Creative Writing Prompts

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Word of the Day for Monday, September 13, 2010

tittle \TIT-l\, noun: 1. A dot or other small mark in writing or printing, used as

a diacritic, punctuation, etc.2. A very small part or quantity; a particle, jot, or whit

There is, perhaps, something in the beginning of it which I ought in modesty to conceal; but I have so much esteem for this correspondent, that I will not alter a tittle of what she writes, though I am thus scrupulous at the price of being ridiculous.-- Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steele, The Spectator: no. 81-169; June 2, 1711-Sept. 13, 1711

Word of the Day for Wednesday, September 8, 2010gerrymander \JER-i-man-der\, verb:The dividing of a state, county, etc., into election districts so as

to give one political party a majority in many districts while concentrating the voting strength of the other party into as few districts as possible.

To appease aggravated fan bases, the league will gerrymander the early non-divisional, non-crossover scheduling to allow Wisconsin to play both Nebraska and Iowa in 2011 and 2012.-- Scott Dochterman, "Final guesses on Big Ten divisional realignment," Doc's Office blog, gazetteonline.com, September 2010. They could not, though, tire of the unilateral focus upon feathering the rich's pockets and gerrymander the system. -- Carlene Hatcher Polite, Pierre Alien, The Flagellants

It is the first day of school. You are nervous. Anxious. Big changes. Not sure what to expect. Write about your day. THE CATCH - You are a desk. Do not announce your perspective, just assume the reader knows.

Day 2 Use the following

words to write a 300 word (or fewer) story: paper clips, principal, lunch box, swing, girl with a pink ribbon.

Or, how would your day proceed if you found out you would die tomorrow?

Day 3 Choose one of the following or create your own prompt.

Even the best writers rely on obvious words. Practice mental flexibility by writing a paragraph describing a typical August afternoon without using the words hot, humid, heat or sun.

Write two paragraphs contrasting your favorite band or musician with your least favorite band or musician.

Day 4 Choose one of the following or create your

own prompt.

If you knew you were going to be banished to an igloo for the rest of your life, what five items would you take along? (Assume you would get all the food, water, heaters, and warm clothes you needed.) Write a paragraph about what you’d take and why.

List all the clichés you can think of. Then choose one to start a poem or story.

20 years have passed and your high school has invited you to be the keynote speaker at a graduation ceremony. Write a speech in which you give advice to the seniors and discuss what your own life has been like in the years since you’ve graduated.

Write what you are feeling right now using your sense of smell. If you feel frustrated, how does that smell? Use lots of vivid adjectives.

What is the adage you hate the most? Every cloud has a silver lining; stop and smell the roses; there are other fish in the sea; if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again?

Write a story in which someone cheerfully cites an adage and you let loose with your real feelings.

Write a very short story that ends with the sentence, As he approached the top of the mountain, he raised his hands in victory.

What is the most boring day you have had EVER? Write about it, but make it sound FASCINATING.

Believe it or not, the word alot does not exist. It is a made up word that is never grammatically correct. Always use the phrase a lot instead. To ensure you never, ever forget this rule, write 4 sentences using a lot. Write 1 about parrots, 1 about free speech, 1 about bicycles, and 1 about Freud.

Write an excuse for not working today.

When we’re talking, we say suppose to, instead of the correct supposed to. Suppose to is a made-up phrase. To burn this rule into your brain, write 4 sentences that use supposed to. Write 1 sentence about pit bulls, 1 about politicians, 1 about protractors, and 1 about pears.

Day 9 Showing vs. Telling:Telling is boring – think

Randy was frightened” or Sandy was happy. Try describing body language instead: Randy cowered under his blanket or A grin lit up Sandy’s face. Write a story about your first day of kindergarten and express the emotions you felt by describing your body language.

Choose or create 2 people who dislike each other. Put them in a cab together and show what happens!

Day 10

Showing vs. telling:Mark Twain said, “Don't

say the old lady screamed. Bring her on and let her scream.” Use description to SHOW an old lady screaming – create the reason and location yourself.

Topic:An empty glass.

Day 11 - Setting

Describe the setting around you right now.

Day 12 – Setting + senses

When you write description of settings, be sure to consider all 5 senses to draw your reader in. (See, hear, smell, taste, touch)

Let’s go outside and see how the outdoors inspires us to think and feel and smell like writers!!

Day 13 – Setting + senses

Let’s try a different setting today! Pay attention to the distinct sights, smells, sounds and textures. Do your best to put that feeling into words.

To the wood shop!

Day 14 -

Use this photo to inspire a setting description that includes either character thought or dialogue. Remember to use the senses!

Day 15 -

“The shore fumed at the waves.” Make this example of personification your story starter.

Write a newspaper article about a school play or movie you’ve seen recently. Be sure to cover the FIVE W’s – who, what, when, where, and why.

Word of the Day for Friday, September 3, 2010

cachinnate \KAK-uh-neyt\, verb: To laugh loudly or immoderately. His long nose, thick lips and crafty, bulging eyes

seemed tense with the urge to cachinnate.-- Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, Ronald Hingley, The Steppe and Other Stories I observe my fellow baskers snap, cachinnate, straighten out government policy. That's the wonder of abroad.-- Tibor Fischer, The Thought Gang Cachinnate evolves into the English cackle , but derives from the Sanskrit kakhati, "laughs."

Day 16 - Publishing

You’ve been commissioned to lure tourists to your town by writing a travel brochure. Write a few paragraphs for inclusion in this brochure, making your town sound as thrilling and scenic as you can.

Describe the place you like to go when you want to get away from the stresses of life.

Word of the Day for Tuesday, September 7, 2010

kenspeckle \KEN-spek-uhl\, adjective:Conspicuous; easily seen or recognized.He feared that he was too kenspeckle to

escape.-- Samuel Rutherford Crockett, The Stickit Minister: And Some Common Men Rose took her seat, proud of herself for not succumbing to her kenspeckle habit of stretching the truth far beyond its borders. -- Liz Curtis Higgs, Fair Is the Rose

Day 17 – Peer Evaluation

Who is one of your favorite authors and what keeps you reading his/her books?

Writing is like…(Think of something

you do – party planning cooking, making the perfect dessert – and compare it to the process of writing…metaphors be with you!)

Word of the Day for Wednesday, September 8, 2010

rubric \ROO-brik\, noun:1. A title, heading, or the like, written

or printed in red or otherwise distinguished from the rest of the text.2. A direction for the conduct of divine service.3. Any established mode of conduct or procedure.

Gerrymander The dividing of a state, county, etc., into election districts so as

to give one political party a majority in many districts while concentrating the voting strength of the other party into as few districts as possible.

To appease aggravated fan bases, the league will gerrymander the early non-divisional, non-crossover scheduling to allow Wisconsin to play both Nebraska and Iowa in 2011 and 2012.-- Scott Dochterman, "Final guesses on Big Ten divisional realignment," Doc's Office blog, gazetteonline.com, September 2010. They could not, though, tire of the unilateral focus upon feathering the rich's pockets and gerrymander the system. -- Carlene Hatcher Polite, Pierre Alien, The Flagellants

Day 18 Choose an imaginary

figure from your childhood – Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman – and give him or her a darker, more realistic side. Is the Sandman an insomniac? The Tooth Fairy a kleptomaniac?

Write a paragraph on the topic of “The Worst Pet Imaginable.” Be sure your paragraph includes a topic sentence and four supporting sentences.

Day 19 – Character Development

One way to develop a character is through his/her actions. SHOW a character who is selfish and overly confident using ONLY actions.

Have you ever gotten caught doing something wrong? How did you react? How did you feel? Do you think your feelings showed? Write about this (or some fictional event) paying close attention to actions.

ambrosial \am-BROH-zhuhl\, adjective:1. Exceptionally pleasing to taste or

smell; especially delicious or fragrant.2. Worthy of the gods; divine.

But if something is slightly bruised, speckled or dinged on the outside, we don't usually take the time to wonder if it might be ambrosial within.

imago \ih-MAH-goh\, noun: 1. An idealized concept of a loved one, formed in childhood

and retained unaltered in adult life.2. Entomology. An adult insect.

She pictured him retaining, year after year, her imago in his heart, as strongly as his was impressed upon her own at that moment.-- Ellen Wallace, King's Cope: a novel The woman herself may change, but his imago of her once formed and given its lasting outlines in the heat of passion, does not change, so that he may himself even be faithful to a wife who is unfaithful.-- Wilfrid Lay, Man's Unconscious Passion and Man's Unconscious Spirit

Day 26

Retell one of your favorite fairy tales from childhood. Set it in the present day.

Rewrite the ending of Cinderella so that the shoe fits one of the stepsisters. How does Prince Charming react? How does Cinderella cope? Don’t forget about Fairy Godmother!

Day 28

The best dialogue mimics how people actually talk. Write a dialogue between two of your friends, trying to capture their real speech patterns.

Suppose you’ve been commissioned to write a description of the world as you know it using only ten sentences. This will be placed in a time capsule that will be opened 500 years from today.

agog \uh-GOG\, adjective:Full of excitement or interest; in

eager desire; eager, keen.Kobe Bryant left the Minnesota

Timberwolves agog after a series of eye-popping moves in a game last week.-- New York Times, February 5, 1998

Brobdingnagian \brob-ding-NAG-ee-uhn\, adjective:

Of extraordinary size; gigantic; enormous.The venture capital business has a size

problem. A monstrous, staggering, stupefying one. Brobdingnagian even.-- Russ Mitchell, "Too Much Ventured Nothing Gained", Fortune, November 11, 2002

Day 30Where would you MOST like to be a fly on

the wall? Where would you most NOT want to be? Write a story from the perspective of you as a literal fly, observing things around you with people you know, when they don’t know you are there.

Today's word was submitted by Nasim M. Submit yours by going Back to School with Dictionary.com!

rigmorole \RIG-muh-rohl\, noun:1. An elaborate or complicated procedure.

2. Confused, incoherent, foolish, or meaningless talk.

"My dear young lady," I groaned, "you don't want to be stripped of every dollar for such a "rigmarole!"-- Henry James, Four Meetings

Day 31

Use this line anywhere in your story:

“Behind her, the noise escalated.”

Develop a list of 10 reasons you would quit bathing for a week.

Day 32

Write a story about a fad that gets out of control.

“To be great is to be misunderstood.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Day 33

Social rules – what are they good for? Where do they come from? Write a scene in which one character breaks a (or many) social rules and others react.

What is the best surprise you have ever had or would like to have?

Word of the Day for Thursday, September 30, 2010

lucifugous \loo-see-FOO-guhs\, adjective:

Avoiding light.There begin to be seen walking the

streets, hugging the walls, odd lucifugous creatures such as the tide uncovers when the water withdraws.

Day 34

Write a paragraph about anything you would do over if you could.

Create a character who has a secret to confess, but who is afraid to confess it. Write the diary or journal entries that your character would write as she or he considers the secret, explores why it needs to be confessed, thinks about who will be affected if the secret is known, and considers why she or he is afraid.

Day 35

Create a dialogue between the two ditziest people you can imagine, such as Bambi and Biff. Each character should speak at least ten times.

If you were choosing the menu for your last meal, what would it include? Write detailed descriptions of each item on the menu.

Day 36

Consider someone or something that makes you happy. Choose one very precise detail to focus on and write a poem on it.

Write a 3 paragraph story that could end with this sentence: So the moral is, be careful what you wish for.

Day 37

Has any issue concerning your town or state been bothering you lately? Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper expressing your opinion on this issues. Try to be persuasive but not emotional.

An extremely LONG sentence is not necessarily a run on. Write the longest sentence you can without creating a run-on. Try to create a 50 word sentence!

Day 41

What if license plates had phone numbers?

Write a story about something that might happen if you had the cell phone number of people on the road.

Story Starter: It was all good until

the movie ended. .. .

Poetry!

I Can’t Write a Poem” Poem (all grade levels) Make a list of your favorite excuses or complaints about writing poetry.“I Can’t Write a Poem” makes a great title. Add an ending such as: Time’s up? Uh oh! All I have is this dumb list of excuses. You like it? Really? No kidding. Thanks a lot. Would you like to see another one?

Welcome to the Future!

Good poetry uses images to help convey a message. Watch the following link of Brad Paisley’s “Welcome to the future” and use the images as inspiration for your own poem.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0Yg9wjctRw&ob=av3e

Poetry - connotation

RecklessLast night I was

reckless –Didn’t brush my

teethAnd went to bed

tasting my dinner all night.

And it tasted good.

Consider what this poem means. In what ways was the author reckless? The sarcasm is meant to be humorous. There is a play on words: what tasted good – the dinner or the recklessness?

Poetic exerciseMake your own idea

maps for the following words. 60 seconds per map.

FatherHomePoliceSchoolSportWrite a poem from

one set of words.

Poetry - connotation

First FrostA girl is freezing in a telephone booth,Huddled in her flimsy coat,Her face strained by tearsAnd smeared with lipstick.She breathes on her thin little fingers. Fingers like ice. Glass beads in her ears.She has to beat her way back alone Down the icy street.First frost. A beginning of losses.The first frost of telephone phrases.It is the start of winter glittering on her

cheek,The first frost of having been hurt.

First IceA girl freezes in a telephone booth.In her draughty overcoat she hidesA face all smearedIn lipstick and tears.She breathes on her thin palms.Her fingers are icicles. She wears

ear-rings.She’ll have to walk home alone,Along the ice-bound street.First ice. The very first time.The first ice of telephone phrases.Frozen tears glisten on her cheeks – The first ice of human hurt.

Writing contest “capture” prompts

Create a “snapshot” with your words that describes someone who is captured by their image, how others see them. You can write in poetry or prose.

Metaphors for “Capture”

Positive Picture Film Capture a heart Passion Embrace

Negative Jail/prison Trap/snare Cell Cage Handcuffs

“Capture”

YOU have been captured –

What do you see?Feel?Hear?

Poetry – Metaphors

Write a poem where you use a metaphor for being captured.

Perspective changes all stories. Tell a story about a conflict you had from the point of view of the OTHER person.

Epic poetry

Throughout the ages, storytellers and writers have regaled audiences with tales of men in extraordinary situations overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds. In the greatest of these tales the men come to be known as heroes and the work itself comes to be known as an epic poem. But what is it exactly that makes a story an epic? Part of a long tradition, including both oral and written tales, there are a variety of recurring features many epic poems share. Though no one work necessarily contains all the following elements, they are nonetheless common denominators found throughout the genre.

Epic Poetry

Writing and Narration Known as “in medias res” (meaning “in the middle of things”), the

narration of an epic typically begins after the action has already begun or the hero has set out on his journey. It’s the literary equivalent of arriving late to the party and having to be brought up to speed with the drama still unfolding. One commonly recognized example of this could be found in Homer’s Iliad, which begins with the Trojan War already underway.

Another aspect of the epic is its tendency to take its characters all around the world, with action unfolding across multiple countries and even continents. Homer’s Odyssey, for example, follows Odysseus after the Trojan War. This journey of ten years takes our hero to numerous locations throughout ancient Greece in his attempt to return home to Ithaca. Ovid’s Metamorphoses, for its part, takes place up and down the entire known ancient world.

Epic Poetry

Upon Awakening,I Hurl the Covers to

the Floor….

Mock-heroic works are comical because they describe something mundane in grand, inflated language. Write a mock-heroic account of your usual morning routine by describing it in melodramatic, grandiose language.

What is poetry??

List the traits you think makes something poetic – how much has to do with word choice? How much is the topic? How much is the FORM or way it looks on the page?

PatternRhyme schemeRhythmWord choiceDepth of topicPaints a pictureLength??Audience is clear

Random Journal

Write a script for a twix commercial (you know, the ones where you need more time to think?).

Use script format and stage directions.

If you were a cat, what would your day be like? Tell what you do, see, smell, feel, and hear.

Journal Choose something you’re

wearing right now and pretend you’re about to put it up for auction on eBay. Write a few paragraphs singing its praises. Be careful about spelling and grammar – studies have shown that correctly spelled ads receive much higher bids on eBay than badly spelled ones.

Rewrite the following sentences to vary sentence structure:

Teddy glanced at his watch. He couldn’t believe it. It was already two o’clock. He was late fro his job interview. He wondered why he was so irresponsible. He realized he might cry.

Journal

Slice of Life poemRead the

poem and respond as instructed.

Begin planning your children’s story. It is due Wednesday of next week!

Journal

What was your favorite book as a child? What made it so good? List specific qualities that you remember.

Journal

The MOOD of a story or passage is the general feeling it conveys. A story’s mood might be tense in one passage and light in another. Use the sentence below as the first line of a story, and then create six different second sentences, each of which creates a different mood. “Pierre sat quietly and stared out the window.”

Journal

The “AND” Challenge:

Write a three- paragraph story that doesn’t use the word “and.”

If you had to spend two weeks alone on a remote island and could choose only one kind of food and one kind of drink to take along, what would you choose? Explain your rationale.

Journal

The antagonist of a story is the person who acts against the protagonist, the story’s principal character. In the story of your life, who is your antagonist? Write a description of this person, and describe the way in which he or she acts against you.

Journal

What’s in a name? Actually, quite a lot. Especially in works of fiction, names reflect social class and personality. Can you imagine a femme fatale named Sally or a kindly plumber named Basil?

Create three characters that could appear in a novel – but do not name them yet. Write a paragraph about each character, and then choose the perfect name for each.

Journal

List the first ten nouns you think of when you hear the word circus. Use those ten words in a paragraph explaining what a circus is. Imagine that your reader is someone who has never seen a circus before.

Journal

Alien discovery. An alien visits our planet. Write about what is most confusing to the alien about the way we live our lives.

Mistakes. Have you or someone you know ever made a terrible mistake? Write a story or poem about it. Can all mistakes be forgiven? No names please.

Journal

Heard in the halls … Take a snippet of conversation you hear in the hallway or at the mall or in some public place. Create a story that finishes the sentence or the conversation. Make it up.

Closet. You open your closet door: What do you see?

Creative Writing Prompts

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