Use this image to inspire a story or poem:

Click for a larger version of the image.

I didn’t know the Library of Congress had images available online for viewing.  Some of them, like the following image, have no restricted uses.  In case you want your own copy of it, the Library of Congress number is LC-DIG-nclc-03455.

Once you see the image, begin writing.  Do not stop until you run out of words. (more…)

Write a drabble (a story exactly 100 words long) set in, or inspired by, this picture:

Windows.

They are interesting things. In addition to being physical objects, they find are often used in metaphors,parables and cliches — just to start. With that in mind, allow me to share two similar, but different, windows with you.

This weekend is Write your @ss off weekend — why not pick one of these windows and write a story about it, or with it in it. If you do, stop by and let us know which one you picked

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I’m a day late with this writing prompt and I apologise. My excuse is that I had a very busy day yesterday with a sick husband and a book release. It’s a bit of a lame excuse, but it’s all I’ve got

This “Monday” we have an image prompt. Write a story or poem inspired by one of these images.

This Friday allow the following picture to inspire you to write something.

Image courtesy of IStockPhoto.com

What do those signs say? Write text for them (including the big banner in the foreground) and then, if you’re feeling inspired, write a story to go with the picture. Write about the protest, perhaps, or pick one of the characters and write about them. Have fun with it.

For this exercise set yourself a time limit. Make it short. Pick something that will give you enough time to write a piece, but not enough to think about it. You hear me? No thinking allowed.

After you’ve chosen your time limit, set a timer.

As soon as you are ready to write, click on the cut below — no peeking before. None. Seriously, don’t even think about it. You will see two pictures, pick one to write about.

Give yourself a couple seconds. Seriously, seconds, not minutes. Give yourself a couple seconds to look at it and think about the story you want to tell, then turn your timer on and go.

Start writing and don’t stop until you reach the end of the story or your timer goes off.

Did you tell a whole story?

Did you make it to the end before the buzzer?

If not, don’t worry, you will do better next time. These are a great way to warm up for NaNoWriMo because if you set yourself a time limit you won’t have time to listen to your editor if you want to get the story done, which is what NaNo is all about, isn’t it? It’s also a great way to teach yourself to just write. To get the first draft done and onto ‘paper’ so later you can go about making it better.

Don’t revise your story. Put it away for a few weeks then, when you’ve put some distance between it and yourself you can go back to it and polish it up. For now though, it’s all about just getting the first draft done (and if you’re into NaNoWriMo, quantiy over quality).

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It’s all about writing crap.

Really.

Or at least, giving yourself permission to write crap.

So with that in mind, I dare you to write at least 100 words inspired by one of the following photographs. Not just any words though, make them terrible. Write the worst beginning of a story you possibly can.

Then if you’re really brave, share it in the comments section

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It’s very handy, when doing NaNoWriMo, to know how quickly you can write. It helps you plan out writing times and know, realistically, how much time you need to finish your novel/catch up/meet your daily goal. The goal of this exercise is to give you an idea of how quickly you write. Don’t cheat :-p

Set a timer (or use Write or Die) and then write 500 words of a story set in one of these images:

Images courtesy of Dreamstime (where I have my stock image portfolio).

Not only does this exercise give you an estimate of how quickly you can write 500 words (which you can obviously use to calculate about how long it will take you to write your 1,667 daily word goal) but it also gives you some practice just writing without caring if it’s good. Do you hear that? Write 500 words of utter crap set in one of these pictures. Not something good, this is NaNo, quantity over quality remember. You’ll make it good when you revise, for now, just get it written.