Chico Writer's Group » prompt

Stormy’s Writing Prompt

Kathie — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 07:21:49 +0000

Ready to break from those holiday to-do’s? Below is the priompt. This is a stream-of-consciousness exercise. Do not contemplate the prompt more than a couple of minutes before you start writing. Do not write for more than 15 minutes. Have fun!

PROMPT – Use the sentence “What fresh hell is this?” in your piece. This is a quote attributed to Dorothy Parker, who is said to have uttered this when the phone rang in the middle of a writing session.

Describe This

Kathie — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 15:51:30 +0000

Here are just a few pictures snagged from Flickr.com of living rooms. You can check out more by going here. Your assignment is to write a description of the room you pick. Try to evoke some emotion as you describe it. Remember to include two to three senses when you describe the room (touch, taste, scent, sight, sound).

Physical Description of Setting Exercise

Kathie — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 17:38:56 +0000

Try describing a room from three perspectives: through the door, looking in; from inside the room for the very first time, and then from the perspective of being an active participant in the room’s use on a regular basis, maybe focusing on a couple particular elements within the room.

Next, interject a character at the three different points.

How does the room’s view change the character? The mood? Does it affect the relationship between the character and the reader? If so, in what way?

Exploring these aspects will help you, the writer, engage or disengage your reader as you so desire. This is a useful tool to learn and master!

Good luck and, as always, write on!

Describing the Physical Setting

Kathie — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 16:25:57 +0000

The topic of our upcoming craft chat (Saturday, January 24, 2009) is how to describe the physical setting in your novel. Over the next two weeks, we’ll attempt to post prompts and challenges along with some helpful tidbits about this topic here.

One thing that seems to be overlooked when writing a scene is using several senses. Draw your reader in by including at least three of the five senses: smell, touch, taste, sight, and sound. Thinking about the five senses, how could you describe an artist’s studio? Try playing around with the five senses, using a different set of three each time. How does it change the feel of the room?

Character Study

Kathie — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 19:02:56 +0000

Write a description for one of the "characters" shown below or go to Flickr’s People Pool to find a character to write about.

This Old House

Kathie — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 19:10:56 +0000

Writing prompt:

Write about a situation where the first character wishes to achieve a certain goal, but is prevented by the second character.

Character 1: Octavio Washer
Goal: To restore a creepy old house
Character 2: Paul Shaner

Writing Prompt: The Snooping Neighbor

Kathie — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 22:20:06 +0000

Write about a situation in which an obstacle causes problems for this character:

Character: Daisy Swiss
Obstacle: A snooping neighbor

Writing Prompt: Character vs. Character

Kathie — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:25:18 +0000

Write about a situation where the first character wishes to achieve a certain goal, but is prevented by the second character.

Character 1: Rebecka Lorenzo
Goal: To die penniless
Character 2: Roland Woodring

Writing Prompt – Character’s Physical Description

Kathie — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 19:29:10 +0000

Entertain some dialogue between two of your characters. As you write the dialogue, only focus on one particular physical description, such as their eyes, their hands, chins, etc. Pick only one. Try to write your physical descriptions to convey emotions, or better yet, have the emotions from one character contrast dramatically with the other character and show that through how you portray their physical description.

Writing Prompt: Character’s Physical Description

Kathie — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 23:34:05 +0000

Introduce the antagonist in a story, allow his physical description and body language to convey his/her sinister or selfish nature. (From: Creative Writing Solutions)