Whether you’ve had a stressful day at work or school or you feel exhausted from the constant bad news you see on TV and online, it’s perfectly fine to want a break from all the negativity. Well, Pandas, this is your oasis of heckin’ awesome wholesomeness. Stop by for a while. Slow down. Breathe in the sweet air. And enjoy the adorable memes we’ve got in store for you today.
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Looking for some deep dive on some finding yourself journal prompts? Well, look no more! This post is filled with eye opening questions to find yourself.
Improve your foreign language skills with this list of 32 writing prompts for your language journal. For beginner, intermediate and advanced learners.
The bride-to-be explained that she’s thinking of dropping her very own sister as a bridesmaid.
Learning how to create tension in writing is important whatever your genre. Read more on writing a page-turning novel.
1. Attach an image (photo, magazine, etc.) to a notebook page and write about it. 2. What things will people in the future say about how we live now? (Examples: They ate that? They believed that?) 3. Pick one from each list to make a creature and animal combination. Now write a short story or scene in which this creature appears. List 1 List 2 Vampire porcupine Ninja armadillo Zombie pig Pirate goat Mummy lobster Clown possum Banshee shark Wraith moray eel 4. Imagine a future in which we each have a personalized robot servant. What would yours be like? What would it do? What features would it have? 5. What does your name mean? Free write about names: names you like, names you don’t, how a name can affect a person’s life, how you feel about your own name, why your parents chose your name, etc. 6. Create a brand new holiday with its own traditions, rituals, foods, and activities. 7. What road-trip would you take if you suddenly could? Write about it. 8. List six true sentences that begin with the words “I'll never forget…” 9. Imagine that we lost all electricity, water, and gas for a month without any time to prepare. Write about how your life would change and how you would survive. 10. Make your bucket list for the next 5 years, the next 10 years, and for life. 11. Tell this story: “Well, I thought it was going to be a regular summer doing all our regular things…” 12. List 10 places in the world that you would most like to visit, 10 places you’ve been, and 10 places you would never want to go. 13. Think about hospitality in your family. What’s it like to have guests in your house? Do you prefer to have friends to your house or to go to a friend’s house? 14. Pick a family member of two and write about his or her reputation in your family, or tell a family legend. 15. A guitar pick, a red balloon, and a wicker basket. Write a scene or a poem that includes these three objects. 16. What animal would judge us the most? Write a scene (based on truth or fiction) where two or more people are doing something silly, and they're being observed and criticized by animals. 17. Write about your own worst family vacation memory. 18. Write about your best family vacation memory. 19. Imagine that someone says to you, “Because that's how we've always done it!” Write this out as a scene. (Think: Who said it, what were the circumstances, how did you respond, etc.) 20. What do you think about when you can't sleep? Turn it into a piece of writing. 21. What traditions does your family have? List all of them or just pick one and write about it. 22. Think about your strongest emotion right now (irritation, boredom, happiness, contentment, etc.) and find five quotes about this emotion. 23. What do you struggle with the most? Write about it. 24. Write a self-portrait. 25. What can we learn from contrast? Write a description of something very dark (like a crow) in a very light place (like a field of snow). Make the dark thing seem innocent and the light thing seem ominous. 26. Write about someone who has no enemies. Is it even possible? 27. Think of a person from your past who really deserved a good scolding but never got one. Write a fictional piece where you tell that person off intelligently. 28. Can honesty honestly be bad? Write about someone, fact or fiction, who gets in trouble for being too truthful. 29. The word “fat” carries a negative connotation. Write a story or observation where something fat is celebrated. 30. What animal lives beneath your human skin? A mouse? A cougar? Or what? Explain with writing. 31. Write about the best piece of advice you ever received. 32. Remember a favorite book from your childhood. Write a scene that includes you and an old copy of that book you find somewhere. --> 33. “I was so mortified, I wanted to crawl in a hole!” Write a short narrative (fiction or nonfiction) where this is your first sentence. Illustrate it if you want. 34. Should books ever be banned? Discuss. If no, explain why. You might want to look at a least of commonly banned books. If yes, explain under what circumstances. 35. Ernest Hemingway said to “write hard and clear about what hurts.” Write about something that hurts, whether it’s an emotional, physical, or phantom pain. 36. What if everyone had to wear a shirt with his or her Myers-Briggs personality type on it? What would this change? How would this affect the way people interact with each other? Would you like this or hate it? (If you don’t know your “type,” try this site. 37. William Shakespeare wrote that: “Conversation should be pleasant without scurrility, witty without affectation, free without indecency, learned without conceitedness, novel without falsehood.” Write your thoughts about conversation, or make up dialogue between two characters who are meeting each other for the first time in an unexpected place. 38. Tell this story: “There it was, finally. Our island. Our very own island. It looked beautiful above the waves of fog, but there was still one question to be answered: why had they sold it to us for only five dollars?” 39. Maya Angelou said “I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way s/he handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.” Tell a story in which a character has to deal with one, two, or all three of these scenarios. How does your character respond? 40. You have a chance to go back and completely re-do an event in your life. What is it, and how to you change it? What is the outcome? This can be a real or fictional event. 41. Pick two characters from different books you’ve read this year and have them get in an argument about something (e.g., who has suffered more, who has had a happier life, etc.). 42. The one shoe in the road: why is it there? Write a story about the circumstances that led to one shoe in the middle of the road. 43. You get to guest star on a TV show. What show is it? What happens in this particular episode? 44. What would you pack in your suitcase if you could not go home again? 45. You can only use 20 words for the rest of your life. You can repeat them as often as you wish, but you can only use these words. What are they? 46. What current fashion in clothing do you particularly like or dislike? Why? 47. Choose five symbols or objects that represent you. Why did you choose these things? 48. "When I stepped outside, the whole world smelled like…" Write a scene that starts with that line. 49. Write a poem entitled "Hitchhiking on a Saturday Afternoon." 50. Use these two lines of dialogue in a story: "What's in your hand?" "It's mine. I found it." 51. Write a scene that happens in a parking lot between a teenager and a man in a convertible. 52. If you only had one window to look out of for the next six months, what would you want to see on the other side? Describe the view. How would it change? 53. Write a story for children. Start with “Once upon a time” or “Long ago in a land far away.” Include a dragon, a deadly flower, and a mask. 54. "Did she actually just say that?" Write a scene that includes this line. 55. “Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.” — Jane Howard. Write what comes to mind when you read this quote. 56. List five things you want in a relationship. 57. List ten favorite lines from movies. 58. Write about the biggest mistake you made this week. Now write about the best thing you did this week. 59. What is the very first memory that you have? Write about it. 60. What if your pet could only talk to you at midnight for an hour? 61. Write an acrostic poem using your full name and three words that describe you—good and bad— for each letter. For example, S: sensitive, stubborn, smiling. A: artistic, argumentative, agoraphobic M: melodramatic, moody, magical 62. What if you could create your own TV show with all your friends and loved ones as the cast? What kind of show would it be and who would play which parts? 63. Take a photo or draw a picture of every place you go in a day. Put the pictures or drawings in your journal. 64. A to Z: Make an alphabetical list of advice for someone who is about to become a teenager. For example: A: ask forgiveness, not permission. B.: bake cookies. C.: cook something delicious once a month. D: don't compare yourself to others. 65. Find 10 quotes about happiness. 66. Write about 5 things you'd rather be doing right now. 67. Write out the lyrics to your favorite song. Find some pictures to illustrate the song. 68. Who do you spend the most time talking to? Siblings, parents, friends? Make a list of who you actually talk to during the day and estimate the amount of time invested in each individual. Does the list reveal your priorities? Is it proportional to what is important to you? Make notes of what you talk about in your daily conversations. 69. Find a quote for each month of the year. 70. Animals can sometimes seem remarkably human. Describe an experience with an animal that acted in a very human way. 71. Imagine you opted to have yourself frozen for 50 years. Describe your first days unfrozen, 50 years in the future. 72. Imagine that you are an astronaut who has been doing research on the moon for three years. You are do to go back to earth in a week when nuclear war breaks out on earth. You watch the earth explode. Then what? 73. Create a menu from a fictitious restaurant. Make sure the restaurant has a theme, such as Classic Books, and the food should all be given appropriate names (e.g., “Mockingbird Pie”). 74. Preconceived notions are often false. Describe a time when you discovered that a preconceived notion of yours (about a person, place, or thing) turned out to be wrong. 75. Create a story using words of one-syllable only, beginning with a phrase such as: “The last time I saw her, she...” “From the back of the truck...” “On the night of the full moon...” “The one thing I know for sure…” 76. Describe a significant person (teacher, neighbor, mentor, coach, parent, sibling, sweetheart) with as many physical details as possible and as many similes as possible. (E.g., “Her hair was as golden as straw.”) 77. Write about your first name—why you were given it, what associations or stories are attached to it, what you think or know it means. Do the same for your last name. What name would you give yourself other than the one you actually have? 78. Parents are our first and most important teachers. Describe a valuable lesson you learned from one of your parents. 79. Imagine a moral dilemma (for example, you see someone shoplift or a friend tells a blatant lie to her parents about where she was last night) and explain what you would do and why you would do it. 80. Review an obituary, birth, or a section from the police record or classified ads section of a local newspaper. Choose one and tell the story behind it. 81. List the most attractive things about your current hometown. Now list the most unattractive things. 82. Come up with a list of nouns and a second list of verbs, all of one syllable each. Describe a scene or situation, using a minimum of ten words from each list. 83. Where is your happy place? Write about it and include a picture or drawing. 84. Create a how-to manual for something you can do well (make a craft, bake cookies, restring a guitar, apply make up, etc.). Describe the process so that someone else could complete the task based on your directions. Use present tense verbs. 85. Free write on this quote by Samuel Johnson: “Ignorance, when voluntary, is criminal.” 86. Find a favorite quote and work it into an illustration. (Inspiration here.) 87. Make a soundtrack for your life so far. List songs that describe you or different times of your life. (Make the actual soundtrack on Spotify, etc. too!) 88. Sometimes we find ourselves in situations that force us to face our deepest fears. Tell about a time when you had to face one of your greatest fears—or make up the story. 89. You’re a talk show host. Pick two guests. Why did you choose them? Are they people who get along, or people with vastly different viewpoints? Write about the episode. 90. What three books do you think should be required reading for everyone? Why? 91. “What you don’t know what hurt you.” Write a story that begins with this statement. 92. Free write on this quote by Woodrow Wilson: “Friendship is the only cement that will hold the world together.” 93. According to a Czechoslovakian proverb, “Better a lie that soothes than a truth that hurts.” Agree or disagree? Explain. 94. Rewrite “The Tale of the Three Little Pigs” by using people that you know as the pigs and the wolf. 95. There is a saying that you should be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it. Describe a time when you wished for something and got it—and then wished you hadn’t—or make up a story in which this happens to the character. 96. As the saying goes, “rules are meant to be broken.” Tell about a time when you broke the rules and what happened as a result. 97. "That's not what I meant!" Write a story that has this line in it somewhere. 98. A blue trash can, a red picture frame, a teddy bear with the stuffing falling out, and a padlock. Put these four items somewhere in a story, scene, or poem. 99. Write your name in outline letters on a whole sheet of paper. Now fill in each letter with words you like that begin with that letter. For example: 100. Make a word collage of who YOU are. Use pictures too, if desired. **HURRAH! You can now purchase this as a digital PDF ($2) at Teachers Pay Teachers. For more creative writing ideas, check out my free WordSmithery creative writing lessons and my popular Ultimate Guide to Creative Writing Resources! Check out 100 other 100 Things posts from the bloggers at iHomeschool Network! Do you have it yet? The Big Book of Homeschooling Ideas—a collaboration of over 50 authors with 103 chapters— is now available! Don't miss this amazing resource!
Qualities of a Good Writer's Notebook: Before we get started on why you need a writer's notebook, let's investigate the "How?" You first need to purchase a high quality notebook. Well, you don't really need to. You can buy a simple composition notebook from the grocery store if that's what you prefer. However I suggest
This week’s prompts come from Irish mythology. This was quite a challenge for me than the post on Greek Myths as I knew basically nothing about it before I started. (Now also have a list based on Norse Myths and Bulgarian Folklore!) I used Wikipedia a lot and a helpful website called Bardmythologies.com. I encourage you to check this site out and read all of the myths, they are truly fascinating. Two books also came in handy during my research that I would like to highly recommend. One is The Book of Fairy and Folk Tales of Ireland compiled by W. B. Yeats and the other is Heroic Landscapes: Irish Myth and Legend by Rod O’Donoghue. The latter takes a more academic approach to the mythology.Irish Mythology is broken down into four cycles: The Mythological Cycle, The Ulster Cycle, The Fenian Cycle, and The King Cycle. There are varying degrees of documentation for the different cycles with the Mythological having the least. All of them are filled with amazing tales that are sure to inspire more than a few new stories for you. 1) Tuatha De Danann Myth The story of the Tuatha De Danann is long and interwoven with many other peoples on Ireland. I will give a summary here because it is fascinating and could inspire a great many stories.First there was a group called the Formorians. They were raiders and sea pirates who, through years of stories, became sea gods. (O’Donoghue argues that they started as gods and were demoted to pirates.) They were depicted as “ugly, dark and demonic, sometimes seen as giants or elves and were witnessed with goat or horse heads or other terrible features.” (Bardmythologies.com) They are the quintessential “bad guys” of the Mythic Cycle of Irish mythology. Every group of people who came to Ireland, which included every group of people who inhabited the place, were accosted by the Formorians. They attacked and exacted taxes from their Island of Tory off the north coast. They had a great battle with the Partholonians, who eventually disappeared altogether. Then they fought the Nemedians. These people were not entirely eradicated but instead, the survivors of the final battle scattered and founded the next two main invaders of Ireland, the Fir Bolg and the Tuatha De Danann. The name Tuatha De Danann is typically consdiered to mean Tribe of the goddess Danu, but nothing is known of this goddess. After the Nemedians fled, one of the groups went to the north. They picked up worship of the goddess and all of their magical abilities there (or according to some in Greece). While visiting the four great cities of the north they collected four magical items: “From Falias they got the Lia Fáil, the stone of destiny, which roared when a rightful king took his seat upon it. From Gorias they brought the claíomh solais, or sword of destiny. From Murias came the cauldron of the Daghda, which could feed a host, however large, without ever being emptied. From Finias came the Sleá Bua, a magic spear.” With these and their new goddess, they returned to Ireland. When they arrived the Fir Bolg, who had gone to Greece, been enslaved there and escaped, had already arrived and established themselves. They divided the country into five provinces, the fifth one being the administrative center and often considered a more metaphorical or magical place. The Fir Bolg greeted the newcomers, “a group of beautiful, tall, fair people” who arrived in a mist, amicably but soon betrayed them and tried to attack. The Tuatha De Danann were victorious but allowed the Fir Bolg to keep the province of Connaught. But the king of the Tuatha De, Nuada, was removed after he lost his hand in the battle and the new king, Bres, was half Formorian. He allowed the Formorians to impose taxes and oppress the Tuatha De by other means. This led to an epic battle between the Tuatha De Danann and the Formorians. The Tuatha were victorious and Nuada was given a silver arm and put back on the throne. Eventually the Tuatha De were themselves defeated. After being afraid of a visiting king’s praises of Ireland they murdered him. His grandsons, the Sons of Mil, came and after betrayal, magic storms, and fierce fighting, were the victors. The Tuatha De Danann were forced out and it is often said they went to the otherworld with their magic and rule there as kings of the fairies or are the fairies themselves Writing Prompt The Tuatha De Danann story has so many points that can be used for stories. You could make a whole series out of this little history. The epic sea storms they conjured to destroy the Sons of Mil, the silver-armed king, the four magic objects, their eventual defeat and retreat to the land of the fairies would all make wonderful tales. For our purposes, try starting with the arrival of the mist shrouded Tuatha De Danann. Imagine being the Fir Bolg watching them materialize. You just established your own kingdom after being routed from your homeland by the Formorians, demonic sea gods, then being enslaved by the Greeks. Now, when you thought things were going to go your way, a new player arrives and you aren’t sure if they mean well or not. If their magic is benevolent or malevolent. I used this prompt to write the story Legacy. Check it out to see how I turn inspiration into story. 2) Children of Lir Myth During a contest for the next High King of the Tuatha De Danann, two men came to the foreground. Lir of Derravaragh and Bobh Dearg of Munster. Bobh Dearg ended up winning because he was married to a strong woman and Lir was single. So, Bobh offered Lir one of his daughters in hopes of tying them together and preventing an uprising. Lir chose to marry Aobh and they were very happy. They had a daughter, Fonnoula, a son, Aodh, and then twin boys, Conn and Fiachra. But Aobh died in childbirth with the twins and Lir was incredibly sad. He clung to the children and they spent every moment together, even sleeping all in one giant bed. When Bobh Dearg discovered his daughter’s death we was also distraught. He hated the thought of Lir and the children alone so he asked his remaining daughters if one would marry Lir. Aoife volunteered and was excited at the prospect. But when she arrived she found Lir and the children didn’t need her and, in fact, quite ignored her. She became jealous and tricked Lir into letting her take the children to see their grandfather. But on they way she coaxed them into a lake and turned them all into swans. At the last moment she felt pity for the look in the Fionnoula’s eyes and so changed the curse slightly. They kept their voices and human minds. And the spell would break after three hundred years on this lake, three hundred on the sea of Moyle, and three hundred on another lake in Ireland and when a king’s son from the north married a king’s daughter from the south. Aoife was able to stall the discovery of her deed by telling both Lir and Bobh Dearg that the other had the children. But she was eventually found out and “Bobh Dearg transformed Aoife into a demon of the air, and she went shrieking off into the sky to be buffeted and blown about. And when the wind blows hard, sometimes you can hear her shrieking still.” (Bardmythology.com) Lir moved his household to the lake to live with his children and was able to spend the first three hundred years there with them. But then they had to leave. The Sea of Moyle was a terrible treacherous place and they had to find each other again after each storm. Fionnoula held them to her and kept them as safe as she could until the three hundred years were over. On their way to the third lake, they flew over their old homeland and discovered the time of the Tuatha De Danann was over and their father’s estate was naught but stones and grass. During their stay on the final lake, they made friends with a Christian monk who taught them of his religion and had many great conversations with them. They asked him to baptize them and he refused because they were swans. When the wedding from the curse took place they were transformed back into humans but all nine hundred years came back to them and they became decrepit. The monk then agreed to baptize them and Fionnoula asked that they be buried together in the way that they huddled on the Sea of Moyle. Writing Prompt I read a version of this once (well, it claimed to be a version of Hans Christian Anderson’s “Wild Swans” but the principle is largely the same) that was a steampunk take on the myth. It’s called “The Mechanical Wings” by Pip Ballantine. I recommend it. (It also appears in an anthology Clockwork Fairy Tales: A Collection of Steampunk Fables.) Now, I want you to tell the story from Aoife’s point of view. She watches as her sister is chosen to marry a highly regarded man and lives a very happy life. Then when she dies her father feels so bad he asks that she try to replace her sister. How would she really feel? And what happens to her after she is transformed into a demon? Does she live forever and watch everything else she loved crumble away? Does she join the storm winds on the Sea of Moyle and harass the children-swans for three hundred years? 3) Cuchulainn and Emer Myth Cuchulainn was a legendary warrior from Ulster. Most of the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology revolves around him. This story is about how he came to marry his wife. After establishing himself as a great warrior and coming of age, Cuchulainn also turned out to be the most beautiful young man. All of the other men got sick of their wives ogling him so they decided he had to get married. They tried setting him up but he rejected all the women they introduced him to. Finally, he heard of a woman who might be good enough for him. Her name was Emer and she possessed the six gifts a woman should have: beauty, voice, sweet speech, needlework, wisdom and chastity. When he arrived to meet her he began talking in riddles. No one else could understand him but Emer answered in riddles and they carried on their conversations this way. At one point, “Cuchulainn peeked down the top of her shirt and said ‘I see a fine country there with a sweet resting place.’ Emer replied, ‘No man shall rest there unless he can leap over three walls, kill three groups of nine men with one blow, leaving one man in each group alive, and slay one hundred men at each of the fords between here and Emain Macha.’” (Bardmythology.com) Cuchulainn left in high spirits. He had won her affection and she gave him tasks to complete to win her. But Emer’s father didn’t think Cuchulainn was worthy so he disguised himself and convinced the young warrior that he should go train with Scathach, a woman warrior known for training great fighters. He hoped that Cuchulainn would die during training or on the journey. But Cuchulainn did not die. He returned for Emer. In an attempt to protect her, her father put up extra fortifications. In conquering them, Cuchulainn met Emer’s requirements. Her father fell off the wall and died during the assault. The two were happily married. They were each others’ equal in brains and she never got jealous when he went off to war or was with other women because he always returned to her. Writing Prompt This myth begs to be written from Emer’s point of view. Play with...
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She had heard his excuses before, thousands of times, but this time she was sick of them. She had never known that a human body could twist into that position. The bookcases tilted at a precarious angle over the sleeping infant. He was a brave man except when it came to small, tight spaces like […]
If you're feeling a little low on inspiration, let any of these 100 prompts give you the creative boost you need to build a new and inventive plot for your next work!
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Try these writing exercises for beginners and become a better writer by actually applying writing tips to your writing.
What should I ask myself when I’m wondering, “what should I write about?” It is that fateful moment again. You have gotten out of bed. Brushed your teeth and...
How do you get back into writing again? How do you beat writer’s block? Writing about yourself can be a great place to start. Some of these writing prompts might lead to great blog posts, and other ideas might be more suited for your personal journal. You may not be able to relate to all of them, but I tried to make them pretty general! These creative writing exercises can also help you develop the characters in your short story, novel, or screenplay — just imagine your character answering them instead of you. Describe one of your earliest childhood memories. Write about what you see as one of your best qualities. Do you have the same religious beliefs that you had as a child? If so, why? If not, how and why did they change? Write about the benefits of being an only child—or the advantages of having siblings. Write about how a person can tell if they’re really in love. If you don’t know, write about how you don’t know. Are you shy about your body, such as when you change clothes in a locker room? Or are you comfortable with it? Why? Describe your favorite spot in your home, and why you like it. Write about one of the most admirable classmates or coworkers you’ve ever had. Write about one of the worst classmates or coworkers you’ve ever had. Tell your story about the time you succeeded at something because you just. Didn’t. Give. Up. Write about how you’re a typical resident of your city or town… or about how you’re different from most people there. Write about how you fit the stereotype of people from your country… or about how you don’t fit it at all. Describe your favorite toy or game when you were five years old. Write about one of your most useful talents. What superstitions do you believe in or follow? Do you do certain things to avoid bad luck, or make wishes in certain ways? Write about a death in your family. Write about a birth in your family. Tell your story about how you made a friend in the past five years or so. How did you meet them? What do you like about them? Tell your story about your first best friend as a child. How did you meet them? How did you play together? Describe a physical feature of yours that you really like. Is your home usually neat, or usually messy? Why is that? Do you think it matters? Why or why not? Describe a part of your job or everyday work that you love. Describe a part of your job or everyday work that you loathe. Tell your story about how you won something, like a contest, a game, or a raffle. Do you think your hometown is a good place to live? Why or why not? Do you fit your astrological sign? Why or why not? Write about when you think it’s morally acceptable to lie. If your answer is “never,” write about why you think that. Write about a trait you inherited or picked up from a parent. Write about a way in which you are very different from a parent. Discuss one of the most important qualities you think people should look for in a romantic partner. Discuss a quality that you think is overrated when choosing a romantic partner. Write about a kind of exercise or physical activity you enjoy. Describe the contents of a desk drawer or junk drawer in your home, and write about the thoughts or memories that the objects in there inspire. Write about what you wish people knew about your job, profession, or calling in life. Write about a habit or addiction that you’ve been struggling with for years. Write about an external situation that you’ve been struggling with for years. Discuss something you love about the people in your country. Discuss something you wish you could change about the people in your country. What was something you misunderstood as a child? It could be the definition of a word, or something about adult life. Describe the benefits of being an introvert or an extrovert (whichever one you are.) Describe the challenges of being an introvert or an extrovert (whichever one you are.) Tell your story about the time you spoke up for something you believed in. How did it feel? Were there any consequences? If you don’t have children – do you or did you want them? Why or why not? If you have children – what is one thing that surprised you about being a parent? Tell your story about when a friend (or a group of them) made your day. Tell your story about when a friend (or a group of them) broke your heart. Describe an experience at a doctor’s office, dentist’s office, or hospital. Describe your dream home in detail. Tell your story about how a teacher, coach, or boss supported or inspired you. Tell your story about how a teacher, coach, or boss was so awful, they didn’t deserve to have their job. Write about something you did in the past year that made you proud. Do you live in the city you grew up in? Why or why not? Tell your story about a trip or a visit you enjoyed when you were little. In what ways do you fit the stereotypes of your gender, and in what ways do you differ from the stereotypes? Discuss whether you think people should share their religious beliefs openly, or whether they should keep it private. Discuss why you do or don’t consider pets to be family members. Describe what you think would be a perfect romantic date. Write about a type or style of clothing that you feel uncomfortable wearing, or that you simply dislike. Describe your personal style in clothing and whether it’s changed over the years. Write about the worst house or apartment you’ve ever lived in. Tell your story about a time when, rightly or wrongly, you got in trouble at school or at work. Do you always vote in elections? Why or why not? Do you think people make snap judgments about you based on your appearance? Are they accurate or not? What’s something that people don’t learn about your personality unless they get to know you very well? Write about something that terrified you as a child. Write about a particular phobia or fear you have now. If you’re not scared of anything, write about that! Write about something you believe that isn’t a particularly popular belief. What’s something you wanted badly as a child? Did you get it? If so, was it everything you hoped? If not, did it matter? When you’re feeling sad or down, what are ways that you make yourself feel better? What is something that makes you almost irrationally angry? Write about an object you own that has religious, spiritual, or symbolic significance to you. If you were a billionaire, what gifts would you give to your immediate family? Do you consider yourself hopeful or cynical about romance? Why? Write a note apologizing to a part of your body for insulting it in the past. Write a note thanking a part of your body for doing such a good job. Tell your story about when you had a delightful guest in your home. Tell your story about when you had an unwelcome visitor in your home. Describe the time you were a guest in an unusual home. What was the strangest course or class you ever took? Write about a time when you tried your best – and it didn’t pan out. How did you get over it? Write about a small thing you accomplished this week. Write about the ways that your hometown has changed over the years. Write about a way your country is changing for the better. Describe someone who bullied you as a child. Why do you think they did it? Do you believe that things happen for a reason, or do they just happen randomly? Why do you think this? Do you believe that you have a lot of control over your destiny or future? Why or why not? Write down a funny story that your family likes to tell again and again. What do you consider to be “deal breakers” in a marriage or romantic relationship? Tell your story about a time you got injured or you were in an accident. Write about some of the things you do at home when you’re completely alone. Tell your story about how you learned a new skill. Describe the way you get to school or to work every day. Propose a frivolous or ridiculous law that you would like to implement, and explain your reasoning. Write about something you did (or didn’t do) that you’re proud of from a moral or religious standpoint. Tell your story about having a great time at a party. Tell your story about a party you wish you had never attended or hosted. Write about a tattoo you have and its significance, a tattoo you would like to get… or why you would never, ever get a tattoo. Tell a story that has to do with your hair, or the lack of it. Write about a feud or rift in your family. If you had a whole day free of responsibilities or chores, how would you spend it?
Whether you are trying to write a novel, pen an epic poem, or maintain a blog about this or that, it’s inevitable that you will at some point experience one of the following: lack of inspiration decrease in motivation general malaise writing burnout general I-don’t-give-a-shit Some people refer to these symptoms as “writer’s block,” but I … Continue reading What to Write About When You Have Nothing to Write About
There are many things that I could stand to improve in as a writer‒say, everything‒but I have been told that one of the things that I have halfway down is creating characters. Since I started sharing my writing a year or two ago, I have heard time and time again that my characters are alive, so I sat down today, thought about my character process, and put together my strategy. Getting to know your characters is a lot like getting to know real people. You must spend time with them‒or in the case of characters, think on them. You must consider how all of their traits feed into other ones, and how they affect them. It’s easier said than done, but I do believe that with some practice, it can be as natural as getting ideas, and far simpler than English grammar. So here is the list that I compiled of things to consider‒in order of what I believe to be more important to less important. Flaws Quirks Interests Preferences Kind of vague, isn’t it? Here’s the more in-depth version with one of my characters being used as an example. Flaws‒Aaand this is the one that makes people people. It’s also the one that writers seem to enjoy to leave out, and I think I know why. This is why: Flaws make people less-desirable, (while some won’t admit that they think that, it’s the underlying reason for all of the picture-perfect characters in books), and people are afraid of people not liking their characters. But with that said, people are not interesting without flaws. Character‒These are the more plot-affecting flaws, usually. They’re the problems such as “not knowing when to shut up”, “finding other’s misfortunes hilarious”, or even “a tendency to lie about everything”. The latter is one of the character flaws of my character, Riley. Psychological‒These are the flaws that give the characters more depth of mind, in my opinion. Personality disorders and disabilities are good additions to any character, even though they in themselves are not good things. For example, Riley is a borderline sociopath. That makes her very complex, as well as creating a great deal of tension between her and the other characters, Physical‒I don’t find this one to be the most important, but it adds some depth as well. Imperfect people are much easier to sympathize with than the golden people we read about who have perfectly symmetrical faces and flawless physique. I don’t really enjoy reading about those people, unless there is a good reason for it. (i.e., the character is a model or the result of a genetic experiment. In which case, perfection is almost acceptable. ;) ) Riley is short‒not quite 5 feet tall‒and weighs more than would be acceptable according to most modeling agencies guidelines. Which doesn’t quite fit the cookie-cutter character list, if ya get me. Quirks‒My personal favorite. As a person who is quite quirky, as well as loving adversity, this has always been the category that I don’t run out of ideas for. So now are your characters not only imperfect, they are also unusual. It’s starting to sound like a nightmare for every Mary-Jane in the world! (It’s starting to sound real. *gasp*) Speech‒I personally love different voices. Accents, improper uses of long words, improper grammar‒they make speech a fun thing to listen to. Not lawful, (grammarly speaking,) but fun. (What fun is obeying every rule? Not much.) Riley’s manner of speech and her isms are subtle, but “there” enough that she doesn’t sound like the others. For example, when someone asks her a question, the order in which she replies is unusual. Like this: “Are you okay?” “I’m okay, yeah. It’s been a weird week, but I’m okay. Man, I’d like a break.” And that’s the way she talks. She never says yes, just “yeah”, and she directly refers to people as “man”, even if they’re not. Mannerisms‒These are not my strong suit, but I know that they’re important. Things like wringing your hands when you’re nervous, clearing your throat when you have nothing to say, and pursing your lips are all different mannerisms‒and all people have them. That should make it obvious that all characters should have them, too. Riley smirks a lot‒very generic, I know. Don’t judge my lack of creativity, hehe‒and when she cries she does so without making any noise. (I really need to work on giving my characters mannerisms.) Fears‒(This one probably could have been placed with the “Flaws”, but I thought it more of a quirk, since it isn’t exactly something that is wrong with people.) Fears are the darkest parts of people’s subconscious. They influence the character’s behavior, the other characters’ behavior, and the plot of the story. They’re very important, in other words. In my recently finished manuscript, Riley has a horrible fear of water, caused by an accident in her teenage years, which entangles itself throughout the entire story and gives her character some flavor. (She seems completely collected and arrogant, but water turns her into a frightened child.) Interests‒These are fun, but a bit harder to think of. I mean, it’s pretty simple to give non-cliché interests to characters. But at the same time, it’s a lot of fun to give them things to do aside from carrying the plot on their shoulders‒and it’s even more fun to think about. (I daydream a lot.) Hobbies‒Ah, yes. The silver lining of the cloud of the subject. Give them a love of art, of sports, of literature‒is there anything more fun than designing lives? My only advice: to go crazy. Don’t rationalize the hobby thing. That’s the fun of it. (Riley loves to prank people, play video games, and be dramatic. She would have more hobbies, but her life hasn’t been very supportive of normal pastimes.) Dreams‒Some characters have more dreams than others. Not all characters have to have many dreams. After all, not all people dream about a better future, learning how to fly an airplane, or solving world hunger. Some people are just more grounded in the present, are more rational, and for that reason don’t dream. But for your more fanciful characters, dreams are the icing on the cake. The hopes, dreams, desires, and etc. are the things that drive the plot forward. Riley, however, unlike her fellow characters, doesn’t really dream at all. She knows what’s up and doesn’t really think about the future. (It’s a dangerous habit to get into. Just ask her.) Preferences‒The less important category of individual qualities, preferences are the finishing details of the character. But details are fun. Don’t let their lesser importance stop you from making them unique. =) Style‒This encompasses two different things‒clothes and other appearance factors. What is your character’s style like? How do they wear their hair? If relevant, do they wear makeup? What kind of clothes do they wear? Do they dress eccentrically? These are all fun things to consider. Riley doesn’t wear makeup or do her hair, and she dresses very casually. These things make her much more real, personality-wise. Her personality and her style match perfectly, which is the way it’s supposed to be. Dislikes‒Haha… how fun. Give them something to hate. Find a food, an animal, or basically anything that they can’t stand, and let them do the rest. Whining makes it authentic, if the character is prone to that sort of shenanigans. Riley doesn’t like nosy people or following rules. Does that help you? I hope so‒that was my intention with sharing the list, anyway. Tell me what you think! And I’ll see you all again next week, with another post. (Don’t know what about yet, though.) ~Alyssa
If you've got any doubts about whether the protagonist you're writing is turning into an unlikable character, this article will help you.
This Preptober Prompt Schedule will slide nicely into your traveler’s journal and help you prepare for your best. NaNo. ever. I’ve tried to keep the prompts as general as possible, so that they work for pantsers, plotters, and plantsers alike. However, in case you don’t like my prompts, I’ve included a blank template too. P.S.…
Great ideas for adding some “currently” items in your Project Life journaling. digishoptalk.
Need a list of Victorian era writing prompts? Here are 21 to give you some ideas for your book!
All strong narratives need well-developed and interesting characters.
1. Attach an image (photo, magazine, etc.) to a notebook page and write about it. 2. What things will people in the future say about how we live now? (Examples: They ate that? They believed that?) 3. Pick one from each list to make a creature and animal combination. Now write a short story or scene in which this creature appears. List 1 List 2 Vampire porcupine Ninja armadillo Zombie pig Pirate goat Mummy lobster Clown possum Banshee shark Wraith moray eel 4. Imagine a future in which we each have a personalized robot servant. What would yours be like? What would it do? What features would it have? 5. What does your name mean? Free write about names: names you like, names you don’t, how a name can affect a person’s life, how you feel about your own name, why your parents chose your name, etc. 6. Create a brand new holiday with its own traditions, rituals, foods, and activities. 7. What road-trip would you take if you suddenly could? Write about it. 8. List six true sentences that begin with the words “I'll never forget…” 9. Imagine that we lost all electricity, water, and gas for a month without any time to prepare. Write about how your life would change and how you would survive. 10. Make your bucket list for the next 5 years, the next 10 years, and for life. 11. Tell this story: “Well, I thought it was going to be a regular summer doing all our regular things…” 12. List 10 places in the world that you would most like to visit, 10 places you’ve been, and 10 places you would never want to go. 13. Think about hospitality in your family. What’s it like to have guests in your house? Do you prefer to have friends to your house or to go to a friend’s house? 14. Pick a family member of two and write about his or her reputation in your family, or tell a family legend. 15. A guitar pick, a red balloon, and a wicker basket. Write a scene or a poem that includes these three objects. 16. What animal would judge us the most? Write a scene (based on truth or fiction) where two or more people are doing something silly, and they're being observed and criticized by animals. 17. Write about your own worst family vacation memory. 18. Write about your best family vacation memory. 19. Imagine that someone says to you, “Because that's how we've always done it!” Write this out as a scene. (Think: Who said it, what were the circumstances, how did you respond, etc.) 20. What do you think about when you can't sleep? Turn it into a piece of writing. 21. What traditions does your family have? List all of them or just pick one and write about it. 22. Think about your strongest emotion right now (irritation, boredom, happiness, contentment, etc.) and find five quotes about this emotion. 23. What do you struggle with the most? Write about it. 24. Write a self-portrait. 25. What can we learn from contrast? Write a description of something very dark (like a crow) in a very light place (like a field of snow). Make the dark thing seem innocent and the light thing seem ominous. 26. Write about someone who has no enemies. Is it even possible? 27. Think of a person from your past who really deserved a good scolding but never got one. Write a fictional piece where you tell that person off intelligently. 28. Can honesty honestly be bad? Write about someone, fact or fiction, who gets in trouble for being too truthful. 29. The word “fat” carries a negative connotation. Write a story or observation where something fat is celebrated. 30. What animal lives beneath your human skin? A mouse? A cougar? Or what? Explain with writing. 31. Write about the best piece of advice you ever received. 32. Remember a favorite book from your childhood. Write a scene that includes you and an old copy of that book you find somewhere. --> 33. “I was so mortified, I wanted to crawl in a hole!” Write a short narrative (fiction or nonfiction) where this is your first sentence. Illustrate it if you want. 34. Should books ever be banned? Discuss. If no, explain why. You might want to look at a least of commonly banned books. If yes, explain under what circumstances. 35. Ernest Hemingway said to “write hard and clear about what hurts.” Write about something that hurts, whether it’s an emotional, physical, or phantom pain. 36. What if everyone had to wear a shirt with his or her Myers-Briggs personality type on it? What would this change? How would this affect the way people interact with each other? Would you like this or hate it? (If you don’t know your “type,” try this site. 37. William Shakespeare wrote that: “Conversation should be pleasant without scurrility, witty without affectation, free without indecency, learned without conceitedness, novel without falsehood.” Write your thoughts about conversation, or make up dialogue between two characters who are meeting each other for the first time in an unexpected place. 38. Tell this story: “There it was, finally. Our island. Our very own island. It looked beautiful above the waves of fog, but there was still one question to be answered: why had they sold it to us for only five dollars?” 39. Maya Angelou said “I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way s/he handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.” Tell a story in which a character has to deal with one, two, or all three of these scenarios. How does your character respond? 40. You have a chance to go back and completely re-do an event in your life. What is it, and how to you change it? What is the outcome? This can be a real or fictional event. 41. Pick two characters from different books you’ve read this year and have them get in an argument about something (e.g., who has suffered more, who has had a happier life, etc.). 42. The one shoe in the road: why is it there? Write a story about the circumstances that led to one shoe in the middle of the road. 43. You get to guest star on a TV show. What show is it? What happens in this particular episode? 44. What would you pack in your suitcase if you could not go home again? 45. You can only use 20 words for the rest of your life. You can repeat them as often as you wish, but you can only use these words. What are they? 46. What current fashion in clothing do you particularly like or dislike? Why? 47. Choose five symbols or objects that represent you. Why did you choose these things? 48. "When I stepped outside, the whole world smelled like…" Write a scene that starts with that line. 49. Write a poem entitled "Hitchhiking on a Saturday Afternoon." 50. Use these two lines of dialogue in a story: "What's in your hand?" "It's mine. I found it." 51. Write a scene that happens in a parking lot between a teenager and a man in a convertible. 52. If you only had one window to look out of for the next six months, what would you want to see on the other side? Describe the view. How would it change? 53. Write a story for children. Start with “Once upon a time” or “Long ago in a land far away.” Include a dragon, a deadly flower, and a mask. 54. "Did she actually just say that?" Write a scene that includes this line. 55. “Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.” — Jane Howard. Write what comes to mind when you read this quote. 56. List five things you want in a relationship. 57. List ten favorite lines from movies. 58. Write about the biggest mistake you made this week. Now write about the best thing you did this week. 59. What is the very first memory that you have? Write about it. 60. What if your pet could only talk to you at midnight for an hour? 61. Write an acrostic poem using your full name and three words that describe you—good and bad— for each letter. For example, S: sensitive, stubborn, smiling. A: artistic, argumentative, agoraphobic M: melodramatic, moody, magical 62. What if you could create your own TV show with all your friends and loved ones as the cast? What kind of show would it be and who would play which parts? 63. Take a photo or draw a picture of every place you go in a day. Put the pictures or drawings in your journal. 64. A to Z: Make an alphabetical list of advice for someone who is about to become a teenager. For example: A: ask forgiveness, not permission. B.: bake cookies. C.: cook something delicious once a month. D: don't compare yourself to others. 65. Find 10 quotes about happiness. 66. Write about 5 things you'd rather be doing right now. 67. Write out the lyrics to your favorite song. Find some pictures to illustrate the song. 68. Who do you spend the most time talking to? Siblings, parents, friends? Make a list of who you actually talk to during the day and estimate the amount of time invested in each individual. Does the list reveal your priorities? Is it proportional to what is important to you? Make notes of what you talk about in your daily conversations. 69. Find a quote for each month of the year. 70. Animals can sometimes seem remarkably human. Describe an experience with an animal that acted in a very human way. 71. Imagine you opted to have yourself frozen for 50 years. Describe your first days unfrozen, 50 years in the future. 72. Imagine that you are an astronaut who has been doing research on the moon for three years. You are do to go back to earth in a week when nuclear war breaks out on earth. You watch the earth explode. Then what? 73. Create a menu from a fictitious restaurant. Make sure the restaurant has a theme, such as Classic Books, and the food should all be given appropriate names (e.g., “Mockingbird Pie”). 74. Preconceived notions are often false. Describe a time when you discovered that a preconceived notion of yours (about a person, place, or thing) turned out to be wrong. 75. Create a story using words of one-syllable only, beginning with a phrase such as: “The last time I saw her, she...” “From the back of the truck...” “On the night of the full moon...” “The one thing I know for sure…” 76. Describe a significant person (teacher, neighbor, mentor, coach, parent, sibling, sweetheart) with as many physical details as possible and as many similes as possible. (E.g., “Her hair was as golden as straw.”) 77. Write about your first name—why you were given it, what associations or stories are attached to it, what you think or know it means. Do the same for your last name. What name would you give yourself other than the one you actually have? 78. Parents are our first and most important teachers. Describe a valuable lesson you learned from one of your parents. 79. Imagine a moral dilemma (for example, you see someone shoplift or a friend tells a blatant lie to her parents about where she was last night) and explain what you would do and why you would do it. 80. Review an obituary, birth, or a section from the police record or classified ads section of a local newspaper. Choose one and tell the story behind it. 81. List the most attractive things about your current hometown. Now list the most unattractive things. 82. Come up with a list of nouns and a second list of verbs, all of one syllable each. Describe a scene or situation, using a minimum of ten words from each list. 83. Where is your happy place? Write about it and include a picture or drawing. 84. Create a how-to manual for something you can do well (make a craft, bake cookies, restring a guitar, apply make up, etc.). Describe the process so that someone else could complete the task based on your directions. Use present tense verbs. 85. Free write on this quote by Samuel Johnson: “Ignorance, when voluntary, is criminal.” 86. Find a favorite quote and work it into an illustration. (Inspiration here.) 87. Make a soundtrack for your life so far. List songs that describe you or different times of your life. (Make the actual soundtrack on Spotify, etc. too!) 88. Sometimes we find ourselves in situations that force us to face our deepest fears. Tell about a time when you had to face one of your greatest fears—or make up the story. 89. You’re a talk show host. Pick two guests. Why did you choose them? Are they people who get along, or people with vastly different viewpoints? Write about the episode. 90. What three books do you think should be required reading for everyone? Why? 91. “What you don’t know what hurt you.” Write a story that begins with this statement. 92. Free write on this quote by Woodrow Wilson: “Friendship is the only cement that will hold the world together.” 93. According to a Czechoslovakian proverb, “Better a lie that soothes than a truth that hurts.” Agree or disagree? Explain. 94. Rewrite “The Tale of the Three Little Pigs” by using people that you know as the pigs and the wolf. 95. There is a saying that you should be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it. Describe a time when you wished for something and got it—and then wished you hadn’t—or make up a story in which this happens to the character. 96. As the saying goes, “rules are meant to be broken.” Tell about a time when you broke the rules and what happened as a result. 97. "That's not what I meant!" Write a story that has this line in it somewhere. 98. A blue trash can, a red picture frame, a teddy bear with the stuffing falling out, and a padlock. Put these four items somewhere in a story, scene, or poem. 99. Write your name in outline letters on a whole sheet of paper. Now fill in each letter with words you like that begin with that letter. For example: 100. Make a word collage of who YOU are. Use pictures too, if desired. **HURRAH! You can now purchase this as a digital PDF ($2) at Teachers Pay Teachers. For more creative writing ideas, check out my free WordSmithery creative writing lessons and my popular Ultimate Guide to Creative Writing Resources! Check out 100 other 100 Things posts from the bloggers at iHomeschool Network! Do you have it yet? The Big Book of Homeschooling Ideas—a collaboration of over 50 authors with 103 chapters— is now available! Don't miss this amazing resource!
