OK, so I've had some surprising feedback when the Novel Idea hs been shared with others. They're interested! That leads me to think that there's got to be a way to make this easy, doable, and most importantly, FUN. Seriously, this shouldn't be like a grade school assignment - writing should be an enjoyable experience!
SO, it's time to set down some ground rules:
1) There is no obligation to share. If you want to share anything you create, please do so, either in a response post or just messaging me, or anything at all. If you don't want to share - then don't! Above all other things, writing is a personal journey. Where you are on that journey is just that - it's where you are. Any comparison should be only between what you wrote yesterday, and what you wrote today. This is not a competition. The idea is to explore.
2) No critiques - unless you specifically ASK for one, in which case, it will be done in private. Never public. This goes for anyone. Don't do it unless a person asks you specifically to look at it. Respect the fact that someone chose to share their work.
3) I have a list of prompts already, ranging from the silly to the surreal. I was going to do a surprise reveal every day, but that's a lot to spring on a person, and it might feel more like an assignment than like something fun. Besides, if people DID share what they came up with, then it might get tiresome reading a bunch of different takes on the meaning of "Blue Christmas" as sung by Elvis (no, don't worry, that's not a topic I plan on using - I just needed an example). Then, I thought I would just make a calendar and publish it ahead of time so that people would know the dates for each topic. That read like a syllabus, and this is not a college course. So, I'm just going to publish the list, and anyone who wants to pick from the list for any given day can do so. There may be updates to the list throughout the project.
4) Some of the themes/prompts are specific, with difficulties added. They are meant to be challenging, to stretch the boundaries of thinking. That being said, I wouldn't suggest leaving them all to the last few days. I've tried to come up with a few of them, so that there might be one challenging idea a week, as well as some silliness each week, etc.
5) Some ideas look like they are specifically first-person oriented. "You wake to find yourself on a spaceship" type stuff. Don't read too much into that!!! I don't care if you want to make this about "you" or about a random character you create to be in that situation. That's not important....unless of course, that's one of those difficult challenges mentioned above!!! (this may or may not happen)
6) Genres. Virtually no limits on genre, except, please, keep it PG-13. The occasional cussing, etc is fine, of course, and it's sometimes the appropriate thing to do. I get that. But please, generally, keep things mostly clean, ok??
7) Format. Please list the theme/prompt you're doing, your initial thoughts/something you were aiming for, the genre you're writing in, and then, finally, post your entry.
That being said.....here's the list of prompts!!!!
Silly Prompts: (silly ideas that can be pretty light and simple to write about)
Dinosaurs!
Pirates!
Tattoo Shop
Pick a color you hate
Phrase: "There was the device."
Hostages
Earthquakes
The last dream you had suddenly becomes real
person/pet change places
Assassins - R - Us
Thoughtful Prompts (These are a little deeper)
Thankfulness
Forgiveness
Phrase: "The wind shakes me."
The Peddler Man
Magic is real
Multiple personalities
Hospital stay
Phrase: "I'm dead."
The Prophet
life in the fast lane
In-Depth Prompts (these take some pretty deep thinking to pull them off)
The North lost the Civil War
wielding a weapon with which you are very familiar
The world is still "A" Theocracy
Tomorrow is the last day of the world, and you are the only one who knows it.
What if our whole world was a prison, and we just find out about it?
Phrase: "The Red Brick Machine"
Phrase: "There were a hell of a lot of things they didn't tell me when I hired on with this outfit."
trapped in a mirror universe
Pick a random city to be the new capital of the USA after a tragedy occurs in DC.
The primary mode of transportation in the world is the bicycle.
Difficult Prompts
Write from the opposite gender's point of view. Difficulty: First-Person.
All alone on an island. Difficulty: must be all conversation.
Pep Talk. Difficulty: talking someone INTO committing a heinous crime.
World-ending plague. Difficulty: only 5,000 people may live.
Eulogy Difficulty: it's for your funeral.
OK, that's 35 topics, and 30 days, starting November 1st. Yup, there's some leeway built in!!
Friday, October 21, 2016
Friday, October 14, 2016
A Novel Idea
OK, kids, so here's the skinny: November is National Novel Writing Month. I have NO idea why a) they picked a month with 30 days instead of 31 to do this, or b) why we need a month for this at all. BUT, there's this organization out there that does what they call NaNoWriMo - the challenge is to write a novel in a month - or, at least 50,000 words of a novel. It's a mighty challenge. I've tried it before, and didn't quite succeed. In fact, given the stuff I do in my workshop for the holidays, it's rather foolish of me to do it at all. So, how to best participate in this, then, if it isn't conducive to my schedule?? Thus, a new plan was formed, and I invite you all to join me.
THE NOVEL IDEA
Much like my forays into National Poetry Month, where I challenge myself to create a new poem each day, the Novel Idea pays an homage to Nat'l Novel Writing Month - only the goal isn't to write a novel. The goal is simply to create a one-page scene, starting from a writing prompt. Challenging?? Not yet. The challenge comes in creating not just ANY scene....but the OPENING SCENE for a novel. That first page of a novel, where you grip your reader, and set the whole tone for your world. That's what I'm looking for. By the end of it, the goal is to have 30 novel-ready ideas to explore. Genre is totally flexible. Horror, Historical Fiction, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Period-specific, Mystery....the list goes on.
Why? Because writing fiction is good for us all. Fiction allows us to explore ideas and concepts in a way that is safe, to encounter the problems with those ideas, and where they fall short, and also where they can succeed. It allows us to think creatively, and find solutions - in short, fiction allows us the chance to expand our world by expanding our vision. It is a vital resource for us and for future generations.
What is a novel-ready idea? It's a notion, really. The prompts might be questions like "What would life be like if dinosaurs were still around?" or "What if we never created the automobile?" They might be random topics: "Imagine an apartment building where all the residents had only one arm" or "Imagine your favorite vacation place - only something has gone terribly wrong." Here's the great part: you only have to write one page for each topic!! It's harder than it sounds - particularly on limiting it to one page!!!
Why only one page? Remember, this is an exercise. There are several ideas at play: stimulating the imagination, honing the ability to write and communicate clearly, practicing brevity, character-creating, world-building.....really, the list goes on.
I know you want an example though, so here you go: I was having a conversation with someone within the past year, and a phrase came up that someone was stealing someone else's sunshine. The comment was made, specifically, "They are sun-thieves!" I couldn't get the idea out of my head, and a few days later, I sat down and jotted down some words - the idea was to let them go, but save them for another time. Here is the product of my jotting:
THE NOVEL IDEA
Much like my forays into National Poetry Month, where I challenge myself to create a new poem each day, the Novel Idea pays an homage to Nat'l Novel Writing Month - only the goal isn't to write a novel. The goal is simply to create a one-page scene, starting from a writing prompt. Challenging?? Not yet. The challenge comes in creating not just ANY scene....but the OPENING SCENE for a novel. That first page of a novel, where you grip your reader, and set the whole tone for your world. That's what I'm looking for. By the end of it, the goal is to have 30 novel-ready ideas to explore. Genre is totally flexible. Horror, Historical Fiction, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Period-specific, Mystery....the list goes on.
Why? Because writing fiction is good for us all. Fiction allows us to explore ideas and concepts in a way that is safe, to encounter the problems with those ideas, and where they fall short, and also where they can succeed. It allows us to think creatively, and find solutions - in short, fiction allows us the chance to expand our world by expanding our vision. It is a vital resource for us and for future generations.
What is a novel-ready idea? It's a notion, really. The prompts might be questions like "What would life be like if dinosaurs were still around?" or "What if we never created the automobile?" They might be random topics: "Imagine an apartment building where all the residents had only one arm" or "Imagine your favorite vacation place - only something has gone terribly wrong." Here's the great part: you only have to write one page for each topic!! It's harder than it sounds - particularly on limiting it to one page!!!
Why only one page? Remember, this is an exercise. There are several ideas at play: stimulating the imagination, honing the ability to write and communicate clearly, practicing brevity, character-creating, world-building.....really, the list goes on.
I know you want an example though, so here you go: I was having a conversation with someone within the past year, and a phrase came up that someone was stealing someone else's sunshine. The comment was made, specifically, "They are sun-thieves!" I couldn't get the idea out of my head, and a few days later, I sat down and jotted down some words - the idea was to let them go, but save them for another time. Here is the product of my jotting:
The Sun Thieves
The corn was stunted. There was nothing wrong with the soil. Krev knew this. He had it studied at the university, and the
tests came back saying that his soil was perfectly suited to grow just about
anything. Nutrient-rich, holding the
right amount of water, with just the right mixtures of sand, clay, and topsoil, the tests didn’t lie. The weather cooperated to
produce one of the best growing seasons he ever knew, and still, even though
everything seemed in perfect order to produce the best crop possible, the corn
was stunted, the stalks only barely reaching his knees. It should have been that tall over a month
ago.
Krev would normally not be
too concerned at this. He was a farmer,
and the one thing farmers knew with certainty was that bad years happen. Sometimes there was too much rain, or not
enough, or a blight moved in, or insects destroyed a crop. These things happened, and every farmer knew
it. You did the best you could. That was all.
Except, of course, that Krev wasn’t the only one facing this problem
this year. Every farm in the province
was facing it, and there were rumors that it was even more widespread. Something was dreadfully wrong.
Krev thought it was the
seeds. Something must have gotten into
the seeds and done something to them.
Maybe it was an infestation, or something faulty with the formula the
Corporation was using. By law, the
Corporation supplied everyone their seeds, thus ensuring that there would be
plenty of each crop to feed everyone.
Some farms would grow tomatoes, some would grow wheat, and Krev grew
corn, most years. The Corporation
managed it all, rotating the crops as necessary, issuing permits and contracts
as it deemed necessary in order to keep everything balanced.
It was not a perfect
system. Most farmers got away with
growing and experimenting a little on the side, and the Corporation looked the
other way, for the most part. Unless, of
course, you did something really good, and then it was confiscated by the
Corporation in an attempt to replicate the crop, and see if it belonged in the
system. You had to be careful to not get
noticed. Some farmers experimented with
hydroponic growing, but they had to be careful how much energy they used. The Corporation monitored that, too. They had to make certain the mistakes of the
past were never repeated. That was the
sole point of the Corporation.
Krev recognized it for what
it was: a rebuttal to the mistakes made generations ago, when farmers polluted
the land with fertilizers, and began to destroy the environment. What followed was a century of abuse,
eventually resulting in the Great Wars.
The wars raged on for almost a quarter century, and almost destroyed the
planet. That was when the Corporation
stepped in and changed the world for the better. It was a coup to all the warring governments,
really, built on one great promise made by the head of InterScience Industries,
Ms. Tam Carrera. Ms. Carrera promised
that she could feed and supply power to the world, and that no one would have
to pay for anything, but the cost was that all armaments would have to be destroyed,
and an immediate peace installed in all governments. No more standing armies. No more wars.
No more missiles or bombs, no more forgotten souls slipping through the
cracks of society. Everyone would
benefit or no one would.
The outcry was incredible,
from all sides, but in the end, it was the religions of the world coming
together that brought the world’s governments to their knees. It became known as the Great Purge as the
world was brought forcibly to accept the ultimatum. The Purge promised utopia, and at the head of
it all, Ms. Carrera delivered. The last
holdouts were the tribal warlords, those militant dictators who tried to hold
on to their power, but they were soon eliminated. InterScience stood tall at the end, the sole
proprietor of the fusion system that made solar power efficient and available
to everyone, free of charge.
SO - who's up for joining me in this challenge????
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
The best people....
In the middle of this political season, a month before the always pivotal elections upon which our country runs, I found myself in conversation with my father. He tends to be a bit more conservative than I, or I tend to be more liberally-minded than him - take your pick. That doesn't really matter for the moment. What matters was something that he said: "These are the best two we could come up with?"
It dawned on me then: No, these are not the best people. No, these are not the people who should represent us to the world. No, these are not the best choices available. But then, here's the kicker: They never really have been. George Washington is often credited with saying something to the effect of "The only person worthy of having power is the one who doesn't want it," and maybe it's true that he said it (in this age of wiki-this and wiki-that, frankly, it's a wonder any research can be done at all.) Maybe it's even true that he didn't want the job of POTUS. I wasn't there, I didn't get to ask him. But was he the best person? Nope. He was simply the person who stood up and said, "I will do this thing."
But I am hit with one inescapable fact: I am 39 years old, born in this country, and therefore, able to run for election in this season, and I am sitting comfortably on the sidelines, watching it all happen. Much like war - and I will take a moment to offer a simple "Thanks" to all those who volunteer to be in our armed forces - I have not volunteered to take part. I did not stand up and say, "I will do this thing." Nope, not me. So two people - neither of whom I care for in the least - have done so in my stead. They have volunteered to take this yoke of leadership upon themselves. Meanwhile, I get to sit on the sidelines and criticize them for every little thing they do. All because they said "yes."
Shame on me.
I don't get to do that. Not anymore. Much like I don't get to criticize a soldier who volunteered to go to the desert, or the jungle, or the tundra, I don't get to criticize them because I wasn't willing to do the same thing.
So, to those reading, I ask one thing: Stop the vitriol. Stop the hating against Candidate X or Candidate Y. Stop the arguing. Stop the anger. Stop the shouting from the rooftops. Stop the ugliness that has become this election. Talk, but more importantly, listen to one another. Hear the heartache that is going on in many segments of our society, and do what you can to ease it.
We have the candidates we have because the best people, the people we wish would step up and lead us have not. Because WE have not stood up to be those best people, we must deal with who we have been given to choose from. Should we be angry? Yes, but not at the candidates, and not at their supporters. We should be angry at ourselves. There is dignity at standing up when others refuse to do so. There is an inherent nobility to the action of volunteering for the position. Even if we really don't care for a candidate - or either of them - it is disgraceful to this country and to ourselves to spend time and energy tearing down the people who said "yes" when we refused to do so.
It dawned on me then: No, these are not the best people. No, these are not the people who should represent us to the world. No, these are not the best choices available. But then, here's the kicker: They never really have been. George Washington is often credited with saying something to the effect of "The only person worthy of having power is the one who doesn't want it," and maybe it's true that he said it (in this age of wiki-this and wiki-that, frankly, it's a wonder any research can be done at all.) Maybe it's even true that he didn't want the job of POTUS. I wasn't there, I didn't get to ask him. But was he the best person? Nope. He was simply the person who stood up and said, "I will do this thing."
But I am hit with one inescapable fact: I am 39 years old, born in this country, and therefore, able to run for election in this season, and I am sitting comfortably on the sidelines, watching it all happen. Much like war - and I will take a moment to offer a simple "Thanks" to all those who volunteer to be in our armed forces - I have not volunteered to take part. I did not stand up and say, "I will do this thing." Nope, not me. So two people - neither of whom I care for in the least - have done so in my stead. They have volunteered to take this yoke of leadership upon themselves. Meanwhile, I get to sit on the sidelines and criticize them for every little thing they do. All because they said "yes."
Shame on me.
I don't get to do that. Not anymore. Much like I don't get to criticize a soldier who volunteered to go to the desert, or the jungle, or the tundra, I don't get to criticize them because I wasn't willing to do the same thing.
So, to those reading, I ask one thing: Stop the vitriol. Stop the hating against Candidate X or Candidate Y. Stop the arguing. Stop the anger. Stop the shouting from the rooftops. Stop the ugliness that has become this election. Talk, but more importantly, listen to one another. Hear the heartache that is going on in many segments of our society, and do what you can to ease it.
We have the candidates we have because the best people, the people we wish would step up and lead us have not. Because WE have not stood up to be those best people, we must deal with who we have been given to choose from. Should we be angry? Yes, but not at the candidates, and not at their supporters. We should be angry at ourselves. There is dignity at standing up when others refuse to do so. There is an inherent nobility to the action of volunteering for the position. Even if we really don't care for a candidate - or either of them - it is disgraceful to this country and to ourselves to spend time and energy tearing down the people who said "yes" when we refused to do so.
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