November Writing Challenge

Use the following prompt to come up with a short story. To make it even more interesting, set a timer for 10 minutes and see how far you get!

 

“It was a cold, dark night…”

 

You can submit your stories on our Facebook page at Pekin Library Aspiring Authors or email you story to aspiringauthorspekin@yahoo.com to have it shared on our website.

 

The next meeting is December 11 at 6 pm at the Pekin Public Library, lower level conference room.

 

April Writing Challenge

Feel free to use this scenario as a starter for a new story. Try and keep it to 800 words and plan on bringing it in to the April meeting.

The grass is starting to turn green, flowers are beginning to bloom, the air is filled with promise and Spring has arrived. Write a story about two people who have been reunited after a long absence.

They have met again in the Spring time. Paint a picture for us. Are they old friends, estranged family members, a couple who was once in love? Use vivid details and descriptions, to paint the picture of their reunion.

 

 

 

 

Character Development Assistance

There are good stories and there are great stories. What is the difference? The great ones have characters that leave us feeling connected to them. We root for them, we feel sad for them, we find we are invested in their overall well being. The following is taken the website Practical Creative Writing and will help to get you in the character writing zone!

WHO DO YOU KNOW?

Start by describing people you already know, or people you have admired, disliked, or even hated from afar – powerful feelings can be very inspiring!

Think about what it is they want most from their life. Examples might be things like love, revenge on an enemy, power, security, money, a happy family, a nice home, travel, make a difference, to catch a killer, succeed in business etc.

Once you have written this down, start by changing every single thing you have written down about them, their appearance, their personality, their attitudes – to something completely different or the opposite.

So, for example, if your character wants a happy family you could make them so focused on success that they don’t care about their family. A character who wants to be happy might just want money or power – no matter what.
When you have created five characters using this method, think about a story that suggests itself for each of them.

Taking something away that a character wants is a great way to do it. For example, take a character that just wants power above all and make them lose their power.
This could create a story that takes a character on a life-changing journey – from the top to the bottom and maybe back to the top again, or maybe not?

Once you begin to generate story ideas you can swap them around trying different ideas on different characters. Writing is all about experimenting, so don’t be afraid to do something really different with your characters – after all it’s your story!

http://www.practicalcreativewriting.com/creative-writing-exercises/creating-characters/

April 10 Minute Writing Exercises

Set a Timer for 10 Minutes. Choose one of the prompts below and try to write a story before the timer goes off. Push hard. Think about character development, details and scene. What picture can you paint in a short amount of time?

PROMPT 1

1. Who lives next door?
2. What secret do they harbor?
3. How did you discover it?

PROMPT 2

1. Why did Samantha cause a scene at the restaurant with Jack?
2. Where did Jack go after he stormed out?
3. What did he do once he got to the next place?

PROMPT 3

1. What did you discover in the box on your late grandmas closet shelf?
2. What have you learned about your Grandma that you didn’t know?
3. How did this change your own life?

 

PROMPT 4

1. How did Jack tell Sara that he cheated on her?
2. How did Sara respond?
3. Where did he tell her?

PROMPT 5

You are a building in the middle of the city. Answer these questions from the buildings perspective

1. What conversations are the cleaning crew having as they walk your halls?
2. What is the man in the black fedora doing in the lobby?
3. What is the child in the pink dress doing outside of your windows?

PROMPT 6

1. What kind of accident was Mark in?
2. What injuries did he have?
3. Who came to help him?

 
 

PROMPT 7

1. Why is Melissa sitting alone on the park bench?
2. What does she look like?
3. What is the weather like?

PROMPT 8

1. How old is the time capsule that you discovered?
2. What did you find inside?
3. What did you do after you found it?

PROMPT 9

You are the family dog and your humans have just brought home a new baby.

1. What do you think they have brought home?
2. What kind of things does this tiny human do?
3. How do you express how you feel to your humans?

PROMPT 10

You are the family cat and on your 500th day of captivity with your humans.

1. How will you get out of your prison?
2. What are your wardens like?
3. What kind of food do they serve?

February Writing Challenge

Our next meeting is February 7 at 6 pm at the Pekin Public Library.

This months writing theme is Valentines Romance/Horror. Try to create a story that is either over the top horror or novela style romantic. Please try to limit your stories to under 800 words. Longer submissions are welcome to be sent to newlifedesignservices@gmail.com and will be posted on here for the group to read.

Happy writing and I look forward to seeing you at the next meeting.

Getting to Know You…

Article from https://thewritepractice.com/character-interview/ on using an interview style for character development.

Create a character by conducting an interview. Interview your character before you start writing so you can immerse yourself completely in who they are and what they stand for. Interview them and find out who they are.

Why Interview Your Character Before You Start Writing?

When you completely know your character before you start writing, you will have a better understanding of how they will react in different situations. Your character will be more three-dimensional if you know who they are before you start writing.

Your character will be three-dimensional and not flat if you spend time thinking about how they think and feel about life. If you know your character’s worldview it will be easier to keep their personality consistent throughout the story, and you will have a better understanding of how your character will grow and change as they deal with conflict.

Interview your character to understand them and know how they’ll react to your story’s conflict.

Know Your Characters

Questions like these can help you know your character better. If you’d like even more, read this famous list of 35 questions French novelist Marcel Proust was asked by a friend when he was fourteen years old.

Think of other questions you would like to use in your interview. What questions will help you understand your character’s personality, motivations, and goals?

I wonder how your characters in your current story would answer these questions?

1. 1. Do you pick your nose?
   2. Do you bite your fingernails? Do you have any bad habits?
   3. What is your earliest memory?
   4. Do you hold the door open for the person behind you or do you let it go and slam in their face?
   5. Do you take chicken soup to your elderly neighbor when they are sick?
   6. If you had a dog, would you pick up your dog’s poop when you go for a walk or sneak off and hope no one saw your dog poop on their lawn?
   7. If your boss asked you to cheat on your invoice and bill your client for extra hours, would you do it?
   8. On Monday morning, are you excited to go to work, or are you sad?
   9. If you could go back in time for one day, where would you go?
   10. You can cure one disease. Which one would you cure?
   11. Do you honk at the car in front of you if they didn’t see the light turn green?
   12. Do you exercise or are you a coach potato?
   13. If a Boy Scout comes to your door selling popcorn, do you hide in the kitchen or buy popcorn?
   14. Have you ever served in the military?
   15. What is your greatest fear?
   16. Would you like me to get you a glass of water? Or would you rather have soda? Wine? Whiskey?
   17. Do you iron your clothes? Who does your laundry? Do you do it yourself or do you send it out?
   18. Are you married? Are you divorced? How many times have you been married?
   19. Do you brush and floss your teeth before you go to bed? Do you use an electric toothbrush and a water pick?
   20. Do you have any cavities?
   21. Are those your real teeth, or are they dentures, or are they all capped?
   22. What do you throw into the garbage? Do you recycle?
   23. Do you live in an apartment or a house?
   24. Do you own your own home or rent?
   25. Do you mow your own lawn or use a landscape service?1
   26. Have you ever had a garden?
   27. Have you ever eaten a carrot right out of the ground?
   28. What did you eat for breakfast? Did you make it yourself? What time do you eat breakfast? Do you wash the pan after you cook the eggs or do you leave it for the maid to clean? Do you have a maid?
   29. Do you have a cat? How many cats do you have? Do you wish you were a cat? How many litter boxes do you have? Do you clean the litter boxes every day? Or does your maid clean the litter boxes?
   30. Do you go our for lunch or bring a sack lunch? Do you1 take an extra long lunch break and charge the company?
   31. Are you an only child? How many siblings do you have? Are you close or are you estranged?
   32. If you are adopted, do you know your birth parents? Do you want to find them?
   33. Do you call your mother every day, or only on her birthday, Mother’s Day, and Christmas? Are your parents alive?
   34. Do you like to cook? Do you use recipes or make up your own recipes? Do you eat out every night?
   35. Do you put both socks on first, or one sock, one shoe?
   36. Do you have a dog? Is the dog a rescue dog or bought from a breeder? Or perhaps a hamster? Or do you have any pets

10 Minute Writing Challenge

Taken from https://thewritepractice.com/fun-writing-exercise/

1. First, get out a blank page. Feel free to open a new document on your computer, get out a pen or a blank piece of paper, or even whip out your old-school typewriter (the preferred method!)
2. Next, write the first word that comes to your mind. When I did this exercise this morning, the first word I thought of was “Boom.” Why not?! So I wrote it down.
3. Then, the hard part: write another word. Why is this hard? Because for this exercise to work, the second word must be random and disconnected from the first. This will completely piss off that perfectionistic little writer in your head. Do it anyway!
4. After you write the second word, write a third, fourth, and so on. After a few words, you can start a new line. It doesn’t matter where you break the line. Just do it when it feels right. And as you write, don’t forget the most important step of all…
5. PLAY. When you do this exercise, write with the sounds of words in mind, not their meaning. Try out movie/historical/song/literary references, mashing them up with gibberish rhymes (e.g. “Twain’s hammersaw is bringing me low slow like a long bow“). Make up new words. Pay attention to the sounds of words. Try to come up with the most random noun you can. Then, put it next to a list of five verbs. DON’T use punctation (unless that sounds fun to you, of course).

6. When you finish—after ten lines or a hundred— read your poem out loud. You’ll probably be surprised at how good it is!
7. That’s why this exercise is so perfect. Because when you try to write badly, you free up your creativity and end up making surprising connections.
8. Sure, some of your lines will be horrible, embarrassing, and never to be read again. But others will be much better than you expected.
9. Finally, with your new playful spirit, you’ll be able to go back to your work in progress with a new level of creativity.

 

December Writing Prompt

December Writing Activity

Prompt taken from Write Practice Website

How can you use a store as a backdrop for a new short story or a chapter in your work in progress? With the Christmas season right around the corner I thought this would be a fun one to try. Here is a great article from the Write Practice website on how to use this prompt.

3 Ways to Use a Shopping Trip for Writing Prompt Inspiration Wondering how to leverage a shopping trip in your stories? Try these three strategies:

1. Use the store as a setting.

Look around the next time you shop. A gas station convenience store provides a much different set of props than a upscale department store. Where are the potential sources of conflict?

Is there only one lemon left in the produce section? Are the aisles overcrowded with cases of water bottles down the middle? Could the overstuffed racks of clothes be easily tipped over?

Any of these details could trigger a story.

2. Use the expectations of shopping as a conflict. A store provides great material for fiction because everyone who goes to a store wants something. As Kurt Vonnegut famously said,

Make your characters want something right away even if it’s only a glass of water. —Kurt Vonnegut

What is your character after? A discreet murder weapon? The perfect dress? A ham for the annual family reunion that has suddenly disappeared from the meat counter?

Whatever your character wants at the store, keep it out of reach due to availability, another customer, or some other obstacle.

3. Use a character’s purchases as an inciting incident. Shopping requires decisions, another key for great fiction. What items are on your character’s shopping list? Bananas or apples? Bug poison or cleaning fluid? Shovel or ax? Paper or plastic?

Use these goals to kick off the inciting incident of the story. When a character begins making choices, watch out!

Your Shopping Is Research Shopping lends itself to story ideas, so the next time you are out, take a minute to soak in the atmosphere, the shoppers, and the potential for conflict. Keep an eye out for your next story!

What did you see on your last shopping trip that would be great in fiction?

November Writing Prompt

Part 1: Use the character worksheets provided to create a single character. Really dig into who this person is and what they are all about.

Part 2: Here is the scene:

Your character is at lunch with a coworker and they are discussing their holidays. Imagine the opening line:  “Let me tell you about my Thanksgiving…”

Using the character development worksheet, write a 700-800 word story about what that dinner is like. Feel free to utilize it to develop other family members who are in attendance.

Is their chaos? Is it overly fancy? Does great grandma Ruth throw a turkey leg at Uncle Bob?

This can be funny, silly, dramatic or sad. The choice is yours.

You can post your stories for feedback before our meeting on the blog. I will be posting resource links in the coming weeks and months to help you with inspiration, motivation and to sharpen your craft.

Happy writing and see you in November!

Welcome

Welcome to the Aspiring Authors blog. We meet on the Second Tuesday of every month from 6 to 7 at the Pekin Public Library.

To be included as a contributor please send an e-mail to aspiringauthorspekin@yahoo.com

Feel free to use this blog to share your pieces and get feedback from other members.