Denise E Lindquist
Bio
I am married with 7 children, 28 grands, and 13 great-grandchildren. I am a culture consultant part-time. I write A Poem a Day in February for 8 years now. I wrote 4 - 50,000 word stories in NaNoWriMo. I write on Vocal/Medium daily.
Stories (1228)
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Once Upon a Time Again
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise - Write a linear story, in which a strong main character is on a quest for something important and specific (e.g., a shelter for the baby, medicine for a sick mother, or the key to the storehouse where a tyrant has locked away all the grain from a starving populace). The object is given - don't explain its importance. The main character starts acting immediately. She then meets a (specific) obstacle; finally, she triumphs over the obstacle by means of a magic or supernatural element that comes from the outside (like Dorothy's red shoes in The Wizard of Oz). You may introduce minor characters, but the narrative should never abandon your main character. This story should be told through action and dialogue. Limit: 550 words. The Objective - Like a medical student who must learn the names and location of human bones before going on to more complex systems, a beginning writer must be able to handle and control basic plot before moving on to more subtle elements like motivation, subtext, and ambiguity. Many of the greatest novels incorporate a quest (Moby Dick), a journey (David Copperfield), and triumph over an obstacle (The Old Man and the Sea). These works also concentrate on one protagonist and end, if not happily, at least on an emotionally satisfying note of resolution.
By Denise E Lindquist3 months ago in Writers
The Judge
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise — Break your story idea down into three sentences of three words each. That will give you a beginning, a middle, and an end, and help you understand the architecture of the work. By having to choose three verbs, you’ll be forcing yourself to consider the three parts of the action. The Objective — To see if your story, like a good stool, has three legs to stand on.
By Denise E Lindquist3 months ago in Writers
The Importance Of Dialogue
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise — Highlight the dialogue in a story by a writer you admire. Then determine how much dialogue is summarized rather than presented in quotation marks. Next, set up a situation in which one character is going on and on about something — complaining about grades, arguing with a spouse about the children, or recounting an accident to a friend. Summarize the dialogue, occasionally interspersing it with comments and stage directions. The Objective — To understand what summarized dialogue accomplishes and how it affects tone, pace, and the shaping of a scene.
By Denise E Lindquist3 months ago in Writers
Everyday Elder Conversations of the Past and Present
This year, I started a book with a grant I received from the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council (ARAC). I applied as an elder, Native American woman, with a handicap. I fit 3 categories. How could I lose? It is to be completed in June of 2026. Should be no problem, right?
By Denise E Lindquist3 months ago in Art
He Thought He Knew All There Was To Know About His Long Time Friend. Top Story - October 2025.
We were friends in high school living parellel lives. And we got married, had children, and went to college. It was a struggle at times, but we did a lot of partying on weekends and that was our time for just us, until he stopped the partying.
By Denise E Lindquist3 months ago in Fiction
Who Is There
Where is my flashlight Who's there, is that you daddy No, no, leave me be ~~~~ Author's Note: How do you write a haiku on the subject of bringing a scare, when haikus are usually about love or nature? Then, what about the minimum for poetry of 100 words mentioned in the community guidelines? I suppose you write several haikus to bring fear or mystery.
By Denise E Lindquist4 months ago in Poets
A Scene With Two Characters
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise - Write a scene in which a character’s body, as well as his mind, is engaged in doing something — stage business. Possibilities listed below: Explore how various activities and settings can change what happens within a scene. For example, what happens when characters are planning their honeymoon if they are painting an apartment or one of them is cutting the other’s hair? Or what happens when characters are having a confrontation in public — say, in a fancy restaurant — rather than in the privacy of their home. It is also instructive to analyze how a writer you admire handles the interweaving of dialogue and body language. Go through one of your favorite stories and highlight all the body language and choreography. We guarantee this will teach you something. The Objective — To give a concrete life to the scenes our characters inhabit. To understand how action and choreography relate to the objects in the scene and how all of these relate to and help shape dialogue and the engagement of the characters.
By Denise E Lindquist4 months ago in Writers
Role Play and Real Play
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter - What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts - The Exercise - Have a fellow writer do this exercise with you. Make up situations involving two people who disagree about something - for example, two friends who have planned to shoplift something, and one is getting cold feet. Or a landlord and a tenant disagree about the terms of a lease. Next, tape your dialogue as you and your friend "act out" the two "roles" in a scene. Don't decide what you're going to say ahead of time. Improvise, through dialogue, as you go along. Then transcribe the dialogue exactly as it was said. Here is where your writer's ear comes in. Read over the written account of your scene. How much of the original exchange is useful for your story? How much of the dialogue might you summarize? And are there any "perfect" lines that you would keep? Finally, try writing the scene using the transcribed dialogue to give shape to the scene. How much of the original dialogue would you keep? The Objective - To hear and see how real talk is repetitive, disjointed, and boring. At the same time, to train your writer's ear to transform actual speech into carefully crafted dialogue.
By Denise E Lindquist4 months ago in Writers
