Writing Exercise
Good Men Are Hard To Find, So Relax And Let Them Find You
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise — Have a place in your writer's notebook where you play around with titles, making a list of your favorites. Or read through a story looking for a title to emerge from the story itself - a phrase, an image, etc. The Objective To sharpen your instincts for a good title and to understand how titles can lead you to stories.
By Denise E Lindquist2 months ago in Writers
Two Native American Elders Visiting
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise — Begin a story from random elements such as two characters, a place, two objects, an adjective, and an abstract word. If you are not in a class, give this list to someone and have them provide you with the words so you will be surprised by them. If you are in a class have the class make up a random list. Then everyone must use these elements in the first two pages of a story. The Objective - To exercise your imagination, to prove to yourself that all you need is a trigger to get you started writing. And if you care about the story you start, the finish will take care of itself.
By Denise E Lindquist2 months ago in Writers
The Wife And The Girlfriend
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise — A man is having an affair with his secretary. He goes to bed with her in a motel room. When he wakes up in the morning, he’s in the same motel room, but the woman next to him is his wife. Two pages of dialogue. A few lines of action. We can assume the description is already in place. The Objective — A writer needs to be able to imagine an improbable scene and bring it to life. This is a separate issue from making up a story.
By Denise E Lindquist2 months ago in Writers
I'm Blaming this on Jack!. Top Story - December 2025.
Hi Mom & Dad, Sending this with the utmost respect and love (and cowardice) rather than voicing it. I expect you to be both angry and disappointed in me in this decision of mine. Frankly, after all you've done for and sacrificed for me, I don't blame you, not even one little bit.
By Shirley Belk2 months ago in Writers
Dropping Out Of College
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise - You're a senior in college writing home to tell your parent(s) that you're dropping out of school for your last semester; you can't promise that you will ever go back. You want them to understand, if not exactly approve of, your reason(s) for leaving. Make these as specific as you can - and as persuasive. The second half of the exercise is to write the answer, either from one or both of the parents. Limit: 550 words The Objective - To get inside the head of another person, someone you have invented, and assume her voice to vary your narrative conveyance.
By Denise E Lindquist2 months ago in Writers
Do You Remember Ann Landers?
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise — Collect Ann Landers columns, gossip columns, and stories from Weekly World News or True Confessions that seem to you to form — either partially or wholly — the basis for a story. Often, these newspaper accounts will be the “end” of the story, and you will have to fill in the events leading up to the more dramatic event that made the news that day. Or perhaps the story leads you to ask what is going to happen to that person now. Clip and save four or five items. Outline a story based on one of them, indicating where the story begins, who the main characters are, what the general tone (that is, the emotional timbre of the work) will be, and from whose point of view you elect to tell the story. These articles can be used for shorter or focused exercises. For example, describe the car of the person in the article, or the contents of his wallet. Or have the person from the article write three letters. The Objective — The objective is threefold. One is to look for an article that triggers your imagination and to understand how, when you dramatize the events, the story then becomes your story. The second is to increase the beginning writer’s awareness of the stories all around us. And third, to practice deciding how and where to enter a story and where to leave off.
By Denise E Lindquist2 months ago in Writers
Happiness and Light Unofficial Challenge. Top Story - October 2025.
INTERJECTION INTERRUPTION UPDATE - Added all the entries we've received so far, and just wanted to bump this up to remind people it's still open. You still have time to enter a piece for either or both parts of the challenge - we have only received pieces for the first part of the challenge so far. - Paul Stewart, a writer. One half of the temporary twosome of John and Paul, but not Ringo and George.
By Paul Stewart2 months ago in Writers
Someone Is Walking Around In My House
The water hit my shoulders like a warm blanket, washing away the stress of a long, lonely evening. I was home alone—something I had never minded before. The house was quiet, calm, and perfectly still. The kind of stillness that lets your mind relax… until it doesn’t.
By Alexander Mind2 months ago in Writers
