Writing Prompt Sunday: Be Afraid!

Let's all get excited because I actually A) remembered it was Sunday; B) remembered that I have a blog to keep up; and C)came up with a prompt. And guess what? It isn't really a Hallowe'en related prompt. Well, it's sort of kind of related. It's about fear. As a child I was always fearful of Hallowe'en. I'd been forced through too many neighborhood haunted houses and had too many people jump out of the bushes screaming when I was little to truly appreciate the fun of Hallowe'en until I became an adult. I also feared that my costumes would be lame (like the year I was a flower wearing a green leotard and pair of tights and this huge fabric flower that was starched so it would bloom out around my face, until it got humid half way through trick-or-treating and I looked more like a wilted daisy). I have very few real things that I am actually afraid of. I'm not really afraid of spiders, but have this fear of being wrapped up in spider webs. I'm not afraid of snakes. Not afraid of the boogeyman. Not afraid of black cats or saying that Scottish play's name. My fears run more into the emotional. For instance I fear being lonely (but not of being alone). I fear being lost. I fear being in very large chaotic crowds. Especially lost and lonely in very large chaotic crowds.

Sometimes when writing out characters I find that I either give them too many fears or that they are too perfect and fearless. We can't have that. I don't believe there is anyone who has no fears. So what are your characters' fears? Are they afraid of public speaking? What about falling down? Fear of flying? Fear of bats? Fear of being hit by a foul ball at a baseball game? Fear of being poor or losing all their money? How does that fear move them?

Here's the prompt: Have your character confront one of their fears. What does your character do to overcome the situation so that they can move on? What does your character learn about themselves? Has the confrontation helped or made the fear worse? Do you see your own fears reflected in your character? What would your character say about your fears?

Now how many of you are afraid of what NaNoWriMo is going to hold in store for you this year? (Not me!)

Don't faint - it's a post (and a writing prompt)

Yeah, sorry about being gone for so long. Life sort of got in the way there a bit and I've been so busy with various projects and events that blogging took a back seat. I've got a blog planned for tomorrow that includes a bit about baking and later this week I intend to catch up on my knitting and writing projects. But this is Sunday and Sundays are my writing prompt days. So here goes:

Your character's best friend is having a birthday. How is it celebrated? What does your character buy or make for their BFF? Why? What is the point of the gift? What does this tell you about your character?

See you tomorrow!

Writing Prompt Sunday

Your MC is lost. Not figuratively. Whether s/he is driving, walking, flying, tessering, or teleporting. This is not where s/he set off to be. What happened? How does s/he get unlost? How does s/he deal with being lost? Is it an adventure or is it frightening? Stressful or humorous? Go write!

Word Prompt Sunday

Tada! It's that time again. So let's talk about time. What is the time for your book? Is it modern or is it in the past? Is it in a real place or is it in a mythical place? We are going to play with time/place today. Bring your MC to your time and place. Hang out with your MC for a day, showing them your world. Where do you go? What do you show them? How do they react? Do they approve of your time and place or do they only wish to return to their own?

Writing Prompt Sunday Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Here's this week's challenge: Take a scene from something that you have already written where the MC had to make a choice between two different actions. Now rewrite that same scene with the character making the opposite choice. What happens to the story? How does it change the direction of the story? How does it make you feel about your character? How do your other characters feel about your MC's decision?

Sometimes I have found that even if I just play with a scene and make my character do something different than I originally imagined, it helps me understand my character better. And who knows, it might even change (for the better) the direction a book is going.

The Penultimate Writing Prompt

OK, maybe not the penultimate. Although it might be if the world ends after my next prompt and then I would be correct in naming this the Penultimate Writing Prompt. I named it the Penultimate Writing Prompt because, well, I just wanted to use the word penultimate this week and couldn't fit it into my writing. So what is the purpose of all this? To bring up the concept of lesser used words. I love the word penultimate. It's a truly cool word. For those wondering what it means, I turn your attention to Merriam Webster:

Main Entry: pen·ul·ti·mate
Pronunciation: \pi-ˈnəl-tə-mət\
Function: adjective
Date: 1677
1 : next to the last

It's a much nicer way of saying, "the next to the last" don't you think? Wouldn't it be cool if you were the penultimate kid chosen for the basketball team rather than the next to the last kid chosen? (Of course that usually is better than the last kid chosen, isn't it?) Penultimate just sounds more regal, more accepting. There are so many other words that are just as wonderful.

So, here's your task for the week: Find five really good words that sum up an idea that would otherwise need an entire phrase to say. (Is there a word for that?) Use those five words to make a logical story. How can you use this idea to better your writing overall? Expand on it as you work this week and see if you can't find tired phrases and bring new life to them by using a single, better, word. (And much thanks goes to PoMoGoLightly for her inspiring this prompt idea in suggesting that I actually google a reverse dictionary.)

Writing Prompt Sunday (Oh goodie)

Sometimes our characters are all too perfect, even if they are loathsome. Villains can even be the perfect villain - they smoke, they drink, they deal in drugs. The princess can also be far too perfect - she dresses well, she sings beautifully, she has long flowing tresses, she uses gentle words and believes that the world loves her. So here's what you have to do: Find the fault in your character's life. How does your character feel about this flaw? How do you feel about this character's flaw. Describe the flaw and your character's association with it in 500 words.

Now go to a self-help group.

Writing Prompt Sunday

Write your MC into a situation in which s/he is facing a fear. How does s/he cope? How does s/he work through the situation? How does s/he feel afterwards? Now (because we don't want to leave our MC's needing therapy) write how your MC recovers from the ordeal (which may or may not include therapy).

Writing Prompt Sunday

Write a scene where one of your characters faces a struggle with freedom. What is keeping your character from achieving this freedom? With which freedom is your character struggling? How do you resolve this conflict? Or do you? How does this change your character's outlook on his/her current situation?

Writing Prompt Sunday Strikes Again!

Have a conversation with your MC. Do your personalities mesh? Do you even like your MC? Does your MC like you? What part of you do you find in your MC that you don't like? Is that in anyway a reflection of you? What do you talk about? Where do you meet? Are you in your MC's world or your own?

Sunday Prompt

Yes; Sundays are much better days for prompts for me than Saturdays. So here is this week's. Let me know how it worked for you.

Your MC is sitting down to his/her favorite meal. What is it? Who is with her/him? Describe the ambiance, the location, and even what s/he is wearing. Go!

Writing Prompt Sunday

Yes, I know that I used to do this on Saturday and I may go back to that, but yesterday was World Wide Knit in Public day so it didn't seem like a Saturday to me. And Sundays are usually more leisurely for me anyway, so maybe I'll change it to Sundays permanently (provided of course I can remember it is Sunday and come up with a nice prompt.)

What does your character do for leisure? What does s/he do when not saving the world, crying over a lost love, running from the enemy, or whatever it is in your plot that your character does? Be specific. If s/he reads, what is the genre? If s/he paints, what is the medium or the subject? If s/he watches television, what are the shows?

Saturday Prompt #2

Write your antagonist's obituary.

Have fun!

Writing Prompt Saturday #1

While I was walking on the beach yesterday, I came up with a great idea. What if my character were to walk on my beach? What would s/he think about it? How would s/he act? What would s/he do? This beach is totally different from what my MC is used to so I thought it would be fun to do a writing exercise with him on my beach. I also thought that this might be a good writing exercise for other authors. Then I started thinking about other ideas as writing prompts and decided that each Saturday I am going to post a writing prompt each Saturday.

This week's prompt: Have your character come to your time and your city (even if this is a temporal and spatial anomaly). Write it in first person so your character can talk to you. What does your character think of where you live?

Let me know what you think and how this exercise worked for you.