From March 5th
Greetings, Writers! I read the attached opinion piece in the NY Times, and thought that the subject would make good prompts for 10 minutes or more of writing this week.
You could write about your own experience or create a character to experience the situations described in the prompts.
You could also write your own experience in first person, and then rewrite the same experience in third person. This is always fun to see how the viewpoints influence the story you're telling.
Prompts to try:
(1) Write about a time when you said "yes" to something asked of you, but you should have said "no."
(2) Write about a time when you said "no" but you should have said "yes."
(3) Describe a situation where you know you shouldn't do something asked of you, but you don't know how to say "no."
(4) Write about a time when you said "no" to someone's request and it led to hard feelings.
(5) Write about a time when you said "yes" to a request, but you had to back out, leaving others in a lurch.
(6) Describe a situation where you look back and imagine how your response, either "yes" or "no," could have made a big difference in your life.
The next writers' group meeting is Sunday, March 17, 4 pm, at Steve's house. His address is 4811 Blackwood Cross.
Don't forget our writing workshop preview meeting on Sunday, March 24, 4 pm, at the Magnolia.
From January 7, 2024
Greetings, Writers! Are you up for trying your hand at a narrative device? This one is "allegory." You all are so good at this kind of thing, so give allegory a try.
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An allegory is a type of narrative that uses characters and plot to depict abstract ideas and themes. In an allegorical story, things represent more than they appear to on the surface. Many children's fables, such as The Tortoise and the Hare, are simple allegories about morality — but allegories can also be dark, complex, and controversial.
Example: Animal Farm by George Orwell. This dystopian novella is one of modern literature’s best-known allegories. A commentary on the events leading up to Stalin's rise and the formation of the Soviet Union, the pigs at the heart of the novel represent figures such as Stalin, Trotsky, and Molotov.
Exercise: Pick a major trend or problem in the world and consider what defines it. Try and create a story where that trend plays out on a smaller scale.
Cheers,
Susan
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From January 3, 2024
Good afternoon, Writers. Happy New Year! I hope 2024 is a good year for you, one that includes some good storytelling.
I especially liked the section about "7 Ways to Come Up With Great Story Ideas," and of those, #4 will be very familiar to you.
More prompts coming your way soon.
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December 14, 2023
Greetings, Writers! Here are couple of literary devices you might find fun to try for 10 minutes of writing practice.
Epistrophe
Epistrophe is the opposite of anaphora, with this time a word or phrase being repeated at the end of a sentence. Though its placement in a sentence is different, it serves the same purpose—creating emphasis—as an anaphora does.
Example: “I’ll be ever’where – wherever you look. Wherever they’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever they’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there. ... An’ when our folks eat the stuff they raise an’ live in the houses they build, why, I’ll be there.” — The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Similar terms: repetition, anaphora
10-Minute Exercise: Write a paragraph where a phrase or a word is repeated at the end of every sentence, emphasizing the point you’re trying to make.
Onomatopoeia [pronouned aa-nuh-mah-tuh-pee'-uh]
Amusingly, onomatopoeia (itself a difficult-to-pronounce word) refers to words that sound like the thing they’re referring to. Well-known instances of onomatopoeia include whiz, buzz, snap, grunt, etc.
Example: The excellent children's book Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type. “Farmer Brown has a problem. His cows like to type. All day long he hears: Click, clack, moo. Click, clack, moo. Clickety, clack, moo.”
10-Minute Exercise: Take some time to listen to the sounds around you and write down what you hear. Now try to use those sounds in a short paragraph or story.
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November 20, 2023
Good afternoon, Writers! It was so fun to get together last night. Thank you for the snacks and wine you offered; they were much appreciated.
We practiced the cumulative sentence, and, as usual, you knocked it out of the park in just 10 minutes. The stories you had written over the past month provided us a range of styles and topics, from an Elements take on FDR's Declaration of War to a towel's musings; from a question, "Have you ever been in jail?" to a stroll through Portales, New Mexico; from an immigrant's pain to a border rancher's plight; from big girl panties to map reading in Alabama. All very thoughtful and engaging to hear in your own voices.
This month's suggested topic is winter. This could be Christmas, winter solstice, winter sports, winter blues. Whatever you want, however you want, to tell your story.
Mark your calendars: Next meeting is Sunday, Dec. 17, 4-6 pm at Mike Putnam's.
I'll send out some prompts in another email for 10-minute practice. I'll also forward you Reedsy.com and/or Writers.com email for story ideas throughout the month.
Here's a thought: Find a prompt you want to try, write for 10 minutes one day, then build on what you have written the next time you write for 10 minutes. This method becomes a kind of cumulative practice, and you might get a 500 to 1,000-word piece out of it.
Happy writing, ya'll!
Susan
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November 14, 2023
Greetings, Writers! Hope your month of writing has been better than mine. Talk about a dry well. But still we write and hope St Francis de Sales can hear our pleas for inspiration.
We are scheduled to meet Sunday at my house, 1915 Spotted Fawn, 4 pm. Please let me know if you will not be able to attend.
Want to try another literary device or two?
Anastrophe: The traditional sentence structure is reversed. "The tall mountain" becomes "the mountain tall." And "Are you ready?" becomes, "Ready, are you?" Think of Yoda in Star Wars, who speaks in anastrophes.
Try this: Write a standard sentence, then rewrite in an anastrophe. How does the meaning change?
Congeries: Fancy term for creating a list of words, ideas, or phrases to emphasize a point or create a sense of irony. Also called piling, as in words that pile up.
Example: "Apart from better sanitation and medicine and education and irrigation and public health and roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order, what have the Romans done for us?" (from Monty Python's "Life of Brian").
Try this: Have fun piling up some words.
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Nov. 11, 2023
Writers, below is an article about setting. If you are so inclined, try a couple of 10-minute stories using setting as your prompt
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Greetings, Writers!
A literary device is a writing technique used to express ideas, convey meaning, and highlight important themes in a piece of text. You might use one to create an emotional effect or convey an intellectual idea or improve the flow of your writing. Let's try our hands at one or two literary devices for fun and practice.
(1) Alliteration. A series of words that start with the same letter or sound.
Examples:
“Whisper words of wisdom …” -- The Beatles, "Let It Be"
“They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.” -- Joni Mitchell, "Big Yellow Taxi"
10 minutes: Pick a letter and write a sentence where every word starts with that letter or one that sounds similar.
(2) Anaphora. The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of a series of clauses or sentences. Often used in speeches and poetry. Provokes an emotional response in the audience.
Example:
"I have a dream that...." -- Martin Luther King, "I Have a Dream" speech
10 minutes: Pick a famous phrase and write a paragraph elaborating on an idea, beginning each sentence with that phrase. For example, "when pigs fly," "I love you," "trust me." Google famous phrases and get a hundred of them as prompts, or create one of your own.
Have fun!
Susan
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Greetings, Writers! If you are interested in writing poetry, take a look at this article. I especially like the idea of micro poetry. Saying a lot in a little space always appeals to me. This might be something for you to try.
Here's a haiku I wrote as an undergrad in a creative writing class at SMU. My poem came in second in our class vote:
Irving owned a dry goods store until last spring when it flooded.
I remember the winning poem and the girl in my class who wrote it!
Late one night she lost her head. Pass the baby bottle, Fred.
Cheers,
Susan
Be sure to read the posted stories and comment on them for the writer.
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Recap from October meeting and November Prompts. Click on the link below. Also, look at the following post
October 16: Prompts from Reedsy.com
Out of Place 
The air’s beginning to chill and goosebumps are rising on your skin like mushrooms on a log. With Halloween not far off, everything’s beginning to feel a little… strange. It’s got me thinking about all things odd, and one of the most unsettling sensations of all — noticing something that’s out of place.
From things that shouldn’t be where they are, to protagonists far from home, this week’s prompts explore the bizarre, and the uncanny feeling of things being where they don’t belong.
- Start your story with a character walking through a desert landscape, when they stumble across something unexpected. “That shouldn’t be there,” they muse.
- You arrive at a destination you promised an old friend you’d visit after they passed, only to find them there too.
- As a child you’re helping your grandparent bake. When you’re sent to the pantry to fetch an ingredient, you discover something odd.
- Begin your story with a protagonist taking shelter under a bridge during a thunderstorm. An animal scurries past which shouldn’t exist. Against their better judgment, they decide to follow it out.
- You’re awakened from your nap by someone asking, “Are you hungry?”. You fell asleep somewhere else entirely.
In the Panopticon
In the 18th century, philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham came up with a new way of enforcing social discipline. The Panopticon, as he called it, referred to a physical building — a prison built around a central observation tower where the guards can see all cells at all times, while the inmates never know if they are being watched or not. Much like the building, in a Panopticon society, the mere threat of surveillance or (social) repercussions is meant to encourage self-regulation and eradicate misbehavior.
This week’s prompts are inspired by different forms of surveillance, confinement, and self-monitoring. From speed cameras that may or may not be recording to judgmental inner voices, let’s explore group think, social norms, and freedom of body and soul.
1. Write a story that includes the line “I think someone’s listening/watching.”
2. Set your story in a type of prison cell.
3. Write from the point of view of a security guard on the night shift, sitting in front of a wall of CCTV feeds.
4. Write about someone who is shackled by fears of failure, until they break free.
5. Write a story about someone who breaks an unwritten social rule and the consequences they face as a result.
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Compete for $250 and a spot in Prompted
Reedsy challenges you to create a short story based on one of these prompts. The winner will be featured on Reedsy Prompts and receive $250 via PayPal! We’ll also consider your submission for a future print and digital issue of our lit mag, Prompted.
From September 18th:
Good afternoon, Writers. Special thanks to Nancy for hosting our September writers' group. And gratitude to Kathy for setting up our blog. For now, send her your stories and she will post them. We can comment on the stories within the blog.
It was a terrific meeting with good stories on a variety of topics that took us down some fun (strange?) paths. Nancy and Steve created amazing stories from the three disparate sentences; it isn't an easy exercise, but ya'll nailed it, as usual. Nez again brought a character to life in the form of Angry Mary swinging her cane, while Ralph introduced us to his alter ego, Freddy Z. Kathy's smooth prose took us to a house filled with memories (the phone in the alcove brings back memories), while Mike P paid tribute to lyrics and lyricists in his story, reminding me how poetic song lyrics are, even when nonsensical (re: Lucy in the Sky).
Thank you so much for your comments and help with my story, "On Wings of Memory." I will keeping working on sin. ;-)
Here are some prompts for the month. It is up to you, of course, to use them or not, but sometimes prompts motivate us when we are staring at a blank screen.
(1) Write about an incident in your life. You can write it in first person (I), but rewrite it in third person (he, she) to see how that changes your story.
(2) Tell a story through gestures, where body language conveys emotions.
(3) Here are 10-minute exercises to try. Do one per week.
--Write for 10 minutes using only one-syllable words.
--Write for 10 minutes without using the verb "to be" (am, was, were, has, etc.).
--Write for 10 minutes using only sentence fragments. No complete sentences.
--Write for 10 minutes about a map -- reading a map, using a map, drawing a map, etc.
Looking forward to our next meeting at Kathy and Ralph's, 4 pm, October 15.
BTW: "Peggy Sue Got Married" is streaming on Prime for $3.59.
Cheers!
Susan
From July 20th:
Good afternoon, Writers. Because some of us like to have prompts spur us to write, I'm sharing two prompts if you are interested.
I'm rereading William Zinsser's "Writing About Your Life," and it seems apropos to our own group's need to tell our family stories. Zinsser advises us to "go with what interests and amuses" us. "Trust the process, and the product will take care of itself."
He goes on to advise us to "think small." He says, "Write about small, self-contained incidents that are still vivid in your memory. If you remember them, it's because they contain a larger truth that your readers will recognize in their own lives. Think small and you'll wind up finding the big themes in your family saga."
(1) So this month's prompt is to write about a small incident in your personal story and let it take you wherever it will. Maybe it's the ritual of selecting a new lunchbox at the beginning of first grade or going to a baseball game with your grandfather -- and suddenly you're off!
(2) We've done this prompt before in the workshop (last year's, I think), but let's go deeper this time into a place. Memories are attached to people but also to places. Explore a memory via the place where the character or incident resides. Janice gave us a taste of Fort Worth in her story of JFK's visit, and Nez has tied Lyman, Washington, to many of his character studies. Take a look at the place and examine its influence on the people and what happened.
Or maybe imagine a place, such as a battlefield. Maybe you are Abraham Lincoln writing your speech on the train from Washington through Baltimore to Gettysburg, or you are Gen. Sherman riding from Chattanooga on your way to Atlanta. Maybe you are your great grandmother coming to Texas in a covered wagon.
Or maybe you're the train, the wagon, or the horse....'
Just some ideas.
Cheers,
Susan
From August 20th
Thank you to Janice for hosting our writers' group on Sunday. We do appreciate you sharing your beautiful space (and treats) with us. It was so good to hear your stories in your own voices. There's just something so engaging about hearing a writer's words read aloud.
We missed Kathy and Ralph and hope to see you next month. Our next meeting is Sunday, September 17, at Nancy's.
Prompts to use this month if you are so inclined:
Prompt 1: Take the three phrases you selected at random and use them in a story. Include something you fear and something you love in the piece. Please limit your story to one or one and a half pages.
If you want a bit of a challenge, tape down the slips of paper on a sheet of paper, leaving room to write between each. Write your story connecting the phrases in order. (No need to include love or fear in this version).
Prompt 2: Make a list of your fears. Make another list of things you love. Pick one love to write about but also include one fear in your story.
Remember to write for 10 minutes, aiming for three times a week.
From August 25th
Greetings, Writers! I happened onto a fun writing website called Reedsy.com. They send me writing prompts every few days. They also pay for stories. The prompts might help if you are looking for a little direction or inspiration. I think some of our family stories might be fun to adapt to one of these prompts (I can see Bentley or Molly telling their side of things).
Reedsy.com publishes writing prompts each week and pays money for stories. Here's a link to their website and the current prompts:
From August 29th:
From September 15th:
Stay cool. Write for 10 minutes after you read this email.
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