*Poke* Prompts?

Ehem... So I'm not sure I'm technically allowed to do this, but since it's been awhile since the last prompt, I thought I'd suggest a new one - if that's alright.

My roommate showed me this very interesting book a few weeks ago called The Mysteries of Harris Burdick.

In the introduction, it says that a man named Harris Burdick came to the publisher with a set of drawings. "I've got a story planned out for each of these drawings. Would you publish them?" the man asked. The publisher took a look at the set. Each page had an odd picture, a title and one line of a story. He was intrigued. He agreed to publish Harris Burdick's stories. Burdick left the pictures with the publisher and went away to write the stories, but never was to be seen again. Eventually, years later, the publisher decided to publish the pictures without the stories.

So, my idea for a writing prompt is this. I'll post below the links to a few of the pictures, and then we can all choose one to write about. Sound good?

Picture one: Mr. Linden's Library. "He had warned her about the book. Now it was too late."

Picture two: The Third Floor Bedroom. "It all began when someone left the window open."

Picture three: The Seven Chairs. "The fifth one ended up in France."

If you guys like this idea, we might do some of the other illustrations as well.

On Love

First off, there's still an hour to win an ARC of ENDLESSLY by entering a love poem at Kiersten White's blog here: http://kierstenwrites.blogspot.com/2012/02/very-lovely-contest.html?commentPage=2

Then, writing prompt for today is Britney Spears' "Oops I Did It Again." Prompt chosen because somebody has already written a fabulous piece prompted by that song, and I'm hoping she'll post it here. Really fabulous. Character voice is bang-on and infuriating, kind of like the voice in My Last Duchess.

Show and tell... or don't tell

Today's exercise from Seize the Story is to help develop vivid character pictures. It's a three part exercise:
1. Write a one-line description of a professional boxer without calling him or her a boxer.
2. Write a two-sentence description of a dancer without calling him or her a dancer.
3. Write a three-sentence description of a burglar without calling him or her a burglar.

My addition: these characters are not engaging in their jobs at the time you describe them. They are at the community Christmas buffet.

Shoes

One truth we all need to recognize is that small things make up the big picture. And each of these have a place in which they belong. In order for this experiment to work, you must not read ahead.

1. Free write for about 15 minutes. (you can choose the topic)

2. Go through your writing and edit anything that doesn't flow like it should, until your left with a piece of writing you wouldn't mind showing to your worst enemy.

3. Remind yourself that you're a good boy/girl, and would never, ever skip ahead.

4. Replace six plural nouns with the word "shoes".

5. You may now rewrite those sentences with a substituted word in attempt to make it make sense, but only those sentences which have had a word replaced.

Notice how the story no longer makes any sense, no matter how hard you tried. This is a rather obvious example of the role that good vocabulary plays in both your plot and diction.