Author: Ellen Orleans

by

Return of the Opening Line: Part I

Friday, July 18, 2014  Prompt #75

 celtic-knot-deer-query

Two-Step Instructions

  1. Choose one of the opening lines below and write it on the top of a fresh page of paper.
  2. Write for 15 minutes.
  • They say I’m not normal.
  • The one place I can be myself is…
  • The first person I told was…
  • Something you should know about my sister…
  • No one knows this, but…

 

Tomorrow: Further Writing and Writing Group Variations

 

 

 

 

by

Thursday Thoughts: Out Loud

For Thursday, July 17  Prompt 74

IMG_0607Do you read your work out loud as you write and edit?

If so, how does it change what you write?

If not, try it. See if it affects your word choice, sentence length or dialogue.

 

 

by

City Sidewalks

For Wednesday, July 16, 2014  Prompt #73

 

IMG_2338

 
Write about an encounter on a city street.

Writing Tips:

  • This can be an encounter between two people, a person and a sign,  an older person and a toddler, three dogs, or some other combination.
  • Balance observation, description, and dialogue.
  • Write for 15 minutes.

Book Suggestion: Alfred Kazin’s A Walker in the City.

by

Roar!

Tuesday, July 15, 2014  Prompt #72

zoo

Yesterday afternoon, I wandered through Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo, the inspiration for today’s writing prompt.

 

Write about zoos.

 

 

 

Writing Tips:

  • You can focus on a particular zoo, animal, visit, or a opinion about zoos.
  • Or you can write in a more abstract, mixed-up, or interwoven kind of way.
  • This prompt lends itself especially well to sensory descriptions: be sure to include the sounds, sights, textures, and smells all around you.
  • Explore your emotions and state of being. What was your motivation for being at the zoo? Were you eager or reluctant to be there?

Further Writing

  • Shift your perspective with that of one of the animals. Write for 20 minutes.
  • Write about being in a zoo at dawn or dusk.

Writing Group Variations

  • Visit a zoo and spend time writing there.
  • Or swap zoo stories and write from there.
by

Breakable

For Monday, July 14, 2014  Prompt #71
IMG_2104

 

 

Write about something fragile, either literal or metaphoric.

 

 

Instructions

  1. Find something fragile in your home or someone else’s home (with their permission of course). Hold it (carefully!). Put it down, describe it, using a variety of sensory details. Is it heavy in your hands? Does it make a sound if you tap it gently? Is it old and worn?
  2. If you know about the origins of the piece, write about it.
  3. Write about what it means to you.
  4. If you are remembering something long gone, write about it to the best of your recollection or fictionalize the account to add interest.

Further Writing

  • Did you ever break anything valuable? Yours or someone else’s?  Were there repercussions? Where did this take place? How old were you? Examine your emotions and state of being.
  • Write about fragility from an emotional perspective. Was there ever a time you or someone you loved felt or seemed broken?

Writing Group Variations

  • Bring something fragile to your writing group.
  • Write about your piece or someone else’s.
  • Share your writing to hear the variety of stories group members devised. What is common? Where do the stories differ?

 

by

Caught!

For Sunday, July 13, 2014  Prompt #70IMG_2052

 

Today is another quick prompt:
Write about your experiences fishing or watching others fish.

 

 

 

 

Writing Tips

  • Include sensory details, including sense of smell, about place, time, weather conditions, or what you were wearing.
  • Include  specifics about the kind of fishing you were doing or watching. Ocean or river? On a bank, from a bridge, or in a boat? Talk about gear, flies, bait and other details.
  • Examine your emotions and state of being. What was your motivation for being there? Were you eager or reluctant to take part.
  • Include action — large or quiet.

 

 

by

Ritual

For SaturPhoto1day, July 12, 2014  Prompt #69

Write about a ritual, either personal or public, that you have taken part in or regularly take part in.

Instructions
1. Write about the ritual in a factual step by step detail. Write for 10 minutes.
2. Next, add in emotional and sensory details, perhaps explaining what draws you to this ritual, what you like and don’t like about it, how it has changed over the years, or how you have changed it, or how you would change it if you could.

Further Writing

Create a  ritual for yourself and describe the who, what, why, when, and how of it.

For Writing Groups

  1. Share a ritual with the group.
  2. With each others’ permission, write about a change to the ritual and the reaction that participants have because of it.
  3. Read the altered rituals out loud to each other.
by

Commitment

For Friday , July 11, 2014  Prompt #68

Following up Wednesday’s cycle-of-life, theme, today’s prompt is about weddings, actual and metaphoric. (I’m traveling this week, so no photo accompaniment.)

Instructions
1. Write about the first wedding you remember attending.
2. Include small details that have stayed with you and emotions you experienced, such as excitement, anger, confusion,

Further Writing
1.If you have had wedding ceremony or a commitment or civil union ceremony, write or rewrite your wedding vows with the knowledge and experience you now have.

2. Write commitment vows to another person, place, or passion. For example, to your children, to your hometown, or to your vegetable garden. They can be heartfelt, heart-wrenching, whimsical, or a mix of emotions.

For Writing Groups

1. Write vows of commitment to your writing.
2.Read them out loud to each other.

by

One Wedding and A Funeral

Wednesday, July 9, 2014  Prompt #66

My beautiful pictureThis weekend I attended both an unexpected funeral and an impromptu wedding. (I officiated!) Most definitely a cycle-of-life few days. The next three prompts will draw off these experiencse.

Funeral

Write about the first funeral you remember attending. Include small details that have stayed with you and emotions you experienced, such as grief, fear, confusion, or curiosity.

 

Further  Writing

Write a 300-word elegy or obituary for yourself or a character.

 

For Writing Groups

Write instructions for your own funeral or memorial service or for that of a character. Write them as an extended poem or flash non-fiction piece.