Begin here: photo: Orion Nebula Space Galaxy Write a scene involving two people in orbit, each believing they have been sent away together for entirely different reasons. Begin with "I'm the one they've been waiting for..." Incorporate at least three of the five senses.
Month: September 2014
open here
Consumer reports can help with more than product research, comparison, and ratings. Open a story with one of these lines from How To Clean Practically Anything “It is usually recommended that you leave the scanner flat and lock the…” Or “Failure to properly care for an answering machine may invalidate the…” Draw the story from … Continue reading open here
twitter recap
For those of you who don't follow me on Twitter @ebszabo here's what you missed. Enjoy: #6WordStory Plot in six! “Failed SAT. Lost Scholarship. Invented Rocket.” #WilliamShatner @WilliamShatner #SaveSciFi #CliFi #CreativeWriting #SixWordStory Plot in six! “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” #ErnestHemingway #ShortShortFiction #FlashFiction #CreativeWriting #Fiction #6WordStory Plot in six! “Longed for him. Got him. … Continue reading twitter recap
plot vibrations
Deciphering and articulating plot can feel overwhelming. photo: Jon Sullivan Even after characters have arrived and formed relationships, even though you know 'what happens'. Plot isn't just what happens, it's the consequences that drive story. Consequences shape and reshape how your characters cope, don't cope, try and fail. Consequences confound intentions, and disrupt relationships. Imagine … Continue reading plot vibrations
more plot in six
Take a classic story and distill it to six words. Don’t try to tell it in six right away. You might start with complete sentences, sentence fragments, poetry or bullet points. Once you isolate its core, identify its meaning and message, what is the beginning, middle and end? With a strategic choice of words these don’t have … Continue reading more plot in six
plot in six
Economy of words - Challenge yourself to make every word count: take a story you've written and reduce it to 200 words (that's Flash Fiction), then bring it down to a paragraph (Paragraph Fiction), then to six words. It's possible to evoke a story with discernible plot in six words: “Failed SAT. Lost Scholarship. Invented Rocket.” William Shatner … Continue reading plot in six
Frankenstein and redemption
Think of your stories as your Frankensteins –made from the lost limbs stitched together, and animated by the cell memories, of people you’ve known. What shape will they take, grafted together in a plot that requires they move in synchrony. Built into this unnatural union is the tragedy and yearning it takes to invent redemption. photo:Rosendahl
taste and love
Write for twenty minutes, completing this thought: “I wouldn’t live without..." Use one of the images below, incorporating as many of the senses as you can: photo: Jon Sullivan photo: Jon Sullivan photo: Jon SullivanWhen you are finished, rewrite this as a love story, replacing the edible with a person, using the same descriptors.
twitter recap for the week
For those of you who don’t follow me @ebszabo on Twitter, here’s what you missed – enjoy: #Inspiration “To invent you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.” #ThomasEdison #CreativeWriting #BreakRules #WhyWrite? “We are a way for the cosmos to know itself” #CarlSagan #Cosmos #WriteTheJourney #Discovery #Go The #perfectTimeTo #write is when you … Continue reading twitter recap for the week
insects sting
“Insects sting, not in malice, but because they want to live” Friedrich Nietzsche This is true about some people, making life poignant and circumstances precarious. photo: Jon Sullivan If you want to render your characters with nuance, you might ask in what way they resemble insects. Complexity can be created in the simplest ways. Writing Prompt: Select an … Continue reading insects sting
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