Creative writing prompts is moving to twice a week updates. I enjoy writing these posts, but my last quarter at the University of Washington is about to start up, so I'm going to have to trim back the updates.
If you have any suggestions, would like to submit a prompt of your own, or have written an exorcize you would like to share, please visit the contact page.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Create Unique Story Structure
The structure of your tale is an extremely important, and all too often overlooked, aspect of creative writing. There are many structures to run with beyond the typical beginning-middle-end structure that we see dominate popular literature. In the following five creative writing prompts we will help you to reach beyond typical structure.
Creative Writing Prompts:
Creative Writing Prompts:
- Break Away from Typical Plot Formula
- Fragments with an Overarching Theme ala David Shields
- The Epistolary: Writing Through Letters
- Bury the "I" Like Chuck Palahniuk
- The Unique Structure of Jonathan Safran Foer
Friday, June 3, 2011
The unique structure of Jonathan Safran Foer
Jonathan Safran Foer's novels Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close are both written in unconventional forms where in there are multiple story lines through multiple points in time interweaving over the course of each novel. This has multiple effects on the readers such as giving the stories a feeling of scale much larger than they would otherwise have felt had there been one straightforward story. It also often feels as if his stories are creating their own folklore for their own particular universe, with large stories behind not only major characters, but, especially in the case of Everything is Illuminated, stories of entire genealogical lines.
Creative Writing Prompt: This is a difficult one, after all, to pull off Jonathan Safran Foer's method took him the course of entire novels, however, we can give it a go.
Take an exercise or story you have already written which contains two or more characters. Read it over a couple times paying special attention to the characters themselves. Write each character a back story which interweaves into your work in such a way that the back story not only relates to the story as a whole, but expands upon it.
If time is not a factor for you, write a story from scratch with the elements discussed above. This will likely result in a much more organic feeling story.
Recommended Reading:
Jonathan Safran Foer is the contemporary author I would recommend to all writers. His books are unique in their tone, structure and themes, and he is not afraid to write about heavy issues, such as 9/11, and yet he balances these with a humanitarian spirit which creates a remarkable charm. Both books I highly recommend.
Creative Writing Prompt: This is a difficult one, after all, to pull off Jonathan Safran Foer's method took him the course of entire novels, however, we can give it a go.
Take an exercise or story you have already written which contains two or more characters. Read it over a couple times paying special attention to the characters themselves. Write each character a back story which interweaves into your work in such a way that the back story not only relates to the story as a whole, but expands upon it.
If time is not a factor for you, write a story from scratch with the elements discussed above. This will likely result in a much more organic feeling story.
Recommended Reading:
Jonathan Safran Foer is the contemporary author I would recommend to all writers. His books are unique in their tone, structure and themes, and he is not afraid to write about heavy issues, such as 9/11, and yet he balances these with a humanitarian spirit which creates a remarkable charm. Both books I highly recommend.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Bury the "I"
When it comes to sharing his writing method, Chuck Palahniuk has been very vocal and very encouraging to his fans. He has even gone so far as creating his own 36 part series on writing. This series will once again be available to the public for free as he releases on part per month on his website, ChuckPalahniuk.net.
One of Chuck's exercises is fairly unique, and it's called "burying the I".
Creative Writing Prompt: Write a short piece from the first person perspective, however, resist the urge to write "I" for as long as you can. For an example (warning: not for the faint of heart, people have passed out during book readings where Chuck read this story), read Chuck Palahniuk's short story "Guts" where he effectively "burys the I" for two thirds of the story.
There are different tactics to go about doing this, so I suggest you experiment with the process. Try writing about setting, about other characters, about backdrop, ect. What this does when pulled off properly is create an odd sort of tension you don't often get, and sometimes it can be quiet jarring when the "I" is introduced.
Recommended Reading:
Fight Club
& Survivor
One of Chuck's exercises is fairly unique, and it's called "burying the I".
Creative Writing Prompt: Write a short piece from the first person perspective, however, resist the urge to write "I" for as long as you can. For an example (warning: not for the faint of heart, people have passed out during book readings where Chuck read this story), read Chuck Palahniuk's short story "Guts" where he effectively "burys the I" for two thirds of the story.
There are different tactics to go about doing this, so I suggest you experiment with the process. Try writing about setting, about other characters, about backdrop, ect. What this does when pulled off properly is create an odd sort of tension you don't often get, and sometimes it can be quiet jarring when the "I" is introduced.
Recommended Reading:
Fight Club
& Survivor Wednesday, June 1, 2011
URL has changed
For any of you who have added us to your favorites, our URL has recently changed from the embarrassingly misspelled "creativewritingpromps.blogspot.com" to the slightly more appropriate "creative-writing-prompts.blogspot.com". Please update your favorites and bookmarks.
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