Welcome to the place where I rant, rave and discuss books, writing, the town of Cobourg Ontario and anything else that strikes my fancy.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

About Writing Prompt-and-Share




As most of you have probably noticed, the writing Prompt-and-Share has picked up quite a few readers, not just on this blog but on other platforms as well. The Prompt-and-Share consists of me providing a prompt, and then you submitting a flash fiction/ short story related to that prompt. So here are a few tips and ideas regarding the Prompt-and-Share:

 Don’t dwell. This is not for perfection. Of course you should edit your work, but there is no need to dwell on it. There are new prompts coming up several times a week – so this is not a situation where you put your work aside for a month and then edit it.

 These prompts are for creativity purposes, for feedback and most importantly, for entertainment purposes. Please follow the guidelines, they are there for a reason (word count etc..)

 Keep a record of all your writing. Seriously, trust me on this. Whether it be in a folder on your computer, or printed out in a binder, you’ll want to keep these submissions. A suggestion from the ever-amazing Christine Gossnar, is to not only save your pieces, but also save the feedback you get for each of them. This could be of great value to yourself in the future.

 Want to help yourself get to know your characters for your WIP? Use the same character or characters for each prompt. Knowing what your character would do in different situations helps you to get to know them better. (And who knows, you might get a following on your character before your WIP is even published.)

 Give feedback! Everyone wants feedback. I was in a writing course where everyone was too nice to say anything critical about the writing of others. Let us not have that be the case here. Constructive Criticism is the key. If you like the work, be avid about sharing your likes. If something doesn’t work for you, explain why, but please be kind.

 If you like the Prompt, please +1 it. It's a small thing, but it's nice to see :)

 We will be exploring many different tips and tricks of writing through these prompts, which is a nice way to learn, practice and have fun.

 This is called Prompt-and-Share and was invented by yours truly. Please remember to be respectful of that. Pretty please.

 Prompt-and-Share means to SHARE! Even if you are shy, share, share, share! We WANT to see your work. We WANT to see what others do with the prompts. So pretty please SHARE! Share your stories, share the link, share it by posting the story on your own blog, share it with twitter, facebook etc. Share! Share! Share!

 Last and most importantly, HAVE FUN!!! Be crazy! Go all out! Whatever the means, have fun your way! Write on!

I’m loving how much this idea has caught on. A big special thanks to Tara for suggesting I add the prompts on here. Another special thanks to Chris for his contribution. And a very special thanks to all my google+ friends who’ve made this idea so much fun. Now get writing!!!

4 comments:

  1. I love writing prompts too, great advice!

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  2. Great advice, but I some times still have trouble keeping my work safe. The whole family gets into my things and some times it gets demolished. How ever I still end up recreating my work.
    All my work I created when I was a child my mother kept calling a fire hazard, and would criticize her disapproval or just do the usual 'good job for your age' routine. She would though praise me in public when I won ribbons for my work.
    All and all I create for myself and no other first.

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  3. That must be frustrating Jennifer - I'm lucky that nobody messes with my things - the only person I have to blame for misplacing stuff is me, and it happens... a lot.

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