Ellen Orleans

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Summer Band

for Tuesday, July 22, 2014  •  Prompt #79

On Monday, I listened to the Boulder Concert Band play in our local Foothills Park.  My favorite moment was lying back on my blanket and looking up at the clouds as the band played Amazing Grace. It was a divine moment.

Today’s Prompt:

  1. Write about a time when you were able to put aside the horrors of the world and life’s daily problems and immerse yourself in a moment of bliss, contentment or joy.
  2. Use specific description and include sensory details.
  3. Write for 15 minutes.

Additional Writing

  • Write about attending an outdoor musical event when something — benign, odd, or slightly menancing — disrupts the concert.
  • Write about a piece of music that affects you strongly.

Writing Group Variations

  1. Together, attend a musical event, preferable something low-key and informal. Perhaps a street performer, middle-school concert, or free event in a local part.
  2. Take notes.
  3. Listen with your eyes closed for a few minutes.
  4. Later, write your observations.
  5. Did anything surprise you? Do you connect more (or differently) to music as compared to visual arts?

 

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Be Confident. And other worldly advice.

Thursday,  July 24, 2014  •  Prompt #81

 

photo

 

As I walked across campus tonight, I saw a yellow banner above the bridge across Varsity Pond. “Be Confident,” it read.

Prompt

Write about a piece of advice, such as “Be Confident” that you heard growing up or as a young adult.

 

Instructions

  1. If no single phrase jumps out at you, write six pieces of advice that you can remember and see if anything resonates.
  2. Or, use one of these phrases.  Save for a rainy day. Turn the other cheek. Look before you leap. He who hesitates is lost. You snooze. You lose.  Cheaters never prosper. Don’t slouch. If first you don’t succeed, try, try, again. Fake it ’til you make it.
  3. Use that phrase as your first line.  Write in response to it.  Write for  10 minutes.

 

Variations

  • Have one of your characters offer another character advice. How does the second character respond?
  • Write a short fable for which the last line is a piece of advice.
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Swim. Swam. Swum.

Monday, July 21, 2014  •  Prompt #78

pool

 

On Sunday, I went to a pool party in Longmont’s Sunset Park,
which inspires today quick prompt:

Write about swimming.

 

 

Aspects to consider:

  • The body of water.
  • Your body in the water. (Or that of your character.)
  • The repetition or rhythm of strokes or kicking.
  • The sound of splashing, waves and breathing. Perhaps the absence of sound under the water.
  • The temperature of the air or the water.
  • The smell and taste of the water. Briney? Chlorine? Salty?
  • The quality of light.
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A Giant Leap

Sunday, July 20, 2014  •  Prompt #77

moon

 

Today marks the 45th anniversary of the moon landing.

 

 

 

Today’s Prompt:
If you are old enough to remember, write about where you were when Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon.

  • Describe where you watched or listened to the landing.
  • Who was with you?
  • What emotions did you experience?

Write for 15 minutes.

Additional Writings

  • Choose one of the following words as your springboard. Write for 15 minutes. Man on the Moon. Half-Moon Bay. Blue Moon. Moonpie. Moonlighting. Honeymoon. Moonshine.
  • Write a 200-word fable that features two animals and the moon.

Writing Group Variations

  1. Gather in an area away from city lights with a good view of the moon.  (Consult a moonrise calendar.)
  2. Look at the moon through binoculars and a telescope. Look carefully.
  3. Take notes.
  4. Move to an indoor area and write your observations.
  5. Did anything surprise you? Do you feel an emotional connection to the moon?

 

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Return of the Opening Line: Part II

Saturday, July 19, 2014  •  Prompt #76

br sprout

 Following yesterday’s Opening Lines post, here are two more prompts with which to experiment. Choose one of these lines for the exercise.

  • 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…

 Further Writing

  • Invert your opening sentence to give it an opposite meaning.  For instance, change They say I’m not normal  to They say I am normal. Write for 15 minutes.
  • Change one word: The second person I told. No one believes this but…., etc.  Write for 15 minutes.

Group Writing Variations

  1. Discuss what makes a good opening line.
  2. Write a list of opening lines for each other.
  3. Write for 15 minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

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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

 

 

 

 

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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.

 

 

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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.

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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.
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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?