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Romance – April 1
“Happiness is the longing for repetition.” -Milan Kundera, born this date in 1929. Writing prompt: Write a scene demonstrating your protagonist’s drive to repeat something bad because s/he’s convinced it will make your protag happy this time.
read moreMystery – April 1
“So much harm comes into this world when the wrong thing is said. But that’s nothing compared to the pain from what goes unsaid.” -Brad Meltzer, born this date in 1970. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist causes pain to someone s/he cares about because of something your protag didn’t tell that person.
read moreSciFi/Fantasy – April 1
“Make no judgements where you have no compassion.” -Anne McCaffrey, born this date in 1926. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist is judged without compassion by someone with great power over your protagonist.
read moreSecondary – April 1
On this date in 1826, Samuel Morey was granted a patent for the internal combustion engine. About it, he wrote, “Is there not some reason to expect that the discovery will greatly change the commercial and personal intercourse of the country?” Describe the greatest change you think the internal combustion engine has caused in your country.
read morePrimary – April 1
Explain why you prefer one of the following two choices: Doing something totally new and unknown, or doing something you’ve enjoyed doing before.
read moreLiterary – March 31
Nikolai Gogol was born on this date in 1809. In 1834, he received an appointment to a job for which he was utterly unqualified: a professor of medieval history, a position he avoided and shirked onto colleagues until he quit the next year. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist undertakes a task that someone important has given him/her but which your protag has no clue how to accomplish.
read moreBig Questions – March 31
What do you have hidden up your sleeve? Journaling prompt: Spend 15-20 minutes writing your answer in the spirit of exploring yourself and the world around you. If you can answer with a simple “yes” or “no,” explain the sources or implications of your response. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene that forces a character in your story to answer the question, or spend 15-20 minutes answering the question in the voice of a character you want to know more about. Photo from Unsplash, the internet’s source of freely usable...
read moreJournaling + Fiction – March 31
“What lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do.”Aristotle Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about your power to say no. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist deploys The Bartleby Stratagem: “I would prefer not to.”
read moreRomance – March 31
“Solitude is the profoundest fact of the human condition. Man is the only being who knows he is alone.” -Octavio Paz, born this date in 1914. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist is acutely aware of being alone.
read moreMystery – March 31
“A state is better governed which has few laws, and those laws strictly observed.” -Rene Descartes, born this date in 1596. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist must slice through a tangle of many small laws with a single value.
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David B. Schlosser is an author of award-winning fiction and non-fiction, and an editor of award-winning fiction and non-fiction.
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