My all time favorite similes, by the way, come from the hardboiled detective fiction of the forties and fifties, and the literary descendants of the dime-dreadful writers. These favorites include “It was darker than a carload of assholes” (George V. Higgins) and “I lit a cigarette that tasted like a plumber’s handkerchief” (Raymond Chandler).
The Write Kind
This is where your Slogan / Short Subtitle goes. Edit this at Customization Section
I have to write the story that I want to write. I never wrote them [the Harry Potter books] with a focus group of 8-year-olds in mind. I have to continue telling the story the way I want to tell it.
PROMPT: 005
“
“Going the Distance” by NeonLynxie
What do you make of long-distance relationships? Do they work? Are they pointless? Write a series of letters between two lovers.
Do you want to make it interesting?
- There is at least thirty years between the two lovers (thirty years older or younger).
- One lover is cheating on the other.
- One of the lovers has actually died, and someone else is writing on their end.
- The lovers will never meet again.
- The lovers are, quite literally, worlds apart.
PROMPT: 004
“Ladder” by VexingArt
Your protagonist, a young man or woman, has discovered something. This something may or may not be physical, but it will effect the world or society on a near-cataclysmic level. Write your story / exercise a day after this realization.
(via wordpainting)
DEFINITION: Mary-Sue
What is a Mary-Sue? Or rather, who is Mary-Sue? She’s climbin’ in yo windows, snatchin’ yo people up. I’m kidding. But in all reality, she is not a desirable character. If someone has refered to one of your characters as a Mary-Sue, it is not a compliment.
Mary-Sue is a fictional character, often found in fan fiction, with “overly idealized and hackneyed mannerisms, lacking noteworthy flaws, and primarily functioning as a wish-fulfillment fantasy for the author or reader”. Basically, she is the writer’s pet. She is beautiful, remarkably talented, and everyone loves her. And lastly, she is, but not always, a self-insertion of the author.
Is my character a Mary-Sue? I don’t believe in “if you have to ask, he/she is a Mary-Sue”, because that’s not always the case. That’s not fair. If you’re worried, ask an honest editor — not a friend, family member, or teacher. And if you’re desperate, take a litmus test. These may not provide a solid ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer, but they will give you an idea of your character’s standing.
CONTEST: Sixth Annual Flash Prose / Fiction
Contest Title: Sixth Annual Flash Prose / Fiction
Genre / Theme: Flash Fiction
Deadline: April 5th, 2011
Entry Fee: $10.00
Summary: WriterAdvice is searching for flash fiction, memoir, and creative non-fiction that grabs, surprises, and mesmerizes readers in fewer than 750 words. If you have a story or memoir with a strong theme, sharp images, and a solid structure, submit it.
Prizes: First Place earns $150; Second Place earns $75; Third Place earns $50; Fourth Place earns $25; Honorable Mentions will also be published.
Guidelines: Include a separate cover sheet with your name, address, phone number, current e-mail address, and each story title. Put your title on the top of each page of the manuscript.
For more details, go to http://www.writeradvice.com/
IMAGE CREDIT: original image, “cookie flash” by eleonoreklein
Did You Know?
Writing Vs. Drinking
The amount of beverage you consume while writing is inversely proportionate to how unmotivated you are.
A writer experiencing serious writer’s block can consume up to three two-liter bottles of soda, 24 12-ounce-containers of beverage, or the entire contents of the Hoover Dam (non-drought-season) in the quest to avoid actually typing or thinking. Severe writer’s block has been known to lead to kidney damage, incontinence, and regional flash-flooding.
Source: http://www.cabbagesnkings.net/2009/10/completely-unfactual-facts-about.html
PROMPT: 003
Do you wish anyone would just disappear? Write a story about their disappearance, and how it would effect you and the rest of the community.
QUOTE: Stephen King
“You want to write a story? Fine. Put away your dictionary, your encyclopedias, your World Almanac, and your thesaurus. Better yet, throw your thesaurus into the wastebasket. The only things creepier than a thesaurus are those little paperbacks college students too lazy to read the assigned novels buy around exam time. Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule. You think you might have misspelled a word? O.K., so here is your choice: either look it up in the dictionary, thereby making sure you have it right - and breaking your train of thought and the writer’s trance in the bargain - or just spell it phonetically and correct it later.
Why not? Did you think it was going to go somewhere? And if you need to know the largest city in Brazil and you find you don’t have it in your head, why not write in Miami, or Cleveland? You can check it … but later. When you sit down to write, write. Don’t do anything else except go to the bathroom, and only do that if it absolutely cannot be put off.”
