The game that has taken my writing club by storm recently is what I call the Fill-in-the-Blanks Story. We start by writing words on slips of paper and dropping them into the appropriate bowls: NOUN (character), NOUN (object), NOUN (location), ADJECTIVE, VERB, or ADVERB. Then we proceed with the story and draw a word every time we need to fill in a blank. The results can be… weird. Continue reading
Group Writing Fun: Fill-in-the-Blanks Story
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Monday Writing Prompt
Happy Monday, busy writers! A new week begins like a fresh new notebook full of blank pages – pages that can inspire either eagerness or terror in a poor writer’s heart. Here’s a starter for you today, another movie still prompt.
Introductions at a party – put some outrageous dialogue to this picture:
In case you’re wondering, this is a scene from All About Eve, from the famous party scene in which Bette Davis intones “Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night!”
(And yes, that is Marilyn Monroe, pre-superstardom, in a bit part)
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Monday Movie Prompt
A writing prompt for a spring-ish Monday. (Here at least.)
Write some dialogue and the what-happens-next for this scene:
(photo from the movie Arsenic and Old Lace)
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Shpooky prompt
Here’s a Monday morning Writing Prompt for you. The only thing better than the craziness of this photo is the name of the movie it comes from: Voodoo Man (1944).
Looks like a seance to me. Who are all these people? And what happens next?
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Weekly Eldritch: Aron Wiesenfeld
Randomly roaming about the internet, I came across this image and followed it to the website of illustrator Aron Wiesenfeld.
The Crown, by Aron Wisenfeld
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Writing Club: Dialogue That Works
Welcome to another edition of writing tips, prompts and folderol. (Look it up.) Today we’ll look at writing dialogue that isn’t clunky, baffling or boring. But first we warm up…
5-minute prompt: TRAVEL
Planes, trains, automobiles, boats, bicycles, or feet. Five minutes, stream of consciousness, write whatever comes to mind on the topic… GO!
For some reason most of my thoughts on the topic tend to the befores and afters and not to the actual travelling: airports and train platforms, figuring out schedules, waiting in line, delays, waiting for luggage, missing luggage, etc.
What’s the strangest mode of transport you’ve ever used?
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Contest Deadline Approacheth!
Where does the time go?? Only 11 days until the deadline…
“Zounds! I must get busy!”
Eldritch Contest for Student Writers and Artists
Deadline: March 15, 2014
All entries must be emailed by, or postmarked with this date.
1. Write a Short Story (any length) about a Senior Citizen with a surprising past or a secret identity
OR
2. Illustrate a scene from the novel Eldritch Manor by Kim Thompson
OR, if you like, DO BOTH!
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Ay carumba! Winter takes a last stab
Okay so I disappeared last week because of snow and related difficulties (no power, no internet), and coincidentally my website disappeared too! I’ve just got it back up again, not sure how many days it was missing in action, sorry about that everyone!
As I write I can hear the sound of rain and dripping all around, and there was just a big rumble as snow fell off one side of my roof, so hopefully we’re on the seasonal upswing now. (Firmly knocking on wood.)
And since it is Monday I’d like to give you a Writing Prompt to start your week off right. It’s another old movie still – take a close look. Who are these people, what are their names, personalities? What’s their relationship to one another? Now write them some snappy dialogue…
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Writing Club: Writing Group Etiquette
Greetings! The winter months drag on but there is a glimmer of hope as the days grow long. Spring, o spring will you please hurry??
5-minute prompt: SCHOOL
Five minutes, stream of consciousness, write whatever comes to mind on the topic… GO!
Your own schools, schools from fiction, schools from film. Hogwarts maybe? Terrible schools or brilliant schools. Terrible teachers or brilliant teachers. Sights, sounds and smells. And think about how different elementary schools are from high schools…
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Writing Prompt: a swellegant trio in a taxi
Hi there, just a quick Monday writing prompt.
What’s going on here? Who are these people? What are they up to?
(If you’re stuck, first think of the most likely scenario, then think up the least likely scenario.)
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