Prompts
The Wife And The Girlfriend
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise — A man is having an affair with his secretary. He goes to bed with her in a motel room. When he wakes up in the morning, he’s in the same motel room, but the woman next to him is his wife. Two pages of dialogue. A few lines of action. We can assume the description is already in place. The Objective — A writer needs to be able to imagine an improbable scene and bring it to life. This is a separate issue from making up a story.
By Denise E Lindquist2 months ago in Writers
5 Small Habits That Improved My Creativity This Month
How do I even begin this… The key is to start from somewhere, right? I can say that I took a little, actually more than a little, break from this site. Contributing factors owed to how buzz-filled life became, and that's when I really had to pave more time for my writing. Slacking off isn't a wonderful experience, I tell you — and not only in writing, in literally all aspects of your life.
By Gift Abotsi 2 months ago in Writers
Dropping Out Of College
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise - You're a senior in college writing home to tell your parent(s) that you're dropping out of school for your last semester; you can't promise that you will ever go back. You want them to understand, if not exactly approve of, your reason(s) for leaving. Make these as specific as you can - and as persuasive. The second half of the exercise is to write the answer, either from one or both of the parents. Limit: 550 words The Objective - To get inside the head of another person, someone you have invented, and assume her voice to vary your narrative conveyance.
By Denise E Lindquist2 months ago in Writers
Do You Remember Ann Landers?
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise — Collect Ann Landers columns, gossip columns, and stories from Weekly World News or True Confessions that seem to you to form — either partially or wholly — the basis for a story. Often, these newspaper accounts will be the “end” of the story, and you will have to fill in the events leading up to the more dramatic event that made the news that day. Or perhaps the story leads you to ask what is going to happen to that person now. Clip and save four or five items. Outline a story based on one of them, indicating where the story begins, who the main characters are, what the general tone (that is, the emotional timbre of the work) will be, and from whose point of view you elect to tell the story. These articles can be used for shorter or focused exercises. For example, describe the car of the person in the article, or the contents of his wallet. Or have the person from the article write three letters. The Objective — The objective is threefold. One is to look for an article that triggers your imagination and to understand how, when you dramatize the events, the story then becomes your story. The second is to increase the beginning writer’s awareness of the stories all around us. And third, to practice deciding how and where to enter a story and where to leave off.
By Denise E Lindquist2 months ago in Writers
Happiness and Light Unofficial Challenge. Top Story - October 2025.
INTERJECTION INTERRUPTION UPDATE - Added all the entries we've received so far, and just wanted to bump this up to remind people it's still open. You still have time to enter a piece for either or both parts of the challenge - we have only received pieces for the first part of the challenge so far. - Paul Stewart, a writer. One half of the temporary twosome of John and Paul, but not Ringo and George.
By Paul Stewart2 months ago in Writers
Someone Is Walking Around In My House
The water hit my shoulders like a warm blanket, washing away the stress of a long, lonely evening. I was home alone—something I had never minded before. The house was quiet, calm, and perfectly still. The kind of stillness that lets your mind relax… until it doesn’t.
By Alexander Mind2 months ago in Writers
Someone Is Walking Around In My House. Top Story - November 2025.
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise — You're taking a shower in your house or apartment. You are not expecting anyone, and the front door is locked (the bathroom door is not). You hear a strange noise in a rooom beyond the bathroom. Now, take it from there for no more than two pages. This can be in either the third or the first person. Don't spend any time getting into the shower; you're there when the action begins. The Objective - To tell a convincing story centered on speculation and terror.
By Denise E Lindquist3 months ago in Writers
Encouraging Speculation And Exploring Motivation
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise — Imagine you are in a line of traffic driving away from the country at nine o’clock on a Saturday morning in August. This line of traffic is much heavier than you anticipated. Who are these people and why are they leaving the beach instead of going in the opposite direction? Account for the occupants of the six cars in front of you. (For examplel the man in the Chevy is going back to town because he just found out his doughnut shop there was broken into at 3:00 a.m. He is pissed.) The Objective — To train yourself to take off from what you see and hear and create an instant story out of it. To encourage speculation and explore motivation.
By Denise E Lindquist3 months ago in Writers
My 2025 Vocal Community Stories
Following Rachel Deeming's suggestion at the beginning of the year, I challenged myself to write at least one story for each of the Vocal Communities throughout 2025. There are 48 Communities now, and I have written for 30 of them in over four years on Vocal, before 2025. In this earlier story, I made an inventory of my best stories (often earning a Top Story badge) in these communities, but I cannot edit it anymore so I'm creating this one.
By Lana V Lynx3 months ago in Writers
I Was Robbed
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise — Here is the situation: You have just come out of the movie theater around seven in the evening, and you are mugged — a person asks for your money, then knocks you to the ground before running away. Or make up your own situation. Next, pretend you are telling the account of this event to five different people: Your mother, your best friend, your girlfriend or boyfriend (or wife or husband), a therapist, a police officer, The Objective — To become conscious of how we shape and shade the stories that we tell to each other according to the listener. Your characters also tell stories to each other and make selections about content according to who they are telling the story to, the effect they want the story to have, and the response they want to elicit from the listener. A lot of dialogue in fiction, in real life, is storytelling — and there is always the story listener who is as important in the tale as the tale itself.
By Denise E Lindquist3 months ago in Writers
Sunday
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise — Title it “Sunday.” Write 550 words. The Objective — Certain words and ideas, such as retirement, in-laws, boss, and fraud, serve as triggers for stories or scenes in fiction. Sunday is one of these. Try to think of others.
By Denise E Lindquist3 months ago in Writers
