Wednesday Writing Prompt 29

Happy 🐪 Day! 

Here's this week's writing prompt:

1.      You wake up from a long cryogenic sleep, and find the world is vastly different from what you’d imagined it would be. So are the people around you.

Wednesday Writing Prompt 28

Happy 🐪 Day! 

Here's this week's writing prompt:

1.      It’s Christmas Eve, and you find a stranger’s been invited by your family as well. Turns out this stranger is your long-lost sibling.

Wednesday Writing Prompt 27

Happy 🐪 Day! 

Here's this week's writing prompt:

1.      One day, as you leave the office super late, you catch your boss in the filing room destroying paperwork. Instead of going away, you decide to hide and wait until he’s gone to check what it was.

Wednesday Writing Prompt 26

Happy 🐪 Day! Can't believe we've been doing this for 6 months already :)

Here's this week's writing prompt:

1.      You’re in your seventies and decide to take a computer programming class. But one day, as the teacher’s explaining a particularly difficult piece of coding, you find that sentences are appearing on your screen without any prompting on your part.

Wednesday Writing Prompt 25

Happy 🐪 Day!

Here's this week's writing prompt:

1.      Having just been laid off, you suddenly find yourself free for the first time in years, and decide to finally pursue the one thing you’ve always dreamed of.

Wednesday Writing Prompt 24

Happy 🐪 Day!

Here's this week's writing prompt:

1.      As you browse books in your family library, you find the old journal of your great-aunt.

Rhyming Bias

Otherwise known as the "rhyme-as-reason effect," the rhyming bias is a proven mental tendency people have to trust things that rhyme more so than things that don't.

Not only that, but rhymes also stick in our heads better, and longer, like many songs heard in our childhood. Incidentally, it's why I've always said Disney should make all of its animated features musicals, because those songs help anchor their stories in people's very beings, making potential lifelong fans of them, whereas those without songs often fade into obscurity.

So why does our brain latch onto rhymes so well (even if it could be to our detriment)? Well, rhymes makes statements catchy, pretty, and easier to process because of it (our brain LOVES patterns!).

As stated on Effectiviology, "[p]eople, such as marketers or politicians, might use the rhyme-as-reason effect as a manipulation technique, potentially in an attempt to get you to act irrationally and against your best interests." So whenever you hear a rhyme, be careful! Someone might be trying to pull one over you (looking at you, Mother Goose!).

Wednesday Writing Prompt 23

Happy 🐪 Day!

Here's this week's writing prompt:

1.      Before you can graduate, you have to intern at an orphanage and show you know your material by teaching there. But the children teach you something else in return.

Living Up To Your Potential

 "The human individual lives usually far within his limits; he possesses powers of various sorts which he habitually fails to use. He energizes below his maximum, and he behaves below his optimum. In elementary faculty, in coordination, in power of inhibition and control, in ever conceivable way, his life is contracted like the field of vision of an hysteric subject--but with less excuse, for the poor hysteric is diseased, while in the rest of us, it is only an inveterate habit--the habit of inferiority to our full self--that is bad." ~ William James, Energies of Man, 1907  

Why am I posting this quote? Because, as I get ready to face 2023 (I know, but it's already mid-November!!), I want to remind myself that it's too easy to let routine (or whatever other life event might be hitting me at one point or another) take over and sap my momentum.

Steven Kotler says in his book, The Art of Impossible, that we "lose by not trying to play full out, by not trying to do the impossible."

*Not a true representation of my writing desk

My impossible in the last decade or so, has been to write 2000 words each and every day (whether writing a story, or writing out the plans for one, or brainstorming my next piece, or even editing). I want to change that. I'm tired of having ideas for a dozen stories, yet still only moving at a glacial pace.

The key for me, I believe, is to figure out how to get into the flow, where I can spend hours uninterrupted plunged into my own stories. As Kristine Kathryn Rusch wrote in one of her newsletters, "[r]eally good writers binge-write, the way many of us binge-read an author or binge-watch a really good show." That's what I want to work up to.

As Kotler stated, "the only real way to discover if you are capable of pulling off the impossible--whatever that is for you--is by attempting to pull off the impossible." And if I can't pull it off? Well, at least I'd be failing upwards. Right? 

Wednesday Writing Prompt 22

 

Happy 🐪 Day!

Here's this week's writing prompt:

1.      You find an old, grizzled dog lying on the side of the road, clearly abandoned, and decide to take him in.

Wednesday Writing Prompt 21

 Happy 🐪 Day!

Here's this week's writing prompt:

1.      It’s a hundred years in the future, and contrary to past beliefs, humans have managed to save the world from utter destruction by using new technology and completely changing their way of life.

Wednesday Writing Prompt 20

 Happy 🐪 Day!

Here's this week's writing prompt:

1.      Being really sick, you decide to go on a pilgrimage, seeking faith and healing.

Wednesday Writing Prompt 19

Happy 🐪 Day!

Here's this week's writing prompt:

1.      You’ve had a very long week at work and, on your way back home, decide to visit the old Roman baths that, surprisingly, are still functional, and have been managed by the same mysterious family for over 1700 years.

Wednesday Writing Prompt 18

Happy 🐪 Day!

Here's this week's writing prompt:

1.      A horn rings in the distance. The invaders have been sighted. Despite news of their vileness and incredible strength, you decide to take up arms to defend your land.

Leadership Dos and Don'ts

I've been reading this book people kept recommending to me: Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich*. First published in 1937, it talks about the principles one needs to follow to become rich in an era marked by the Great Depression.

The book has a lot of interesting advice (a lot of which is reminiscent of the Law of Attraction that's become big since the start of the 21st c.), as well as some sections which, although clearly dated, make for fascinating windows into that not-so-long-ago piece of history.

One of the chapters delves into what makes a great leader, as one needs to be a leader to make a fortune (as opposed to followers who are much less likely to get super rich), and the pitfalls these great leaders must avoid if they do not wish to go the way of the dodo.

I found his points to be thought-provoking, particularly in our world's current state where everything seems so uncertain (sometimes on the brink of global catastrophe), and there appears to be a dearth of good leadership.

So here's a summary of what Napoleon Hill advises on how to be a great leader. Tell me how you feel about it all after in the comments :)

Leadership Dos:

1. Have enduring courage and self-confidence, or no one (at least no one intelligent) will want to follow.
2. Have self-control.
3. Be fair and just, or risk losing your followers' respect.
4. Remain definite in your decisions, as opposed to being wishy washy. This goes back to being self-confident.
5. Plan your work, and work your plan (no guessing or being vague).
6. Do more than paid for, and more than what's required of followers.
7. Have a pleasing personality. Again, respect is key.
8. Have and show both sympathy and understanding of followers and their problems.
9. Master the details of your business/service.
10. Assume full responsibility, even for your followers' mistakes.
11. Cooperate, and encourage others to do the same. Here, Hill insists that the only way to be a true leader is through leading by consent (as opposed to by force, as history has proven repeatedly that kings and despots always fall at some point).

Leadership Don'ts:

1. Be too busy to organize and understand the details of the business.
2. Be unwilling to perform whatever you ask others to do.
3. Expect to be paid for what you know instead of what you do (the proof is in the pudding, not its professed recipe).
4. Kick followers down for fear of their becoming greater. The better they become, the better partners they are in helping you achieve your goals/vision.
5. Leave your imagination to the side. Leaders need to be able to meet emergencies and create plans for their followers, and that often means thinking outside the box or connecting the dots in new ways.
6. Be selfish and not give credit where credit's due. As Hill states, "The really great leader claims none of the honors."
7. Indulge in excesses, including outside of work (addictions are never good).
8. Be disloyal. (Big no no to the whole Brutus and Judas game plays.)
9. Emphasize your authority as a leader, instead of encouraging to follow your guidance and vision. This refers back again to not being one who leads by force or fear.
10. Enforce hierarchy. Great leaders make themselves available to all their followers, without hiding behind their direct subordinates (especially in bad times).

So, do you think the lists missed anything crucial in order to become a successful leader? Let me know in the comments below!

*Disclaimer: Please note that some of the links are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I may earn a commission should you choose to buy the recommended item. If the link is an Amazon link, as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Wednesday Writing Prompt 17

Happy 🐪 Day!

Here's this week's writing prompt:

1.      You are at the market, buying ribbons, when you hear that Lord Vale is about to settle in the estate next to yours, leaving you with mixed feelings.

The ABCs Of Plotting

I heard in an old interview of Patrick Rothfuss on the Writing Excuses Podcast where he mentioned how, after learning what they were, he couldn't stop seeing A plots and B plots everywhere. So, not knowing what they were myself, I of course had to look it up :)

Turns out, this is a neat way to look at your different story threads, or story arcs. For example, you could have a murder that needs to be solved (one thread), and the detective falls for the client (another story thread), all while dealing with his bestie's suddenly weird attitude (another mystery? Thread 3).

But instead of using numbers, we use letters.

The "A plot", therefore, is our main storyline, the one that will take up most of the book/movie. It follows your main character. In the example above, your detective needs to find out who killed the victim(s) and catch the murderer. 

But having a story, especially a story that lasts a while (a novel, or an hour-long (or more) show/movie), be about only one thing, can be rather boring. Enter the other plot lines (aka subplots). 

The "B plot" is therefore another story happening within your Bigger Story, which may or may not directly tie into your main plotline (A Plot). 

Using the same example as above, this is the plot line that follows your detective as he falls for the femme fatale character that came to ask for his help. That "romantic" thread would be considered secondary to the whole "whodunit" plot, but also be subservient to it.  

If, on the other hand, the B plot is not linked to the main spiel, it must still somehow add depth to the story, albeit in more subdued tones than the A plot. This can be by: 

• providing more background story into the main character (maybe he has another "side quest" where he needs to fix his relationship with his sibling, or his bestie), 
• exploring the worlds of (appealing) side characters readers/viewers want to hang out with too, (including the Big Baddies themselves), or 
• reinforcing the main theme(s) of the story (ex: how corruption is destroying everyone's lives, including our detective's, how justice will always prevail...or not, up to you to choose a resonant message).

Any additional plot line on top gets named according to the rest of the alphabet, in order of importance. And these, in turn, can help increase/maintain the tension in your book/script. Say your detective is having a pleasant moment with the paramour, the lull in that storyline can be filled with a thorny moment in one of the other plots (B/C/D...). Bonus points if these other plotlines somehow intersect the A Plot, and help solve it at the end.

The C plot (also known as "runner" in some circles) can also be a plot line that runs through multiple books/episodes, if you've got a series going on (hence its name). 

In the Harry Potter series, the threat of Voldemort hangs over Harry and his friends the whole time, but in most books, the heroes' main goal is to deal with a more immediate need/threat (figure out what's turning the kids at school to stone, go through and survive the triwizard championship, etc.). 

At the end, plots A through Z need to show that they were linked somehow, even if only metaphorically. The detective captures the killer right before he's about to off the femme fatale now turned damsel-in-distress. Then they kiss (for real feels this time), and live Happily Ever After...or until the next book/episode at least :)

In terms of writing these other plot lines, it's crucial to understand that they each need to have their own arc too--a setup, mounting challenges, a climax (hopefully that echoes/reinforces the climax of the A Plot), and a resolution. This means that, although more plot lines can deepen your overall story, it necessarily makes it longer too...

And that's basically it! Have fun writing :)

Additional Sources & References:

1. What are A, B, and C stories in screenwriting (TV Writing 101)? 
2.  Adding a 'B Plot' Is The Simple Way To Improve Your Story
3. The "A" Story and the "B" Story, by Steven Pressfield
4. Save the Cat! Writes A Novel, by Jessica Brody

Wednesday Writing Prompt 16

 

Happy 🐪 Day!

Here's this week's writing prompt: 

1.      You decide to go on a cruise with your three best friends. But in the middle of the trip, the captain goes rogue, taking all passengers captive.

Wednesday Writing Prompt 15

 

Happy 🐪 Day!

Here's this week's writing prompt:

1.      You find a ceramic of a cute frog in an old furniture store. As a joke, you kiss it one night, and are shocked when the statue does transform.

Wednesday Writing Prompt 14

 

Happy 🐪 Day!

Here's this week's writing prompt: 

1.      The world is falling apart, but you were never one to give up, so you come up with a plan to save it, and need to bring your community together to help you.

Wednesday Writing Prompt 13

 

Happy 🐪 Day!

Here's this week's writing prompt: 

1.      One day, as you stare out of the living room window, you see someone who looks just like you on the other side of the street, staring right back at you.

Wednesday Writing Prompt 12

 

Happy 🐪 Day!

Here's this week's writing prompt: 

1.      You’re out running in the park when you literally stumble into the person who bullied you in seventh grade.

Wednesday Writing Prompt 11

 

Happy 🐪 Day!

Here's this week's writing prompt: 

You’re about to get married, but something keeps nagging at you as you stare at your partner smiling at you like they always do.

Wednesday Writing Prompt 10

 

Happy 🐪 Day!

Here's this week's writing prompt: 

You go to a school fair, where one of the kids reads your fortune. And it turns out to be eerily accurate.

Wednesday Writing Prompt 09

 

Happy 🐪 Day!

Here's this week's writing prompt: 

1.      The bookstore down the street is closing, so you finally decide to check it out. But when you do, things are utterly different than what you’d expected.

Wednesday Writing Prompt 08

 

Happy 🐪 Day!

Here's this week's writing prompt: 

1.      A neighborhood dog won’t stop barking, keeping you awake at night. Finally, you decide to get up and do something about it.

Appealing To Our Baser Instincts

"Shallow are the souls that have forgotten how to shudder."

Leon Kass, The Wisdom of Repugnance

In a world of intense turmoil, where everyone and everything seems to be polarized to the extreme, and the earth itself seems completely off-kilter, I find myself reading more and more about the human psyche in hopes of getting an understanding of how we could have ended up in such a state.

Apparently, the splintering of our society can be, in a pretty significant part, attributed to the universal emotion of disgust.

And I'm not talking about the cute emotion Disgust voiced by Mindy Kaling in Pixar's Inside Out (though the movie is great).

Disgust, voiced by Mindy Kaling
source: Time

"Disgust," as explained in a Nature article on the topic, "is related to bodily purity and integrity, with things that should be on the outside--such as faeces--kept out, and things that should be on the inside--such as blood--kept in."

All very natural. But with humans, disgust can go beyond the primary visceral reaction (aka core emotion') in applying the feeling to more abstract situations, including moral issues. For instance, one can feel disgust at the idea of a person being deliberately cruel to a cute, fluffy kitten, just as one could feel disgust at the idea of someone eating their snot. "People labelled as disgusting in this way evoke fears of contamination just as rotting food does."

Turns out the brain can barely distinguish the difference "between core and moral disgust." Both register close to the same way in MRI scans, with lots of overlaps.

So why is disgust then linked to the slow disintegration of our current western society, as mentioned earlier? Because "visceral disgust will sometimes affect ethical judgments." Disgust, you see, can override our higher instincts of empathy and compassion!

The roots of this could be linked to human evolution. Some theories postulate that humans wouldn't have survived, and thrived, if they hadn't been fundamentally kind to each other and cooperative(1). Thus, the article continues, "[i]n making symbolic distinctions between us and them visceral, disgust could potentially foster greater cohesion within groups by bringing people together in defence against a common out-group" (the 'others'). Basically, our disgust of a certain type of individual (say mass murderers) is for the better of the overall society. But it can also be distorted...

"Where core disgust is the guardian of the body, moral disgust acts as the guardian of social body--that's when disgust shows its ugliest side."

This is how propagandists and demagogues have hijacked people's brain throughout history: By causing them to associate a particular group of people with this feeling of utter disgust, until those preached to believe those people are not only 'other,' but also 'enemy.'

"Our moral disgust/indignation brain network is the source of prejudice, stereotyping and sometimes outward aggression." It is therefore highly important for us, whenever we feel disgust, to not react automatically based on that feeling, but to deconstruct our feelings of disgust to truly understand where they stem from before we make any sort of moral judgment. 

Of course, this is easier said than done. But it is crucial if we want to live in a healthy society, for allowing our disgust to become our moral compass--without appealing to our higher feelings of, say, love and understanding--leads to severe injustice and tyranny.

"History seems to bear this out. Women (especially menstruating ones), the mentally and physically disabled, and inter-racial sex have all been viewed with disgust, and are still viewed as such by some."

But what if instead we "cultivat[ed] cultural and personal values of tolerance and empathy" instead? What would our world look like then? How much greater our progress and prosperity?

Sources and Additional Resources:

(1) In Human kind, a Hopeful History*, author Rutger Bregman discusses this very concept of humans being good by nature and are therefore more prone to cooperation and trust, rather than the traditional Law of the Jungle theory that competition and mistrust are what helped us humans survive to this day.

(2) You can read the full article The Depths of Disgust by Dan Jones published in Nature in 2007 here.

(3) I discovered this article thanks to a very interesting thread by Vince Scafaria on Twitter which discusses the current war on democracy led by a number of people, and how they're using this concept of disgust, along with concepts of the Moral Foundation Theory to do so. 

*Disclaimer: Please note that some of the links are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I may earn a commission should you choose to buy the recommended item. If the link is an Amazon link, as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Wednesday Writing Prompt 07

 

Happy 🐪 Day!

Here's this week's writing prompt: 

1.      Flowers are delivered for you at the office, with no name written on the card. Just one message.

On The Hardships, And Rewards, Of Following Your Heart

I'm going through Steven Pressfield's latest book, Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants To Be*, and in chapter 25, he transcribes part of an article that concert pianist James Rhodes had written for The Guardian titled "Find what you love and let it kill you."(1)

I found it fascinating, and inspiring, so I'm sharing it here with you as well:

I didn't play the piano for ten years. A decade of slow death by greed working in the City, chasing something that never existed in the first place (security, self-worth, [etc.]). And only when the pain of not doing it got greater than the imagined pain of doing it did I somehow find the balls to pursue what I really wanted and had been obsessed by since the age of seven--to be a concert pianist.

Admittedly I went a little extreme--no income for five years, six hours a day of intense practice, monthly four-day long lessons with a brilliant and psychopathic teacher in Verona, a hunger for something that was so necessary it cost me my marriage, nine months in a mental hospital, most of my dignity and about thirty-five pounds in weight. And the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is not perhaps the Disney ending I'd envisaged as I lay in bed aged ten listening to Horowitz devouring Rachmaninov at Carnegie Hall.

My life [today] involves endless hours of repetitive and frustrating practising, lonely hotel rooms, dodgy pianos, aggressively bitchy reviews, isolation, confusing airline reward programmes, physiotherapy, stretches of nervous boredom (counting ceiling tiles backstage as the house slowly fills up) punctuated by short moments of extreme pressure (playing 120,000 notes from memory in the right order with the right fingers, the right sound, the right pedalling while chatting about the composers and pieces and knowing there are critics, recording devices, my mum, the ghosts of the past, all there watching), and perhaps most crushingly, the realisation that I will never, ever give the perfect recital. It can only ever, with luck, hard work and a hefty dose of self-forgiveness, be "good enough."

And yet. The indescribably reward of taking a bunch of ink on paper from the shelf at Chappell of Bond Street, tubing it home, setting the score, pencil, coffee and ashtray on the piano and emerging a few days, weeks or months later able to perform something that some mad, genius, lunatic of a composer three hundred years ago heard in his head while out of his mind with grief or love or syphilis. A piece of music that will always baffle the greatest minds in the world, that simply cannot be made sense of, that is still living and floating in the ether and will do so for yet more centuries to come. That is extraordinary. And I did that. I do it, to my continual astonishment, all the time.

Sources:

James Rhodes: Find what you love and let it kill you, The Guardian, April 26, 2013 -- full article

*Disclaimer: Please note that some of the links are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I may earn a commission should you choose to buy the recommended item. If the link is an Amazon link, as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Wednesday Writing Prompt 06

 

Happy 🐪 Day!

Here's this week's writing prompt: 

1.      A phone call wakes you up early one morning telling you your father fell down the stairs.

Wednesday Writing Prompt 05

 

Happy 🐪 Day!

Here's this week's writing prompt: 

1.      A stranger unexpectedly helps you when you’ve fallen down, and when they leave, you realize that they left something behind.

A Famous Belgian Inventor - John-Joseph Merlin

I spend quite a bit of time reading or watching historical documentaries, as I find they always bring up story ideas. Recently, I watched a documentary on the history of clockwork (very relevant for a future series of mine), in which I found out about a famous, and highly-creative belgian engineer:

John-Joseph Merlin.

On top of his fabulous last name, he was also the inventor of many clever and innovative contraptions, the only one which has remained popular to this day (though thankfully other works of his have survived and can be viewed in various museums), are the roller skates.

I know!

If you're curious, I wrote a little bit more about John-Joseph Merlin here :)

Wednesday Writing Prompt 04

Happy 🐪 Day!

Here's this week's writing prompt: 

1.      Birds have gathered ominously in your garden, covering every inch of it. And they’re all looking straight at you.

The Kuleshov Effect

Back in the first half of the 20th century, Russian film-maker Lev Kuleshov produced a short film in which he alternated shots of an actor after images of a bowl of soup, a girl in a coffin, or a woman reclining in a divan. Each shot of the main actor was exactly the same, yet the audience left the viewing convinced that he had magnificently expressed alternately hunger, grief, and desire.

Kuleshov Effect (1)

That was when Kuleshov discovered the associative power of the human mind using cutting techniques in film, for humans have the "need to impose order on the world. [Therefore, i]f an audience is presented with disparate images it will assemble them into a meaningful order."(2)

This, in short, is the Kuleshov effect.

As mentioned in Into the Woods by John Yorke, Finding Nemo co-writer Bob Peterson stated on the use of the Kuleshov effect in storytelling:

"Good storytelling never gives you four, it gives you two plus two... Don't give the audience the answer; give the audience the pieces and compel them to conclude the answer. Audiences have an unconscious desire to work for their entertainment. They are rewarded with a sense of thrill and delight when they find the answers themselves."

But it doesn't only work with visual images.

As a writer, you can juxtapose descriptions, lines of dialogues, or actions (or a combination thereof) in such a way that, when taken individually, each element might seem unrelated, but put next to each other brings a whole new meaning that's not obvious from the words themselves, but from the implications behind them.

It's a way to create subtext, and it draws the reader's (or viewer's) attention in. Because they have to work to make the connection to get the underlying meaning.

For example, say you have a woman who tells her lover that she now hates him and wants him to go, but she's crying and her fingers won't unclench from around the hem of his jacket, you understand that she actually loves him, so must be telling him to save him in some way (perhaps from her jealous husband, or from the Nazis, or from her parents who can't stand his family).

Hitchcock's Kuleshov Effect - Film Montage (3)

As John Yorke states further in the book:

"Two opposites are placed side by side; art is rendered from juxtaposition.
That interpretation is the art."

And it's by making readers interpret your scenes in this manner, that the writer helps them get more invested in the story, and they end up caring about the story because they've invested themselves (through their thinking power) into it as well (in a way, co-creating it with the author!).

In this short clip, you can clearly "read" the 
subtext between Walter Cronkite's professional announcement of 
the terrible news of JF Kennedy's assassination, and his actions (including
the slight pause he had to make), as the realization that this

is a terrible tragedy for the United States.

Sources:

(1) Kuleshov Effect on TV Tropes, where you can also read a number of other, more modern examples.

(2) Into The Woods: A Five-Act Journey by John Yorke*. 

On the topic, Yorke also brings up the fact that the Kuleshov effect can be subverted to create unexpected twists. You put together a number of ideas or clues, so the reader thinks they know where the joke is going (or who the murderer is), only to realize that the end is a total surprise (hence the joke makes them laugh out of surprise), or that the way you put the clues together, if taken differently, lead to an entirely different suspect!

Into The Woods is a brilliant book, by the way, that really delves into what it is that make us so riveted to good stories.

(3) The Kuleshov Effect Explained (and how Spielberg Subverts it) by StudioBinder.

*Disclaimer: Please note that some of the links are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I may earn a commission should you choose to buy the recommended item. If the link is an Amazon link, as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Wednesday Writing Prompt 03

 

Happy 🐪 Day!

Here's this week's writing prompt:

1.      You get an indecent proposal at work, but it’s not for what you think.

Wednesday Writing Prompt 02

Happy 🐪 Day

Here's this week's writing prompt:

1.      You’ve received a rat for your birthday, and, considering who gave it to you, you know can’t get rid of it. Ever.

Wednesday Writing Prompt 01

 

Hello,

I'm going to try something new here, and, as I (albeit snail-like) am posting more on the art of writing, I thought I'd also share some writing prompts.

The reason behind this is that I've had a very hard few years where events and health heavily impacted my storytelling ability. However, in my battle to reclaim myself--and my writing--one of the exercises I found that helped me was coming up with 400 words (didn't have to be a full story) using a prompt as a starter.

The key was to let my imagination run wild, using all the senses to describe the scene, and thereby rediscover the fun in writing. 

So, hopefully, these weekly(1) prompts might help someone else facing the same difficulties.

So here's the first prompt:

It's night, and a robot has somehow ended up before what appears to be an abandoned farm house.

Notes:

(1) I'm going to try providing weekly prompts for a year, then see after that :)

Why Art Endures

 "It's an astonishing fact of human culture: what lasts is what mystifies. Time is an acid that destroys answers. It ruins our certainties. What remains instead are those stories and paintings and characters that find ways to contain what they cannot fathom, hooking us with their unspilled secrets. They are alive with the mystery of the universe. Which is why they live on."

~Jonah Lehrer, Mystery: A Seduction A Strategy, A Solution