Prompts
Encouraging Speculation And Exploring Motivation
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise — Imagine you are in a line of traffic driving away from the country at nine o’clock on a Saturday morning in August. This line of traffic is much heavier than you anticipated. Who are these people and why are they leaving the beach instead of going in the opposite direction? Account for the occupants of the six cars in front of you. (For examplel the man in the Chevy is going back to town because he just found out his doughnut shop there was broken into at 3:00 a.m. He is pissed.) The Objective — To train yourself to take off from what you see and hear and create an instant story out of it. To encourage speculation and explore motivation.
By Denise E Lindquist3 months ago in Writers
My 2025 Vocal Community Stories
Following Rachel Deeming's suggestion at the beginning of the year, I challenged myself to write at least one story for each of the Vocal Communities throughout 2025. There are 48 Communities now, and I have written for 30 of them in over four years on Vocal, before 2025. In this earlier story, I made an inventory of my best stories (often earning a Top Story badge) in these communities, but I cannot edit it anymore so I'm creating this one.
By Lana V Lynx3 months ago in Writers
I Was Robbed
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise — Here is the situation: You have just come out of the movie theater around seven in the evening, and you are mugged — a person asks for your money, then knocks you to the ground before running away. Or make up your own situation. Next, pretend you are telling the account of this event to five different people: Your mother, your best friend, your girlfriend or boyfriend (or wife or husband), a therapist, a police officer, The Objective — To become conscious of how we shape and shade the stories that we tell to each other according to the listener. Your characters also tell stories to each other and make selections about content according to who they are telling the story to, the effect they want the story to have, and the response they want to elicit from the listener. A lot of dialogue in fiction, in real life, is storytelling — and there is always the story listener who is as important in the tale as the tale itself.
By Denise E Lindquist3 months ago in Writers
Sunday
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise — Title it “Sunday.” Write 550 words. The Objective — Certain words and ideas, such as retirement, in-laws, boss, and fraud, serve as triggers for stories or scenes in fiction. Sunday is one of these. Try to think of others.
By Denise E Lindquist3 months ago in Writers
The Winners of The Haunted Letter Challenge
We finally have the WINNERS of the Tales from Beyond: The Haunted Letter Challenge. As we move out of the trick or treat month of October and into the reflective month of November I will shift my gears from Groovy Ghoul to Thankful Talker.
By Rick Henry Christopher 3 months ago in Writers
Getting To School On Time
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise - Write five mini-stories (limit: 200 words each) to account for a single event or set of circumstances, such as a man and woman standing on a city sidewalk, hailing a cab. Each story should be different - in characters, plot, and theme - from the others. The Objective - To loosen the bonds that shackle you to a single, immutable version; to underscore the fact that plot is not preordained but something you can control and manipulate at will, like the strings of a marionette; and to demonstrate once more that there are many ways to skin a cat.
By Denise E Lindquist3 months ago in Writers
Days of Indian Summer. Top Story - November 2025.
Although the exact origins of the term are uncertain, Indian Summer was perhaps so-called because it was first noted in regions inhabited by Native Americans, or because the natives first described it to Europeans. Or, it had been based on the warm and hazy conditions in autumn when Native Americans hunted.
By Novel Allen3 months ago in Writers
Saving The Job
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise - On each of five 3x5 index cards, print a vocational label, for example, dentist, truck driver, or fashion model. On each of a second set of index cards, write a mildly strange or unusual behavior. The mistakes here are to be too mundane (brush teeth, clear car) or to be too melodramatic (strangled her lover, drove his flaming truck through the prison walls). Somewhere between lies the quirk of the odd that is interesting: set free the parakeet, pick lose the tennis racket strings, or sew closed his sweater sleeves. Some writers will keep their cards filed for use again and again, and will add to the original pack over time as interesting vocations or actions suggest themselves. Shuffle each pack of cards (not together) and turn over the first pair. The writer may now ask the following question: "Why did Card A do Card B?" Why did the dentist set free the parakeet?" "Why did the fashion model pick loose the tennis racket strings?" The writer may continue flipping cards until a satisfactory pairing is discovered. If no satisfactory pair develops, reshuffle the cards and repeat the procedure. If you have ten cards in each pack you will have 100 possible pairings; twelve cards per pack will yield 144 pairings. Bear in mind that the event suggested by the Story Machine should be thought of as the last scene of a story. Supply motive for the odd behavior. Supply a conflict that might be resolved by this behavior. Imagine a scene prior to the final scene that demonstrates the severity of the conflict. Imagine a scene that demonstrates the initial difficulty. This exercise may easily be adapted for a class. Instead of shuffling, students pass cards one way and then another so that no student is left with any of her original cards. The liberating outcome is that if the new pair lacks all resonance for a student, the student has no emotional investment in the product of the Story Machine. No one has made a mistake or performed badly, just some bad luck has occured. Class discussions of motive and structure can be lively. The Objective - Retrograde plotting is often a revelation to the beginning writer who has again and again found herself staring off into the space above the typewriter and asking, "Now what happens?" Writing toward a conclusion for some writers is easier than exploring the consequences of an imagined premise. One more easily discovers the beginnings of things if one knows the ending. That the Story Machine requires vocational labels gives students insight to the rudiments of characterization, as such labels suggest education levels and socioeconomic status.
By Denise E Lindquist3 months ago in Writers
Where Hearts Remember Humanity” - A Poem About the Gentle Power of Love. AI-Generated.
Where Hearts Remember Humanity” - A Poem About the Gentle Power of Love A moving and captivating 800-word poem about love's perpetual bond with humanity. Between love and who we truly are, when we live deeply and allow kindness, compassion, and courage to tame our fears. A faithful ode to the light that lives, even in a broken world and who restores our hope in our human connection and the spirit of our people.
By Hustle Nest3 months ago in Writers
