Writing Prompt #20
Each week, ORW will feature a new writing prompt meant to spark your creative juices. Use it to generate new fiction, creative non-fiction or poetry, or apply the prompt to a current project. Even if you don’t create a scene that fits with your project, you may find that you’ve learned more about your story.
When in Red Cloud, this was the desk Willa Cather used.
As part of my summer vacation, I visited Red Cloud and toured some of the places that were dear to Willa Cather. I thought a lot about the importance of work in her novels, and I decided that should be the focus of this writing prompt. Wherever and whenever your novel is set, every character works. Whether that work appears on the page is another thing. In 750 words, write a scene showing your character at work. Spend a lot of time on describing the workplace, a typical workday, and how the character interacts with others while on the job. Next, write another scene with your character NOT at work. Without referencing the character’s job, show how the job shapes the character. Does s/he love the job? Hate it? Struggle? Excel? Consider the influence of work on your character.
Writing Prompt #19
Each week, ORW will feature a new writing prompt meant to spark your creative juices. Use it to generate new fiction, creative non-fiction or poetry, or apply the prompt to a current project. Even if you don’t create a scene that fits with your project, you may find that you’ve learned more about your story.
Dialogue should not be chit chat. Make it work hard to reveal character and to develop plot and scene. For this prompt, write a 750-word scene with two characters in conversation. You may have a brief introductory paragraph if you must, but after that, avoid all tags and description. Without using dialect as a crutch, strive to make each character’s voice unique. Let the content of the dialogue reveal tension between the characters. What happens when all you write is dialogue?
Let me know how this works for you!
Writing Prompt #18
If you like first lines for prompts (I do!), check out the next two First Line contests here.
Each week, ORW will feature a new writing prompt meant to spark your creative juices. Use it to generate new fiction, creative non-fiction or poetry, or apply the prompt to a current project. Even if you don’t create a scene that fits with your project, you may find that you’ve learned more about your story.
Write a 1,000 word scene in which one character believes a second character is about to confess love. The first character does not return the feeling. Pay special attention to the first character’s actions; let them reveal his/her feelings to the reader without coming out and telling the reader. Use 3rd person pov close to character one.
Shake it up by rewriting the scene close to the second character. How do the behaviors of the first character affect the second?
Let me know if you use the prompt and how it works for you!
Writing Prompt #17
Each week, ORW will feature a new writing prompt meant to spark your creative juices. Use it to generate new fiction, creative non-fiction or poetry, or apply the prompt to a current project. Even if you don’t create a scene that fits with your project, you may find that you’ve learned more about your story.
First lines of a scene: She wanted nothing more than to leave. Unless it was to forget everything that had just happened.
Writing Prompt #16
Each week, ORW will feature a new writing prompt meant to spark your creative juices. Use it to generate new fiction, creative non-fiction or poetry, or apply the prompt to a current project. Even if you don’t create a scene that fits with your project, you may find that you’ve learned more about your story.
First line of a scene: The very idea was like a pebble in my shoe.
They’re Back! Writing Prompt #15
After a little hiatus, the weekly writing prompts are back.
Each week, ORW will feature a new writing prompt meant to spark your creative juices. Use it to generate new fiction, creative non-fiction or poetry, or apply the prompt to a current project. Even if you don’t create a scene that fits with your project, you may find that you’ve learned more about your story.
Sex. Some writers shy away from letting their characters enjoy pleasures of the body. Write a close third-person scene in which your protagonist has sex. Writing YA with characters not yet having sex? Let the protagonist make out with someone. Strive to avoid cliches and to bring real pleasure to your character.
Let me know how the prompt works for you!
Creative Writing Prompt #14: NaNoWriMo
Throughout the month of November, the ORW prompts will be designed to help writers participating in NaNoWriMo build up their word count.
Create a scene in which your character experiments with something new. This scene should not necesarily be about learning a new skill. Instead, imagine an activity in which your character would normally never dream of engaging. Write 500 words in anticipation of the activity, 1,000 words in which the activity is occurring, and another 500 words about the character’s reaction to his/her daring.
Let me know how it works for you! Here’s to 15,000 words by the end of day Monday.
Creative Writing Prompt #13: NaNoWriMo
Throughout the month of November, the ORW prompts will be designed to help writers participating in NaNoWriMo build up their word count. Please leave a comment about how the prompt works for you!
Create a scene in which your character sees something s/he should not have. Write 1,000 words describing the act of seeing and what was seen. Write another 1,000 words in which your character reacts to what s/he has seen.
Creative Writing Prompt #12
Each week, ORW will feature a new writing prompt meant to spark your creative juices. Use it to generate new fiction, creative non-fiction or poetry, or apply the prompt to a current project. Even if you don’t create a scene that fits with your project, you may find that you’ve learned more about your story.
First line of a scene: He thought he had made himself clear.
Creative Writing Prompt #11
Each week, ORW will feature a new writing prompt meant to spark your creative juices. Use it to generate new fiction, creative non-fiction or poetry, or apply the prompt to a current project. Even if you don’t create a scene that fits with your project, you may find that you’ve learned more about your story.
Prompt #11
A character’s food choices can reveal a lot. Find out what your character likes to eat. Write a scene with at least two characters, close third-person to the one who is doing the cooking. Put the characters in a pressure cooker: despite the great care the cook has taken, the second character detests the meal.
I study and practice the craft of writing for multiple audiences and purposes. Through my experience in public relations, grant writing, and academia, I have acquired the ability to create text that garners results. I hold a MA in English literature and a MFA in Creative Writing. Having taught nearly 900 students in classes ranging from business writing to creative writing, I believe in writer-centered instruction as the most effective way to empower my clients. 
