The wonderful thing about a timed writing exercise isyou decide how long you have available to write.  Clear your mind, shackle your inner editor and set your timer before you begin writing.  Write about the first thing that comes to you… there is no right or wrong way to write about this topic.  Now write about… (more…)

I’m quite late in posting Monday’s exercise although I had it in my To Do list.  A To Do list doesn’t help much if you ignore it to do other things (like reading) that aren’t on the list.

Going with the theme last week of Story Starter, here’s one for you from The First Line.  If you like what you write, why not send it in to them?  Their deadline is May 1st, 2010.  You can’t change the line in any way.

Paul and Miriam Kaufman met the old-fashioned way.

(This is Amber posting – the Poise and Pen site cross-posts under Rhonda’s ID.)

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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At this point you should register for NaNoWriMo if you haven’t done so already.  The servers seem to be stabilized and it’s a good time to go hunting on the forums for tips and tools.

Most of us this year have vocalized we have no idea what we’re doing.  No characters, no plot… not a problem!  Take a moment or two this week to write down a few things to help you get started.

Write down:
A short description of the novel you’d like to read.
Key plot words that intrigue you.
Character names or occupations that you want to explore.

Now take out this list every few days and review it.  Feel free to add to it.  Your subconscious will work on it and soon you’ll have an idea before November 1st.

Here’s the very late exercise prompt from Monday.  Coincidentally, it will help with NaNoWriMo prep or could be used as an exercise in NaNoWriMo to increase your word count.

One of the unstated premises of shows like The Real World and Survivor is what happens when a person is removed from their element.  As a NaNoWriMo character exercise this can reveal how your character reacts to a stressful situation.  As a word count booster, it can be a dream sequence.

So what happens when a computer geek is put on the court as a professional basketball player?  Or the surfer dude is in Alaska near the water but no waves?  Or the earth bound human winds up on a ring of Saturn?  Or the 6 foot tall man finds himself standing amongst a crowd of women who are at least 8 feet tall?

Run with it and have fun.

Here is your exercise for this week.

Below is a list of words that will inspire your next masterpiece.  You must use all of the words.  It’s up to you if you’d like to make it a timed writing exercise. (more…)

1. Pick a number between 1 and 180.

2. Pick another number between 1 and 180.

3. Now pick north or south.

4. Now east or west.

5. Combine your answers from 1 and 3.

6. Combine your answers from 2 and 4.

This gives you the lattitude and longitude for a very specific point on the map. Find out where that location is (google is your friend) and write a story or a poem with that as the setting.