it’s hard not to cry. Death has a profound effect on us all.
So that brings me to this week’s prompt:
Write about a death. Write about your reaction to that death. Was your reaction different than what you would have expected?
If that doesn’t work for you, try this:
Write about a memory of someone who you were close to but who is now gone (either passed on or moved away).
