- “Sometimes my life seems to be a never-ending succession of unhappy women.”
- Use in a story/poem: scarlet, voice, mark.
- Get unstuck: end the scene you’re in and move the action somewhere new.
- Scene starter: A nearly empty can of aerosol hairspray on a windowsill.
- Base a story around a cliche, then prove it wrong.
- Your MC is wearing a color another character loathes.
- Do the Sunday Brunch prompts and post your exercises
- Use the following words: grabbed, maple, ravine, little, wonder.
- Write about a gift.
- Write about an empty house.
- “My fear isn’t that I’m inadequate but that I’m immeasurably powerful.”
- Use in a story or poem: eat, blossom, absinthe.
- Get unstuck: introduce a minor character’s chaotic sister.
- Scene starter: The MC gets a paper cut while looking at a forbidden book.
- Write a bit of backstory for your narrator/MC set five years ago.
- There’s a naked man on the train reading a newspaper & listening to his iPod.
- Do the Sunday Brunch prompts and post your exercises
- Use the following words: music, sweet, top-heavy, outside, glitch
- Write about unexpected spiciness, literal or figurative.
- Fill in the blanks: “Just because ______, doesn’t mean ________”
- “Charlie Brown’s a loser. Wasn’t even the star of his own Halloween special.”
- Use in a story/poem: poetry, anthem, crumble.
- Get unstuck: go back to your MC’s last choice and make the choice worse.
- Scene starter: A character removing dead flowers from a grave.
- Write a character’s explanation of “why it itches.”
- Finding a tube of toothpaste sends a character into a fit of laughter.
- Do the Sunday Brunch prompts and post your exercises.
- Use the following words: children, difference, night, stood, independent
- Fill in the blanks: “________ is/are for ___________”
- Write about a harmless lie (or is it?)
- “Sometimes only one person is missing and the whole world seems depopulated.
- Use in a story/poem: map, cinnamon, violet.
- Get unstuck: kill off your MC’s love interest.
- Scene starter: Your character has an uncomfortable obligation to his/her mom.
- Change a character’s ethnic background & see how/if it affects the story.
- Write using the themes of either belonging or loneliness.
- Do the Sunday Brunch prompts and post your exercises.
- Use the following words: creaky, knees, above, survival, tingle.
- Write about being locked in.
- Write about a chance alignment.
- “A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it.”
- Use in a story/poem: chastise, speak, supplicate.
