A Window
personal musingsArchive for Writing Prompt
Yesterday’s writing prompt.
January 26 — “Dream Solution”
Your character has a nightmare. But in the middle of it, he or she creatively solves the problem.
As he effortlessly makes his way down the staircase, his feet seem to be driving him toward a new dimension. With each step he feels smaller yet heavier still, and his feet begin to sink into the raw wood. The smooth banister becomes covered with spines so he jerks his hand away as though reacting to a hot stove top. He concentrates on his feet, trying to make it to the bottom. Suddenly it seems like he’ll be getting there even faster; the steps have opened and come together to form a ramp. He’s thrown into darkness, sliding more rapidly with each passing second. He reaches for something, anything that could help save him from the promise of many broken bones upon reaching the ground. His hand manages to find a curtain waving from a floor-to-ceiling window, and he clings to it for support. Through this window he can see nothing but his own reflection; it’s just a mirror with panes. He hears a rip.rip.rip while the curtain tears and he must think fast. As the other end floats down toward him, he grabs it in his other sweaty, nervous hand and directs his own motion, gliding to a halt only as he see’s his final destination. His feet are glad to feel land; he doesn’t sink in.
“Permutation”
January 25 – “Permutation”
This is what I call a “permutation exercise”: Take a particularly vivid and rhythmic sentence or two from someone else’s book or story, and then exchange the verbs and/or adjectives and/or adverbs and/or whatever to make it your own.
From Paper Towns:
“…you could not say that Margo Roth Spiegelman was fat, or that she was skinny, any more than you can say that the Eiffel Tower is or is not lonely.”
You could not say that he was pleased, or that he was sad, any more than you can say that the Earth is or is not happy to be walked on.
From Anthem:
“My dearest one, it is not proper for men to be without names. There was a time when each man had a name of his own to distinguish him from all other men. So let us choose our names.”
My troubled friend, it is not responsible for men to be without laughter. There was a day when each man had a smile of his very own to separate him from all other men. So let us choose our happiness.
Daily writing exercises…
I was hoping to get one of the books on my Amazon Christmas list, but I didn’t feel like spending the money on one right now; instead, I consulted the web, like you do. Actually Felicia Day’s blog led me to these, and they look interesting. I had briefly forgotten that this was my New Years blog intention, so I’m glad I stumbled upon it (not like… literally stumbling upon… you know what I mean). I meant to start January 1st, but couldn’t find good prompts and am thusly behind. So, for the month of January I’m either going to do the prompt written on the corresponding day or one from a previous January day that I’d missed. Starting in February, I’m going to legitimately do the corresponding prompt. If any of you keep a blog (which, I’m guessing, is only Alana [-: ) I encourage you to try these as well. Without further adieu, here are the January prompts.
I’m gonna go pick one, write it up, and then… go home, I suppose. Maybe sleep. Mmmm sleep.
