WRITING PROMPTS: Two Versions

Here's the first. I opened up my physical dictionary and chose the first word I saw, three times. Here they are in order:

1. Observation
2. Water hemlock
3. Cold wave

What a mix. My CPs and I used to do this writing exercise occasionally when we met in person. We've give ourselves five minutes to write a story using the three words/terms. I was amazed how different each version was. And yet I shouldn't be. Each story was us personified. So, as different as we are individually, our stories are unique too.

Now for the second. I went through my latest Volume Four book of quotations and read along until I found three that resonated with me. It didn't take me long. I stopped on page two of about one hundred, finding these:

1. The best way out is always through. Robert Frost
2. What you seek is seeking you. Rumi
3. "How can we possibly use sex to get what we want? Sex is what we want." Frasier from the TV Series Frasier

To me, this pithy trio represents a story of a man working through his particular problem, which has him down and out right now, but he gets there in the end. And the story needs some humor. Or some romance. Probably both.

I find reading quotations to be like reading Bible verses. One day you get a certain perspective. The next, the inference changes. It's all relative to what we are dealing with in life, right?

Anyway, have fun with these.

Want to check out my collection of about ten thousand quotes in four ebook volumes? See Volumes One through Four of WORDS Rule the World (and my other offerings) here: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_9?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=denise+barker&sprefix=denise+ba%2Caps%2C388.

 

"If your vocation isn’t a vacation, then quit, leap, change careers."

Denise Barker, Author, Blogger, Copy Editor
Books that Build Character(s)

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What lies behind you and what lies in front of you pales in comparison to what lies inside of you. Ralph Waldo Emerson
When you give someone a book, you don’t give him just paper, ink, and glue.  You give him the possibility of a whole new life. Christopher Morley
The best inheritance you can leave your kids is an example of how to live a full and meaningful life. Dan Zadra

 

Story Structure to Die For by P. J. Reece

One of my CPs reminded me of this e-book which I had downloaded but not yet read. So I gulped all fifty-six pages last night. Major revelation!

The title is a foreshadowing, an overview, of the author's insights. Once read, you'll remember it too. And there is a lot of white space involved in the PDF version, so it won't even take an hour to ingest and learn.

You can look at the pieces of a good story or you can look at the sum of the parts. You can look to formula or you can look to goal.

Once incorporated, how freeing!

I recommend it for plotters and pantsters alike. Enjoy. Here's the link for a free download of P. J. Reece's wonderful e-book:

http://www.pjreece.ca/blog/wordpress/story-structure-to-die-for-pj-reece/

P.S. The author styles his name as "PJ Reece" without the usual periods following his initials. But for us copy editors, CMS rules. Particularly CMS 8.6 which not only requires that I put in periods, but also a space to separate each initial. Unless it was reference to the initials alone, as in "P.J." (no space in between). OR unless it was a set of three initials, like JFK or LBJ--then no spaces, no periods.

Aah (yes, this is Webster's preferred spelling), the life of a copy editor . . .

Denise Barker, author + blogger + copy editor

http://bit.ly/DeniseBarkerBlog

http://bit.ly/AMAZONDeniseBarkerEbooks

http://bit.ly/BNDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/SMASHWORDSDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/KOBODeniseBarkerEBooks