From the "bonus" section of the entry, we’ve created a little writing exercise for you to enjoy.  Have fun!

Write a scene where your character(s) have to endure a primal fear, such as darkness, the basement, etc.

Write a paragraph or two that shows the character’s internal struggle between sanity and madness.  Better yet, a few paragraphs where the character is oblivious to the changes but an interacting character questions the other’s sanity or lack thereof.

For our workshop attendees, if you chose to rise to the challenge, why not bring in your completed exercise and share it with us? 

A blonde decides to try horseback riding, even though she has had no lessons, nor prior experience. She mounts the horse unassisted, and the horse immediately springs into motion. It gallops along at a steady and rhythmic pace, but the blonde begins to slide from the saddle. In terror, she grabs for the horse’s mane, but cannot seem to get a firm grip. She tries to throw her arms around the horse’s neck, but she slides down the horse’s side anyway.

The horse gallops along, seemingly impervious to its slipping rider. Finally, giving up her frail grip, the blonde attempts to leap away from the horse and throw herself to safety.

Unfortunately, her foot has become entangled in the stirrup. She is now at the mercy of the horse’s pounding hooves, and her head strikes the ground over and over.

As her head is battered against the ground, she is mere moments away from unconsciousness when to her great fortune, Frank, the Wal-mart greeter sees her dilemma and unplugs the horse.

And you thought all they did was say Hello.

Check out LJ’s post and then think about the reasons you might put down a novel or at least rank it in the bottom two out of five stars.  Are these reasons your own work might not be well liked by your readers?  What can you do to change that in your writing? 

Here’s your challenge:  Take something you’ve written recently and consider the problem areas you’ve identified in reading other works or LJ’s list.  If you find some of these problems, hammer out a working draft that will help solve them. 

Thinking about writing a biography can be daunting.  At writing-world.com there are some tips that might help get you warmed up for writing one, then consider getting someone to "interview" you to help you get on your way.  Get started by reading the writing-world page here: http://www.writing-world.com/basics/bio.shtml

Give it a try and make it a mainstay at SixSentences.BlogSpot.com