Category: Prompts

Writing Prompt 1/30/13

First: Think of an object that you lost as a child, an object that was really special to you and that you were never reunited with. My object was a seal fur pin that I left in a gas station bathroom in the midwest on a cross country trip. My grandmother had given it to me. I might have been about seven when I lost it. It still brings me a little sting when I think of it. The object you lost should bring about a feeling like that.

Next: Write a story or poem from the point of view of the person who found that object and what they did with it.   In the case of my seal fur pin, perhaps the gas station attendant threw it away, or maybe he or she pocketed and brought it home as a present for his or her child.

Have fun with this!

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Writing Prompt 1/28/13

Today is the feast day of St. Thomas Aquinas, a famous Catholic scholar and priest who lived in the 13th century. He wrote many many works about God, Jesus Christ, natural law, and human behavior. On his deathbed, he was reported to have mused about his writings, “It’s all straw.”

Play around with this phrase “It’s all straw.” Leaving aside, or not, what you know or think about St. Thomas Aquinas, or religion, define “straw.” Define a world or body of thought as straw. Keeping working on it. Perhaps you could start a poem with that phrase as a first line, or use it as a refrain in a song/poem. Or use the phrase it in a fictional piece in some way.

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Writing Prompt 1/27/13

Torch Song Sunday

Here’s a litte snippet from a popular song that you may or may not know. It’s enough to get you started. What’s the resolution? Love is messy, cruel, unkind, and, the only thing that makes any sense. Does this make sense to you? To one of your characters? Need a good cry after a breakup?

“A hundred thousand reasons why I should walk away, and a hundred thousand more make me stay…….
I can’t help but love you, you know how I am…..you’re the only dream I understand……”

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Writing Prompt 1/26/13

It’s Robert Burns’s birthday today, the famous Scottish poet. In Scotland there are all kinds of rituals that take place on his birthday — including drinking lots of alcohol and eating strange food (haggis), and wearing strange outfits (kilts). Some of these might seem strange to us and some might not. Take out your anthology of British and European poetry and brush up on Robert Burns. He really was quite a force in poetry and in Scottish politics of the 18th century. And, some time this weekend, try a new food. Make notes

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Writing Prompt 1/24/13

Make a list of everything you actually do when you can’t sleep.
Make a list of everything you actually could do when you can’t sleep.
Make a list of everything you would never do when you can’t sleep.

Think about these lists when you are creating characters. My guess is that some of your characters suffer from insomnia.

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The Charlottesville Writing Center 2013

Writing Prompt 1/23/13

By the end of the day, make a list of interesting snippets of conversations you heard, scenes you saw, and your moods as they connect to what you heard/said and saw. Just hold onto that for a while. Do it for the next few days and check back at the end of those days and see if you can see a pattern.

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Writing Prompt 1/19/13

Think about some of your “favorite” pet peeves. Ask some friends if they have other pet peeves they are willing to tell you.

Write a list of several of them.

Pick one or two and start to frame a character (not yourself) around them. For example, a business executive who really dislikes lukewarm food. Or a movie producer who can’t stand when his son wears his shirt inside out. The sky is the limit here.

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