Recent Links of Interest

Poetry links:

--Critiquing Poetry (Including your own): http://www.writing-world.com/poetry/crit.shtml

--How to critique poetry: http://www.poemofquotes.com/articles/critique-poetry.php

(this is good because it mentions there's a difference between critiquing and analyzing…)

--How to critique a poem: http://www.ehow.com/how_2116676_critique-a-poem.html

(step by step suggestions for going through a sample poem)

what I read from last night:

--http://mywriterscircle.com/index.php?topic=7667.msg70693#msg70693

(includes critiquing points as well as info for writing poetry)

--Also, concerning the discussion in April of viewpoint:

--Characters and Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card

--Characters, Emotion and Viewpoint by Nancy Kress

Finally, the Chicago Manual of Style.

May prompts

May prompts

--Imagine you're a songwriter & write the track list for your first album (toasted-cheese.com)

or

--Take a character from one of your stories and examine his or her iPod playlist. What 10 songs best describe the character?

(writersdigest.com)

--Write about a mirror or other polished/reflective surface (toasted-cheese.com)

and/or

--Write about a reflection in the mirror. (davidrm.com)

--Change the color in a common phrase, e.g. "Green as night" (toastedcheese.com)

or

--Write [a poem] about the color red or another color. (Some ideas for brainstorming: How does the color make you feel? What things do you associate with that color?) (creative-writing-now.com)

-----------

--Use a phrase in a foreign language

and/or

--Listen to some music from a non-English speaking country

and/or

--Write an accent

--Write a dialog scene using only quotes from movies

or

--Write an interior monologue

Use a made-up expletive

Use the following words:

--combination, song, entrance, heat, hanging

--brown, swaying, massive, swell, moment

--cigarette, seemed, amongst, mercurial, stomach

--passage, unrestricted, busk, coastwise, outasight

--river, close, bats, inside, increased

--connector, wrenching, counterweight, overtired, capriccioso

(toasted-cheese.com)

-----------

Poetry prompts:

--Write a poem about yourself in which nothing is true

--Write a poem about something or someone you lost

--Write a poem using all of the following words: exquisite, visit, glisten

(creative-writing-now.com/creative-writing-prompts.html)

----

Free Writing Prompts:

--Use the following phrase as a focal point to write from:

   "The stain will not come out..."

--Using the following phrase as a starting point write for 20 minutes without self editing:

   "Collapsing under a canopy of green…"

Prose Prompts:

--Write two pages (500 words) with the scenario of a character urgently needing to get in contact with a family member.

--Write using the adage, "these things happen in threes."

(davidrm.com)

April Prompts

APRIL PROMPTS

Passed along by Montana from Writer's Digest--writersdigest.com/prompts:

The Terrorist Attack: The snow storm across the nation shut down many businesses and people went home early. The business where you work had closed for two days. Although you turned off the computer before going home, when you returned to work, your computer had been very active while you were away—plotting a terrorist attack. You now find yourself tasked with stopping the attack. 

There's Something You Need to Know About That Night: You’re searching through your closet and find an old stuffed animal or doll from your childhood. It starts to bring back a warm memory of a specific night that’s near and dear to your heart. Suddenly, your stuffed companion begins to talk and says, “There’s something you need to know about that night.” Write this scene.

What Happened to Your Pants? Pretend you are a recovering alcoholic who falls off the wagon while attending your high school reunion. Start your story with “I hadn’t had a drink in nearly 10 years” and end it with “If only I could remember where I left my pants.”

A Suicide Note: You are helping out at a charitable center by organizing donated items. When searching through an old suitcase, you find a suicide note dated six months prior. What’s peculiar is that you know the person. What’s even more peculiar is that the person is still alive. Write the story about what happens when you pay that person a visit and ask him or her about the note.

You Are the Arch Nemesis: A movie hero steps out of your television and proclaims that you are his/her arch-nemesis. Write about what happens.

From the ToastedCheese.com archives (April 2012): Sorry about the quantity. I culled some but it was hard to choose. 

Write about a map (real or metaphorical).
The gray tones of winter gave way to a gentle tide of green.

A restaurant with its own herb garden.

The glint of light on broken glass

He considered a woman running barefoot sexy.
Use the following words: know, roof, quick, crowd, discarded

Write about a childhood nightmare.

Write about an increase in temperature.
She enjoyed the sensation of fear.
A backpack tucked underneath an azalea bush.

A character with an unusual style of beard/mustache.

A freshly sharpened pencil.

Use the following words: flakes, floor, future, front, filled

Write about two or more people doing something in unison.

Incorporate a famous quote from a movie or TV show.

A character with poor table manners.
A character must make a choice. Write the scene two different ways.

Start with the lyrics to a popular song & turn them into a story.

Find a nice place to sit & think about your WIP for 15-30 min. Then write!.
Use the following five words: repeat, through, college, kamikaze, breeze.

Fill in the blanks: "Never ______ with a _____".

Use the phrase (thx Neil Gaiman) "Events are cowards. They run in packs."

Write the same scene in 1st, 2nd & 3rd person.

The perfect day job for a writer is...

Start with a line from a favorite poem.

Imagine winning a writing award. Outline the steps you'll take to get there.

Record yourself reading your work aloud. Listen to it, then revise.
Use the following words: absorb, lines, welcoming, anger, bends

Write about creating a monster.

Write about two options that are bad for different reasons.

Go write in an unusual location.

March prompts

For the March 7 meeting:
--Use a current popular song as a prompt
--Click the link and pick a photo to write about: http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/
--Failing health
--Watching a kitten play with string
--Unexpected visit from an old friend
--"Tell me why."
--"That color is not on the rainbow."
(above prompts taken from the archive at toasted-cheese.com)

Create a character based on the type of car the character owns. Select the car--i.e.: Buick, El Camino, Limo, or use the lack of a vehicle, as your starting point.
(Thanks to Montana for finding this prompt)

For March 21 meeting
--Beware the Ides of March
--Look up "synechdoche" and use one.
--Write about a yearning for something.
--Steal the title of an existing book & use it as a starting point.
--Go to Wikipedia, click 'random article' & write about that topic.
--Being too cold or too hot.
--Out like a lamb.
(above prompts taken from the archive at toasted-cheese.com)

Write about someone discovering a key.
(Thanks to Montana for finding this prompt)

Prompts for February 2013

Feel free to go in any direction these prompts take you. Apply them to any genre or type of writing. Change the gender or any other details as needed. Have fun. Get creative. Let go. Try something unusual. Expand yourself. 

We're aiming for 1,000 words or so max to be read out loud for off-the-cuff feedback (printing is optional but can be helpful), but if it grows (and we hope it does) definitely consider submitting it again for a full critique process. 

February Prompts:

--You inadvertently run an important paper through the shredder.

--A figure in a famous painting begins communicating with an art museum patron. [Extra credit: Make this based on a piece from The Hyde Collection…]

--A man opens his mailbox to find an envelope containing a set of instructions. 

--A lawyer discovers the his client is guilty of the horrible crime for which he was just found innocent.

--While at a family reunion, a teenage brother and sister find an old suitcase filled with money under their uncle's bed.

--A man comes to believe that he is an emissary of God when he survives a plan crash in which all other passengers are killed.

--"And that's when I quit."

(taken from The Writer's Book of Matches by Writers Digest Books)

Look back here for prompts to be added around the last Thursday of each month. 

Past Prompts

Here's a place for the prompts we've used recently. I will be adding more to the blog monthly.

The goal for using prompts is to get creative juices flowing and have fun. Bring in short pieces (1000 words or so) that can be shared out loud (printing is optional but can be helpful) at the start of the meeting for off-the-cuff feedback before the full critiques begin. 

Note: I am finding a lot of prompts aren't gender neutral. Definitely feel free to go in other directions in gender (and age) whenever you feel it appropriate…

prompts taken from The Writer’s Book of Matches from Writer’s Digest Books:

--"Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. A lot."
--A teenage girl browsing at a department store notices a wealthy-looking woman casually shove merchandise into a purse.
--"I don't know.... Something about that guy creeps me out."
--At the reading of their father's will, a group of estranged siblings are provided with a string of clues leading to a buried treasure, one clue for each sibling.
--A man takes lunch to his wife's office, and he's told that she hasn't worked there in three weeks.
--A woman contemplating suicide visits a psychic.

--A man aspiring to be a pro bowler loses to his young daughter.

--A gambler at a private high stakes poker game is caught cheating.

--“Thanks for seeing me. I need to discuss something important, and I didn’t want to do it over the phone.”

--Two people are emptying out a deceased relative's house.

--A writer begins to lose the ability to discern between fantasy and reality.

--"I promised I wouldn’t tell anyone, but I guess I can trust you.”

--“This is the most boring party I’ve ever been to. Let’s sneak out.”

--two convenience store employees are stuck at work during a hurricane [original prompt had "blizzard"]

--You are riding a crowded subway [or any other mode of public transport] with a huge wad of cash in your inside coat pocket [or other garment or accessory]

--"I'm here to answer the ad in the paper."

--During your weekly housecleaning you find an unfamiliar cell phone in the cushions of your couch--but you can't recall having any recent visitors. It rings. (Writer's Digest Feb. 2011)

Poetry Prompt: Write a poem with a hole in it. This can be an actual hole (an ode to your holey socks?) or something as nuanced as a hole (or multiple holes) in logic. For instance, try writing a poem and removing all of the verb and adjectives. (Writer's Digest)

--A nosy [person] eavesdrops on coworkers and immediately regrets it. (Writer's Digest contest #44)

Prompts for the Poetry-minded (pretty sure these were from WD but not sure where now)

--Write a poem that take place at a specific time of the day

--Write a poem that includes at least three different flavors and two odors

--Write a poem that begins and ends with the same word

Note: Two photo prompts didn't come through.

Branding for Local Authors

Create your author brand and make it stick.

When most people consider branding, they think Stephen King and J.K. Rowling, but these days, that’s less branding and more commercial juggernaut. People know what they want and expect from such authors, and when they don’t get it, they don’t buy (see Stephen King’s attempts at romance novels and J.K. Rowling’s post-Harry Potter novel).

Of course, there are plenty of authors who are master’\s at author branding. It doesn’t just mean your ability to create merchandising and film opportunities (in fact, that’s a very small part of it)—it’s about your ability to create a consistent image, niche or writing style. People want to recognize your author’s voice when they pick up your book. In short, they want to know what they’re getting ahead of time.

Plenty of authors are masters at branding. You know what you’re getting when you pick up a Dean Koontz or John Grisham book. The same is true of Mo Willems, Nick Bruel, Doreen Cronin, James Patterson and plenty of other top-notch, top-selling writers.  But local authors can develop big audiences, too, by developing a brand.

Let’s look at how two authors did it using two very different approaches.

1. Zackary Richards. The Glens Falls Writers Group's own Zackary Richards has a brand that meets his personality. He’s brash, opinionated, loud and straight out of the Bronx. Sorry, da Bronx. His books are fast-paced with unforgettable characters, otherworldly plots, a bit of sex, a lot of violence, and intricately woven plots with turn after unexpected turn. This style remains consistent even when he changes genre. Zack mostly writes science fiction, but he’s written it for adults and young adults. He’s been able to use his brand to develop sci-fi, fantasy, religious themes and even non-fiction. How is his brand different than his “author’s voice?” Simple: voice can change from book to book, branding does not. When readers pick up a Zackary Richards’ book, they know what they’re getting, regardless of subtle shifts in genre, reader age, narrator, etc.
2.  Tommy Moore. Comedian Tommy Moore used an approach completely different than Zack’s. His brand – clean, fun, funny, friendly and sentimental – existed long before he wrote his book, A Ph.D. in Happiness from the Great Comedians. Tommy had 40 years in stand-up comedy when his book came out late last year. His voice, his brand, and his platform existed. All he had to do was capture what he’d been doing on stage, TV and radio and put it on the printed page. He did it beautifully, allowing him to bring the two together and naturally promote the book through his stand-up and media appearances. Tommy is known as The Professor of Fun. Notice how his book offers a Ph.D. in happiness? That’s a terrific extension of his brand. Everything is tied together nicely.

Steps to Establish an Author’s Brand:

1. Have a consistent voice.  Whether you're being an interviewed, writing a blog, telling a story, Tweeting, etc. have a consistent voice. If you write funny books, try to give lighthearted interviews. If you're philosophical, be poignant. If you check out Zackary Richards blog, you'll see how consistent it is with his novels. His readers pick up his books because they feel like they know, and fans of his books with turn to his blog to get updates on his work, etc.
2. Have a consistent style. This doesn’t necessarily mean your voice within a story (first person vs. third, optimistic vs. pessimistic, male vs. female, etc.) but you need to maintain certain qualities. Even Mark Twain (another master at branding, despite changing voices drastically between stories), who drastically changed American literature and writing style in the shift between Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, kept certain parts of his brand alive: life on the Mississippi, a reflection on American culture, and wry observations on subtleties in human behavior. 
3. Know what your readers want. It’s almost impossible to jump from genre to genre, voice to voice, one you have a following. Change can happen, but it as to be subtle. Perfectly executing a radical change simply takes a genius most of us don’t have. (I know, disappointing, right? 
4. Know who you are. Exaggerate the parts of you that are on the page. Be consistent. You don’t need to become an outright character or caricature of yourself, but make yourself as memorable as the characters you create. If your books are funny, be funny? Gritty, be gritty? Homey, be homey, etc. 
5. Use your expertise. If you’re an expert in something, include it in your book. Write what you know. It will be believable, increase your interview and speaking opportunities, and help you carve out a niche in the populated world of popular authors. Start by reaching out  to local organizations that share your interests, or schools that teach your subject. Use your expertise, like comedian Tommy Moore. Make your expertise your brand.

Being a “brand” doesn’t happen overnight, but it can happen with the right approach. Your brand is your bond. Don’t break it.

Originally published at JohnBriggsBooks.