SAMPLE PROMPTS

Again, this is your class, and, as such, the content is somewhat plastic, molded by your creative needs and wants. That said, here’s a sample list of writing prompts, many of which will be assigned during the semester.

OWN YOUR DRAGONS (or vampires)! Describe a dragon (or a vampire). It must be recognizable as such (decide on two essential elements; for a dragon this might be size and fire-breathing, for a vampire this might be bloodlust and say, fangs), but it should also feel totally new (and, thus, amazing or dreadful) not stock; stock descriptions are boring and a dragon, or a vampire, or, indeed, anything we choose to describe, must NEVER be boring. Maybe start with an associated animal and type of terrain/climate, then let those choices lead you towards certain descriptors. Consider specific details as opposed to explicit description (i.e. don't feel compelled to portray the thing, whatever it is, from head to heel or horn to tail). Focus on a couple telling details from which the reader can grow the rest. Note: responses will be shared verbally in class (not turned in) and should run between a paragraph and a page.

STORY CATCHER: Weave your "story catcher.” When I write a story, I consider the many ways in which I can own it. Why does it need to exist? How is it different from the millions of stories that came before it? Why am I the right, nay, the only, person to write it? Again, for my novel Welcome to White Hart, I took the myth of the white stag, which Celts believed was an agent from the Other World, and relocated it to a horse ranch in modern-day Alabama at the height of deer season. Think of where you grew up, where your grandparents grew up, hobbies, sports, jobs. Think of the things you love, the things you're obsessed with. These are the threads that make up your creative cheesecloth, the web through which you screen your ideas. Web is a good word for it. These threads are sticky, catching and holding back bits of your story. It's what's left on these strands, like gold caught on the screen of a sluice box, that's valuable. In class, you drew a circle and ran it through with lines. Label the lines with the various things you "know" (write what you know, right?), but also the things you're curious about, preoccupied with, the things that haunt you and live under your skin (think of things that were thrust upon you and of things you actively sought out). The circle should be criss-crossed with at least four lines. In each slice, you're to write two or more words (think lingo) that belong to the interest/passion/subculture designated by the line(s). For example, along my Deer Hunting thread, I might write: slobknocker, wallhanger, forkie, pretzel head, kill plot, shed, drop, etc.

STORY CATCHER #2: Take a familiar story - an urban legend, a fairy tale, a Greek myth, a super hero origin - and push it through your STORY CATCHER. Bring the details of your own life (your experience, interests, passions, preoccupations) to bear. Consider, then, how this familiar story becomes new when it meets the sticky strands of your biography. Be sure the story intersects with at least two threads. Try to use the lingo you've written in the "slices."

BOX OF WONDER (SIGNIFCANT OBJECTS & PHYSICAL INVENTORY): A box containing some fifty unusual objects: shark tooth, scarab beetle, arrowhead, Qing dynasty coin, army dog tag, rabbit foot, pocket watch, etc. Describe the object. Take advantage of the fact that it’s in front of you. What does it weigh? Is it rough or smooth? Press it into your palm. Rattle it. Smell it. Turn it sideways. Get in close. Then start a story in which you heap it with value: monetary, sentimental, or magical.

BRING IN: a "sacred artifact," that is, an object to which you have a strong emotional connection. A sacred artifact. Something you've had for a long time. A gift from a loved one who's gone. Be particularly mindful of the emotions it provokes and the memories it contains. Humans are mean-making machines. We have a tendency to tokenize, to heap value onto something that, from an outside perspective, is worthless. Be prepared to share a story/context that reveals its sentimental worth. If at all possible, bring the object itself; if not, bring a picture of it.

Consider objects (sacred or otherwise) in your favorite MG/YA books. Come to class prepared to name a novel and its featured object.

CURSE OR ENCHANT: your "sacred artifact." Retain the emotional truth of the object, the memories and people it contains, even as you give it paranormal power. Again, a sacred artifact is an item to which you have a deep connection. An item you’ve imbued with significance, with love and loss, hope and desperation. Come to class prepared to share your response (which should, roughly speaking, run a page).

DIARY OF OBJECTS: Create a diary of objects; name one sacred artifact/memorable object per year from your earliest memory until now. Come to class prepared to share your list.

SACRED PLACE: Think of places you interact with on a deep emotional level. Pick a place that makes you feel a certain way. A place that comforts OR tests you. A place that contains a memory and an emotion. Think, too, of a telling detail. Something that belongs to this place and this place alone. The telling detail of, say, your bedroom is unlikely to be your bed (unless it's a very particular sort of bed), as beds are found in every bedroom. Come to class prepared to talk about this special place.

Set an inexplicable/fantastic/supernatural event in your "sacred" place. Retain the real-world details of the place, the memories it contains, even as you invent the inexplicable occurrence. Come to class prepared to share the story you began/set there.

ABSTRACT ADJECTIVES: Saying something is beautiful, scary, amazing provides zero information. You've put nothing on the page. You haven't painted a picture, and you certainly haven't created an experience. The word "wonder" doesn't create wonder, just as the word "scary" doesn't fill the reader with fear. Your job is to describe the thing that is beautiful, scary, amazing, and have the reader assess it as such. Describe something beautiful, scary, or wonderful without using those words (or any synonyms for those words).

GASHLYCRUMB TINIES: Suspense is the promise of something bad happening. The threat. It occurs in the quiet space between the promise and the arrival of the dreadful thing. With the exception of, say, Kate & Rhoda (annihilated by hatchet and flame, respectively), the pictures capture a moment loaded with worry, in which Gorey sets the stage for tragedy, teasing us with the possibility of disaster. Indeed, as A. Robin Hoffman said, "...the most horrifying thing about The Gashlycrumb Tinies may be that which it declines to show." Pick a letter/character from Gorey's alphabet (other than K or R) and write a paragraph or two in the stillness before the dreaded event occurs. How can you amp up the suspense? Focus on the apprehension of the event, the space between the picture and the caption. Victor, for instance, "was squashed by a train," but he the panel has him standing on the tracks, gazing into the distance, no train in sight. Then complete the action, filling in the pieces leading to the fateful conclusion. Note: you don't need to necessarily make good on promise. Maybe Victor isn't squashed, maybe Prue isn't trampled flat. Maybe they survive. Consider the ways in which you surprise the reader.

NAMING THE WORLD: Pick a series like, say, wild flowers or candy. Then name three examples: Trout Lily, Butterfly Weed, Skunk Cabbage or Root Beer Barrels, Taffy Bats, Slow-pokes. Pay attention to the music of the words. Pick examples that are acoustically robust. Avoid the most common examples.

ANATOMY OF AN OBJECT: Google the "anatomy of..." an object, any object. Like, say, a hunting knife. Then click "images." Come to class prepared to share TWO terms from the diagram. As always, pay attention to the music. The terms must be acoustic. For a knife the terms might be: tang, thumb rise, belly, bevel, blood groove, plunge line, spine, shoulders, butt, pommel, guard, hilt, sweep.

ACTUAL CANNIBAL SHIA LABOEUF. Good writing is expansive, not reductive, and a well-written story is far more than a sequence of events. The above song is a storyline as opposed to a full-bodied story. Take a lyric (or two) and turn it into a page. Add texture. Add sound, smell, taste. Make it bumpy and noisy. Make it stink. Consider setting and sense of place. What sort of forest is it? What can be named? What grows and lives there? What is the cabin's telling detail? Think of concrete particulars, human details, specifics that will make the world of the song feel real. What can you research/google? Jiu-jitsu. Bear traps? Axes? Think, too, of causation. We know what happens. But why did it happen?

SUNSET: Writers often fall into tropes and abstract description because they aren’t describing a particular event (either invented or observed).Over the course of two weeks, observe and describe two distinct sunsets (or sunrises). Be specific. Avoid metaphor/simile and/or ornate language.

WHAT’S MY NAME? It's a Rihanna song, a Muhammad Ali taunt, and, to my thinking, the first step in writing character. My six year old son comes up with a new character every week. His latest is a boy named Windmill Sin. Windmill Sin. I could write reams about that kid. But, no, he belongs to my son. That's his character not mine. For me, it always begins with a name. Atticus Finch, Holly Golightly, Keyser Söze, Hannibal Lector. Anyone from Dickens. The list goes on and on. J. K Rowling famously found inspiration wandering among the headstones at the Greyfriars Kirkyard in Edinburgh, just steps from The Elephant House where Rowling penned the first book. It was there she first encountered the names Potter, Moody, McGonagall, Rufus Scrimgeour, and Tom Riddell. Wander your own cemetery, ancient or otherwise, pick a name from a headstone, or create a composite name from two headstones, and begin a story about that character. Cemeteries in New Brunswick include Willow Grove, Elmwood, and St. Peter’s.

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