I somehow missed my husband’s latest postings in his blog. Guess I’m not very awake lately. Anyway, the following quote from one of those posts immediately sent me scurrying off to post here:

If you don’t act with integrity all the time, where does it begin and end? Do you start acting honorably when you leave the house in the morning? On the drive in to work? When you clock in? Only after your second coffee? When talking to your own people? Existing customers? Potential customers? When you preface your words with “Simon says?” If you don’t display good character and integrity at all times, why should I trust that you’ll act uprightly when dealing with me?

Free-write on this topic, or apply to a fictional character–in any way that appeals to you.

Technorati Tags: free-writing, journaling, prompts, write, writers, writing

It is a fact that cannot be denied: the wickedness of others becomes our own wickedness because it kindles something evil in our own hearts.
      ~ Carl Jung

Today, free-write about wickedness and how it might “spread” from one person to another. Or, write a story that examines wickedness as a theme. Try to avoid trite explanations (or the old lazy fallback of “he’s just eeeevil”). You might also try free-writing a list of some of the ways wickedness has been treated in fiction and literature before now, and perhaps some thoughts on how you might add to or diverge from those treatments. How might a wicked person (deliberately or inadvertently) tempt those around him with his wickedness?

Technorati Tags: free-writing, journaling, prompts, quotations, quotes, write, writers, writing

Today, write about (or begin a story based on) the following quotation:

Disobedience, in the eyes of any one who has read history, is man’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.
      ~ Oscar Wilde

If writing a journal entry or free-write, you might consider the place of disobedience in your life or the lives of those around you. Consider its virtues and problems. Of course, a piece of fiction involving disobedience can take so many forms and paths. Must someone find the strength to consider disobedience in order to do the right thing? Must someone find the strength to trust a superior rather than following the instinct to disobey? Situations are rarely clear-cut in real life–you might brainstorm some of the ways in which disobedience could be necessary or could cause severe problems within a given plot.

“Writer at work” magnet

Technorati Tags: free-writing, journaling, prompts, obedience, quotations, quotes, write, writers, writing

Take a look at the following tattoo:

(Note that if you click through and look at the full photo of the tattoo, it’s mildly NSFW, since it covers someone’s buttocks and thighs.) The translation of the runic text in the tattoo is apparently roughly as follows:

Cattle die,
kinsmen die
all men are mortal.
Words of praise
will never perish
nor a noble name.

Also from the above page:

Technorati Tags: free-writing, journaling, prompts, tattoos, quotations, quotes, write, writers, writing

(more…)

Sit down and put down everything that comes into your head and then you’re a writer. But an author is one who can judge his own stuff’s worth, without pity, and destroy most of it.
        –Colette (1873-1954)

Are you a writer, or an author?

There’s no judgment here. Some folks are better off as writers, and it’s a good thing for them–it’s a release, a relaxation, a self-exploration. Other folks want to be authors, and that means they have to do more than put words down on paper.

Which are you? And why?

Blank Journals

Technorati Tags: free-writing, journaling, prompts, Colette, write, writers, writing

I wouldn’t have classified these as prompts–rather as the sort of humor list that folks mail around for fun–but this person has a point. Why not take a saying from one of those humor lists and use it as a prompt? Grab one of the items from the list linked to above and do one of the following:

• Journal for 15 minutes about your thoughts regarding the quote.

• Start a short story with a character repeating or thinking about the quote.
• Use the quote anywhere within a short story.
• Use it in an impromptu poem.
• Free associate from the quote to come up with a story idea.
• Use the attitudes represented or embodied by the quote to come up with an interesting character.

If you think of any other possibilities, feel free to post them as comments!

“Did I say I wanted to hear your entire plot?”

Technorati Tags: journaling, prompts, write, writers, writing

Today, take a look at these quotes about anger (found via iconinspiration). Read through all of them and pick one that appeals to you, whether it’s one you agree with, disagree with, or haven’t really thought about before now. Set a timer for ten minutes and free-write about that quote’s take on anger and how it relates to your life. If you’re a fiction-writer, consider doing this for one of your characters, perhaps choosing the quote that best embodies that character’s take on anger.

Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.
~Ambrose Bierce

Technorati Tags: free-writing, journaling, prompts, anger, quotations, quotes, write, writers, writing

If you’re looking for well-chosen quotations or “word of the day” type collections, Original Cyn collects favorites from around the net, putting them all in one place (and linking to more) for you to find inspiration from. Any of these can be used for the kind of free-writing and word association exercises you’ll find in this blog. Just FYI though, there’s a content warning of “some content may be inappropriate for minors” on the blog. I rather like this quote on youth.

Technorati Tags: free-writing, journaling, prompts, quotations, quotes, write, writers, writing

In “Between the Lines,” Jessica Page Morrell tells us, “The best fiction touches the deep layers in us.” Today, just take a little while to think about this, and then to write about what this concept means to you and your writing in general. If you’re looking for something more to do after that, pick a specific piece of writing you’ve finished or been working on and write about how it does–or doesn’t–touch the “deep layers” in its readers.

Technorati Tags: journaling, prompts, write, writers, writing

Take a look at the quotation below from “Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations” and copy it at the top of a sheet of paper. Set a timer for 10 minutes (or limit yourself to two sides of a sheet of paper) and do one of the following:

• Start a short story (or brainstorm ideas for a short story) inspired by the quotation.

• Explore what the quotation personally means for you.
• Simply free-write, free-associating from the quotation, and see where it takes you.

Ah, my Beloved, fill the Cup that clears
Today of past Regrets and future Fears;
Tomorrow!–Why, Tomorrow I may be
Myself with Yesterday’s Sev’n Thousand Years.
      –Edward Fitzgerald, “The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam”

Technorati Tags: journaling, prompts, quotations, quotes, write, writers, writing

(more…)