Literary – November 25

Sinclair Lewis said, “People will buy anything that is one to a customer.” Writing prompt: Describe one of your character’s desire for something that s/he feels s/he must have only because someone else also wants it.

Literary – November 24

“That’s what careless words do. They make people love you a little less.” -Arundhati Roy, born this date in 1961. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist unknowingly says something unforgivable to a loved one.

Literary – November 23

“I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, but slinks out of the race where that immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and heat.” -John Milton in Areopagitica, one of the most influential and impassioned philosophical defenses of the right to freedom of speech and expression, published on this date in 1644...

Literary – November 22

“To speak behind others’ backs is the ventilator of the heart.” -Marjane Satrapi, born this date in 1969. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist ventilates without knowing the subject of his/her vituperation is standing behind him/her.

Literary – November 21

“Every man is guilty of all the good he didn’t do.” -François-Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire, born this date in 1694. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist realizes s/he should have done something s/he earlier chose not to do.

Literary – November 20

“The system was invisible, which makes it all the more impressive, all the more disquieting to deal with.” -Don DeLillo, born this date in 1936. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist realizes for the first time that s/he exists in a system that was until that moment undetected.

Literary – November 19

On this date in 1863, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address on a Civil War battlefield in Pennsylvania. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which an obstacle comes into direct conflict with that for which your antagonist would give her or his last full measure of devotion. You can listen to Sam Waterston recite Lincoln’s immortal words in this video.

Literary – November 18

“Never pray for justice, because you might get some.” -Margaret Atwood, born this date in 1939. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist’s demand for justice is satisfied in an unsatisfying manner.