It starts with a whisper. An image. A single word. An idea so subtle that if you don’t sit still, it will evaporate by the time you blink. That is poetry. More than any other genre of writing, I feel…
Browsing: Craft
1. Take the first line of your Facebook news feed as the first line of your story. 2. Take a piece you’ve written and re-write it from a different point of view or perspective–perhaps a different character’s take on the…
Janet Hamill – Synesthesia Surrealist poet and fiction writer Janet Hamill has adapted her poetry prompt for us. SYNAESTHESIA: THE SENSES AND THE ART OF IMAGERY Synesthesia – From the Greek, “perceive together.” The intermingling of sensations; sensing for…
Cynthia Kraman Cynthia Kraman, author of The Touch, Club 82 and others, suggested we try an “Exquisite Corpse,” or group story. The first line of the story is, “It’s 3 AM.” Add your line, then ask friends for subsequent lines. Or…
Tsaurah Litzky 1. Make an abstraction come to life by rendering it in specific details.i.e. for Old Age “Jenny was frightened that it was getting harder and harder for her to make it across the street before the light started…
1. Since February is the month for love, write a story about a crush, requited or un-. Title your story with a word or phrase you’d find on a traffic sign. 2. Double soy grande caramel macchiato, cup of Joe,…
Jean Hanff Korelitz If you spend years writing a novel and every publisher in the world rejects it, put it away and write a better novel. Don’t self-publish. Despite the programs and apps and bells and whistles…
Write a story that is based on a poem that you like. Do not use more than 5 words from the poem (other than common ones).
Rusty Barnes – Writing Prompt The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction Edited by Tara L. Masih Rose Metal Press 2009 FLASH FICTION EXERCISE Memory-Mapping Exercise from Rusty Barnes I acknowledge here the conflation/adaptation of a couple…
I teach a course in Flash Fiction, and have come to appreciate the kind of skill required for brevity of narrative and surprise/conflict. Over the years I have seen stories just over a paragraph to four pages that capture moments…