Prompt: Your Last 10 Words
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Discussion questions: Not a question, but write a story or poem or *something* using the last five to ten words you’ve looked up on your dictionary app or online or, if you can remember, in your actual dictionary. (If you don’t have such a log, you can use my words.) Also, share with us why you looked up these words, if there’s an interesting reason.
Is a Novel “Written By” Its Narrator?
Discussion questions: My writer friend operates under the premise that any novel he reads is a book written and published by its (fictitious) narrator. What he wants to know is: “Am I really the only one who thinks this shit?” So, is he? What’s your take on novels or stories as being the written product of their narrators?
Writing Out of Sequence
Discussion questions: Have you ever written a book, or even something shorter, out of sequence? Why does it work for you? What are the pros, what are the drawbacks? Do you find it difficult to maintain story/character consistency, and if so, how do you address that?
Where/How Do You Find New Books to Read?
Discussion questions: Where and how do you find new books to read? And what are you reading now? Do you have any new titles to recommend? read more
Micro Fiction Contest: “These Pictures Were in Water-Colours”
Discussion question: Using fifty words or fewer, write a short story, scene, aphorism, snippet, etc., that includes the line “These pictures were in water-colours.” Write or past your story into the comments. read more
How Do You Self-Sabotage?
Discussion questions: In what way(s) do you self-sabotage as a writer? How do you avoid self-sabotage? Those times when you can’t manage to avoid it, how do you set yourself right again? read more
When Does Your Internal Critic Take the Field?
Discussion questions: Is your internal critic a Sunday quarterback or a Monday-morning quarterback? Does he/she/it try to prevent you from writing at all (Sunday), or does he/she/it allow you to write because he/she/it enjoys making you tear yourself down afterwards (Monday)?
If you could change your internal critic’s workday from Sunday to Monday or vice versa, would you?
Epitaphs, Funeral Readings & Deathbed Books
Discussion questions: Let’s get morbid this week! What would you want to be the epitaph on your tombstone? What would you want read aloud at your funeral? What would be your deathbed book? Let’s talk about it in the comments… while there’s still time!
Contest: Kill Flannery’s Darlings
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Discussion questions: See the bottom of the post for a fun competition where you’re going to cut to 50 words a 91-word passage from “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” For a more personal exercise, take something short you’re working on — a story, a chapter, an essay — and cut it in half. Let us know the results. How difficult was it on a 1-10 scale? In what ways does the piece benefit and in what ways does it suffer? Describe for us your typical editorial approach.
How Do You Hook A Reader?
WriteByNight is a writers’ service dedicated to helping you reach your creative potential. We work with writers of all experience levels working in all genres. Browse our book coaching, manuscript consultation, publication assistance services, and sign up for your free writing consultation today.
Discussion questions: As a reader, how does a writer hook you within the first few lines of a book or story? As a writer, how do you hook a reader with your opening? Share the best opening you’ve ever written, or share one you’re currently struggling with (and tell us what the struggle is). And don’t be afraid to comment on another writer’s opening! Does it make you want to read more?