Piecing Together Your Writing Future
Last week we covered the writer’s voice theme. This weekend, we will take a little break and just have some average and normal writing prompts (whatever those are). I did like the theme aspect, though. With the standard Thursday blog...
As we wrap up this week on writer’s voice, there is one last lesson I want to impart upon you. Like I am some wordsmith wielding a handcrafted steel quill, touching your shoulders as you kneel before me. Also, please...
Voice is the topic of the week, and as of today, the Thursday main blog covers the definitions, examples and understanding a little more in depth. For the writing prompt, though, we will go a different direction and practice more...
As we continue our dive into the writer’s voice week of lessons, we turn back to understanding. In today’s prompt we will work more with identification and manipulation. Sounds ominous, doesn’t it? When you can learn to identify the various...
Yesterday we set out to define and identify writer’s voice. Today we continue on with our week long lessons about voice and how to harness it’s powers to make our readers love us (or at least our books). I am...
A new week is upon us, and you and I have some things to discuss. All 7 blog posts this week will be focused around a central aspect. That means all 5 writing prompts will have a little lesson about...
It is Easter Sunday today. I have a brisket in the smoker for me and the puppers. Also, it is time to get some writing done. What? You thought I would give you the day off? Not a chance? (mom...
It is the first weekend in April. Easter, for those of you that do things like celebrate. And for the writers it is a chance to get some words done without many interruptions. To that point, and since we just...
We will conclude our naming things week with the inside of your book. Those little pause pages that everyone thinks are so important. Of course, I am talking about your chapters. Should you name your chapters? To be honest, it...
The greatest writing prompt of them all, ever. It is right here. No special lesson today. This writing prompt is so good it needs nothing else. April 01 Work on your damn book/screenplay/script and don’t worry about anything else. That’s...
The last day of the year! Oh, it’s only March? Still? Are you sure? Okay, well what ever it is, it is almost over. And today we will continue to name things. Shall we look at characters today? I think...
Almost the end of yet another month! I don’t know about you, buy March has crawled by and seemingly lasted for at least a full year or two. I am glad to see the back end of it. With that...
Good morning fellow kids! The big theme this week is about names. Your name, the book’s name, your characters names, we will cover it all. But how can we make naming things into a writing prompt? Well, you leave that...
Greetings, kids! Today’s writing prompt is more on track and should be a good one. You can always let me know what you think in the comment section, if you disagree! For March 28th, I want to cover a new...
Today’s writing prompt is all about keeping your readers in your story. As you may be aware (and if not, pay close attention today), there are many things that can remove a reader from your story. We, as writer’s, spend...
Today is a little different. It may be the weather. Not sure. What I do know, though, is that the writing prompt today is going to be a little challenging for most of you. A challenge, you say? I do....
This week we have been all over the map. Yesterday was sad, so, so sad. Today we will once again look at another writing term that deserves some attention. This term, though isn’t about you as a writer, it is...
It’s hump day! And while I am still trying to figure out the correct connotation for that phrase, let us move on to a more writing-focused term. The term I want to cover today is emotion. And yes, we have...
Yesterday has come and gone and here we are, starring into the abyss of the next one. Have you ever felt groggy? Even after waking up, doing your morning routine, maybe going for a walk or having a second cup...
I’ve debated back and forth about what to cover as the mini hidden lessons in this week’s writing prompts. I still haven’t decided. But that’s okay. Until I do, we will just have another fun little prompt and I will...
Another end of the weekend and another chance to have some fun. And have I got a great prompt for you today. The lesson is about correlation. By definition, correlation is the apparent relationship or connection between two things. How...
In our quest for daily writing prompts for a year, we come to March 20th. This entire week we have covered point of view (in the various forms that it represents). But this weekend, we will return to a more...
For today’s writing prompt we will take one last look at POV. This is one you may not expect, though. The Point of View we are going to examine is yours, the writer. As the producer of the work, you...
Good evening, scribes. It is late tonight, so I won’t waste much time getting to the point for today’s writing prompt. We’ve covered a lot this week. Everything from using deus ex machina to justifying our bad guys, and all...
For today’s writing prompt I want to cover a single word. That word is the basis for many things in life, including writing. One small word that has multiple facets. It can be a catalyst, something to push you, give...
What a long and crazy week this has been. I am glad it’s ove… what? It’s only Tuesday? That doesn’t bode well. Well, we take what we are given and we make the best of it, right? So, here we...
Over the weekend, we covered a couple of aspects of point of view. One had you start to think like another person, and the other showed you how important POV can be to your story. I was going to continue...
Happy Sunday, y’all! I hope your weekend went well and that you are gearing up for a productive week. Today’s writing prompt is a little more of the same from yesterday. There we learned how to write from someone else’s...
For today’s writing prompt, I want to go a little more traditional. Since it is the weekend and we should be having fun. What we will deal with, though is point of view. Not so much in actual writing, though....
As another week draws to a close, we continue our look at breaking writing rules. We have one final “rule” to look at today and it is a big one. I am sure you have heard the phrase “show don’t...
Another day in the week and another writing rule to examine and break. What could be better? The meat and bones analogy. Almost all writers will hear (or use) the analogy of building a human with writing. I, myself, use...
Today will be a short lesson and prompt, I’m afraid. It seems I have come down with a touch of the brown bottle flu. I am still here to give you a daily writing prompt, though, so you have little...
We covered a bit about writing “rules” and I want to go back over that some more with you today. One of my favorite rules to break is from Stephen King. As a fellow horror and suspense author, I listen...
On the regular blog we talked about chapter length. We also covered rule breaking here on the DWP side of the blog. Today, I want to take a look at the two, combined, and see what we can come up...
Let’s not think about tomorrow being a workday. Instead, I have a fun little writing prompt for you to work on. But before we get into it, I want to cover something. I want to point out a common saying....
Another week come and gone and here we are facing yet another weekend. The good news is they keep coming. The bad news is they keep coming. Weekends are an important time for many writers. You may be off from...
As another week comes to a close, we continue talking about endings. We have covered the shock ending for both scenes/chapters and entire stories. And we covered harnessing emotions as well as why adding facts to our fiction makes it...
Aloha and welcome! I remember the first time I stepped off the plane in Hawaii. I didn’t want to be there and everyone was so happy. Every employee at the airport said the same thing: Aloha and welcome! We had...
We’ve talked all week about endings and how to shock your reader the right way. Today, I want to shift gears just a bit and focus on another aspect of your readers. Namely, their emotions. If your book is written...
Endings! That is where we are this week. At least, you know, for now. Yesterday we worked on adding surprise to the end of a chapter/scene instead of relying on giving the readers questions. Shock and Awe is a good...
Welcome to a new month! A month of clock movement, warmer weather (hopefully) and writing a lot more words on your WiP. To start off the month, I want to begin at the ending. Essentially, we will talk about endings...
For the final day of the month, I figured I would give you something a little different. Well, different for this blog, anyway. Instead of a lesson or a set up scenario (or a recipe) I will be even more...
The month is almost over! I can’t believe it (though, I have been waiting for it). I am sick of winter. Aren’t you? Let’s look ahead a bit and talk about warmer days, trips to the beach and soaking in...
Another week’s worth of writing prompts gone and another weekend ahead. The shortened month has seemed to go really fast at times and slow to a crawl at others. Which brings me to today’s lesson/prompt. Time is a relative thing...
Greetings, fellow kids. Today’s writing prompt is more practice on a combination of things. While you are writing this scene, think about the reader’s questions and their desire to have them answered. Keep the scene engaging. You also want to...
In yesterday’s prompt we talked (at length-and no I won’t apologize) about dialogue tags. Today, I want to switch things up a bit and cover another little secret of mine. This time it deals with scene transitions. If you missed...
Well guys, my streak came to an end. I missed the prompt yesterday. In my defense I am dealing with a broken foot that happened yesterday morning. But, I don’t like to make excuses. We all knew this day would...
As the weekend rolls along, so do the writing prompts. What should we work on today? I’ve been thinking of a fun one, but you know me by now. I either add in a hidden lesson or make it more...
I hope the weekend is finding you well. Today it is time to relax a bit, maybe go see a few friends in a public place (if Covid allows it!) and mingle. Otherwise it is time to buckle down, grab...
Before we dive head-first into the weekend, I want to wrap up the segment on dystopian/utopian worlds. We have spent all week learning how to make a new world, and make it engaging for our audience. There is one more...
Well, I will admit it. I almost missed today’s prompt. However, the sickness and weather and dreariness is no match for a good habit. I firmly believe that if I had missed any previous prompts, I would not be here...
This week (so far) I’ve asked you to write about dystopian worlds. First, we concentrated on the aftermath of what caused the dystopia, then we worked towards turning things around and building a utopia. Today, the lesson is in-line with...
As the week is getting going, we are trying to defrost and thaw out, it is time to write, once again! Today’s prompt will be quick since I know we have a lot of real-life things to get to (apparently,...
The Snopocalypse 2021 is upon us (and now I am dating myself for future releases of this DWP). Much of the US is frozen with rolling blackouts in some areas to help maintain electric power. Plus snow, sleet, freezing rain...
It’s the international day of love. And as you may need time to spend with your loved ones, it is still time to write a little. So we will make a quick and pretty prompt for you, and who knows?...
Welcome to the weekend! It is time to get to work on your own projects without having to worry about alarm clocks or clocking in for work (unless, of course, you work weekends). So for today, we are going to...
TGIF! At least this year. In the future when you read this post on the 12th of February, it may not be a Friday. So let’s pour a drink for future us who will most likely be in the middle...
This entire month we have worked on out arcs, from the narrative arc to the character arc. We even had fun creating mini arcs (MARCs) for insignificant characters that make appearances in our stories. Today, as we head into Friday...
This week we have been working on our character arcs. I know that the writing prompts have been more lesson and less prompt lately (except for this weekend), but I feel it is important to keep up on these things....
Yesterday we practiced writing a character arc for our main protagonist and antagonist. Today, we will also work with these two characters and expand their arcs. We want our main characters (MC) to resonate with the reader. We need them...
A new work week has begun and it is time to turn off your work brain and get back into the writing frame of mind. Last week we covered narrative arcs in detail and created an exciting story line full...
As another fun weekend comes to a close, we will cap it off with another simple and fun writing prompt. No real lesson hidden away in this one. Except, of course, writing practice. So, without further fanfare or ado, let’s...
A change! For the weekend, I figured we could get a lot more creative, no? So instead of the narrative arc lessons and practice, I thought we would do a fun little writing exercise instead. No pretense, no intro, nothing...
All week long these writing prompts have helped you create a story arc. We will continue this trend today. As a recap, we have created our narrative arc, made it more exciting and added the pre-inciting subplot. We then followed...
So, if you have been following along, this week we are covering the arcs of the story. If you haven’t been following along, what the hell, man? Go catch up! As a recap, here is what you should have now:...
I am letting you in on a little secret of mine that I use to lure readers in. I expect you to harness this power and use it only for good. Also, I expect you to keep it to yourself.
Story arcs, story arcs, where will they lead? That is what we aim to find out today. Working of off yesterday’s prompt where we set up a little outline for our story arc, we now move on to adding in...
Welcome to the second month of the year! If you have been playing along, you are now on your 32nd writing prompt. If you are just joining us, you can always go back and play catch up. Or, just start...
In yesterday’s prompt, we wrote whatever we wanted as long as we wrote relaxed. Today, we are going to focus a little more on that aspect of writing. For many people, writing is relaxing. We enjoy it. Some of us...
We are almost done with the first month of the year. And while I wasn’t able to add my own writing to each prompt, I was able to put a prompt up every day so far! I won’t lie, it...
Today’s prompt comes from the heart. Not my heart, mind you, but my dog’s heart. This beautiful lazy bastard spawns more story ideas than I care to admit. And while most of them end up in the waste basket, there...
A little late today, but it is still today. For today’s writing prompt we will look at more practice opportunities to build up your scenes and develop your characters. Just a simple one today as it is getting late. But...
It’s essay day! Don’t worry, you don’t need to make a bibliography and use the 5 paragraph structure (unless you want to…) But, it is also opposite day! So here is how this will work. You will read the prompt....
Good evening, fellow writers, authors and word slingers. I do hope you are well and excited about today’s prompt. Today is a fairly straight forward and simple writing, and I want you to enjoy it. Spend a little time on...
Writing prompts serve several purposes. One of those purposes is fun. Another is to make you think about your writing on a different level. So, for today I am going to combine those two aspects. We will have a little...
Character development. That is the second theme of the year, following our scene building practice. Today is the final day for character development practices. Let’s recap. We started by learning how to take the time to develop every character that...
Next to scene development, character development is the other most crucial aspect of your story. It is so important in fact, that you can have a best selling novel that has absolutely no plot or action as long as the...
Look at us go! 22 in a row! Amazing! They say if you do something for 21 days in a row it becomes habit. Perhaps they are right. All I know is that I set out to provide you with...
As we gear up for the weekend, let’s see if we can’t start something new. All this week we have worked on prompts that help us build and perfect scenes. We capped it off with a post all about setting...
In the last few prompts we have covered scene building, piece by piece. In case you missed it, here is the breakdown: Jan 16 – Focus on a perfect scene Jan 17 – Using only dialogue Jan 18 – Using...
This week has started a trend in the writing prompts to get you to practice certain aspects of scene building. Today, we will continue that trend. So far we have built a scene using only dialogue and we have built...
We will continue the scene building practice this week. If you missed yesterday’s lesson, it was on dialogue and writing a scene with details only using character’s speech. Today, we are going to do the same thing, but of course,...
In yesterday’s prompt we talked about perfect practice. Today, we continue the trend but in a slightly different way. Today we will take something we aren’t good with and practice making it better. Because this prompt is generic and I...
Hello kids! Today’s writing prompt is a little more straight forward. While there is still an element of teaching involved (as always) it is more about repetition. Practice. There is an old saying that practice makes perfect. But this isn’t...
Today we mark the half-way point of the month! Congratulations on making it this far into the new year. I hope that you are still working on your goals, resolutions, plans or whatever changes you told yourself you would make...
The weekend is coming and it is time to start thinking about your stories. One of the most difficult things to do when writing is to build your scene. Scene building is actually a simple thing. You have a character...
Greetings fellow kids! Today’s writing prompt is designed to get you to think about titles. This can (and does) include things like chapter titles, scene headings and project titles for the novelist and screenwriters out there. It also includes headings...
On the 12th day of writing prompts, my true love gave to me, 12 writing prompts, 11 writing lessons, 10…(trails off). Not only am I starting today’s prompt with some silliness, I am also going to read your mind. Ready...
Shall we continue our New Year’s tradition with the 11th writing prompt of the year? Yes! Okay, then. This lesson is geared to ALL writing types. I don’t care if it is poetry, copywriting, novels, those notes you make on...
For the 10th, the writing prompt will focus more to the screenwriter. However, the novelist will get a good challenge from it, too. One disadvantage that screenwriters face (compared to novelists), is that they have a much more limited area...
I am a little late to the party today guys, I apologize. But, since it is still technically the 9th where I am (at least for a couple more hours) it still counts! Today’s prompt is another specialized one. It...
For the second Friday of January (If you are reading this in 2021), the writing prompt is going to be a little crazy, a little zany, a little… Well, you get the idea. There aren’t a lot of rules today,...
A week into the new year and we are still going strong. If you haven’t been following along, there is still time to catch up. Just click here to see all the writing prompts and get to work! Your stories...
Today’s prompt will be something fairly easy for a lot of you. If you are a creative writer, then it will be a huge advantage. On the other hand, if you struggle with writing, then the prompt may be more...
For today’s prompt I want to go in a little different direction. Instead of writing whatever comes to your mind, I want to tell you exactly what to write. In doing so, I hope to convey a few truths. Even...
I could have done anything once a day for this blog and for my readers. So why did I choose writing prompts? Writing prompts server several purposes, depending on your needs. If, for example, you run a blog and need...
People ask me about the daily writing prompts (well, okay, no one asks me – BUT, I figure it is at least worth mentioning). “What happens if I miss a day?” I assume they are talking about themselves, but since...
A new day, a new prompt. I am excited. So no long-winded set of rules or superfluous introductions. Let’s just get on with the prompt. January 02 Everything is rubber! You knew your day was going to be weird, how...
New to the blog this go round is the daily writing prompts. The idea here is that I will stop in once a day and post a prompt for you to work with. I will write to that same prompt...
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