Orchestrated Search #2: Simply Music

Songs don't just tell stories - they can BE stories. All you need is a playlist. If you have songs in your My Music folder, load them into your media player. If you have a portable MP3 player, set it to shuffle. If you can't have it shuffle, then you'll have to play it and see where it leads you.

Ready? Have a pen and piece of paper ready; or start up a new document on your word processor. You'll have to take note of each song that plays, assign it to the following designations, and yes, write a short story. You have your pick of characters' names and location names, and you can make it as long or as short as you want. Just make sure that you incorporate the themes of the songs that play (NOT the songs themselves, see, but what the songs mean to you. If the song tells a story, you can incorporate that story into your story; or if the song is about heartbreak, then you'll have a heartbreaking thing happening somewhere in your tale).

Now, press PLAY. Don't forward through the songs. Listen to each one and go through each one. No shortcuts!

1. The first song that plays describes your lead character.

2. The second song that plays describes your location.

3. The third song that plays describes the opening of your story.

4. The fourth song that plays talks about how the action builds up in your story (or, what happens that brings about the conflict).

5. The fifth song that plays talks about the conflict itself, the main point of your story, the grand adventure, or whatever the song describes.

6. The sixth song that plays talks about how the conflict is resolved.

7. The seventh song that plays talks about what keeps your lead character alive and kicking (or dying and decaying) through your story.

8. The eighth song that plays talks about the main weakness of your lead character that nearly knocks him or her off balance and sends him hurtling into depression/desperation/insanity/the Abyss.

9. The ninth song that plays talks about what fuels your lead character to do better and resolve the conflict. Note how this is different from the sixth song that plays. The sixth song describes the resolution itself, while the ninth song describes something less tangible that moves your character forward.

10. The tenth and last song that plays describes the final scene in your short story.

Don't forget to post your stories and/or links to them in the comments section. Happy writing!

Triad #2: One and One Make...

Two.

In love.

That's right. You are working on a love story. A short story on love. Two people, animals, microbes, things, concepts, what-have-you in love.

And you need these three things in your short story, which should not exceed 1,000 words.

1. A slap on the face.
2. A slammed door.
3. A rose.

And yes, melodrama is welcome.

Please don't forget to post your stories, or share your links to them.

Chew on This!

"One nice thing about putting the thing away for a couple of months before looking at it is that you start appreciate your own wit. Of course, this can be carried too far. But it's kind of cool when you crack up a piece of writing, and then realize you wrote it.
I recommend this feeling. "

- Steven Brust

Grammar is Your Friend

You might think that good grammar is a myth, a pipe dream, and something out-of-date in this day and age of shoot now, apologize later. Indeed, when text language seems to litter the forums and mailing lists of the Internet universe, and where writers and editors are readily available, grammar doesn't seem so important anymore.

Despite all these, however, good grammar is a must anywhere. Think: how would you react if you received a poorly-worded, poorly-constructed application for a post at your company? Would you let the person in if his or her job demanded great writing skills? Now start getting your grammar skills working!

Not everyone knows everything about good grammar, so you can use the Purdue Owl Website as a guide (access it through http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/). When in doubt, do research. You may have to work harder to get your writing finished, but hey, at least you can say you did your best, right?

The Photo Prompt: A Blurred City

A blurred city at night, and an onslaught of light. It's time for you to write fiction.

Use this photo as your guide, and don't forget to post your story/chapter/novel/epic/masterpiece in the comments section (or a link please, lest the comments box explode due to text density).

Good luck, and happy writing!

Gearing Up for NaNoWriMo?

National Novel Writing Month is a great way for you to actually push yourself to write, but critics can often see it as an exercise in pushing yourself way too fast, and over the edge. Maybe into insanity? Or into mediocrity? In either case, you may be going too fast nowhere, so now's the time to see how well you'll fare in November.

Here's an experiment that you may want to try. Do freehand writing, without making any judgments in terms of grammar, syntax, and style. Just write whatever comes to mind. However, set a time for yourself. Say, set a timer to five minutes, and stop writing as soon as the timer goes off. Now, count how many words you've put in. This is your word speed when you're not thinking and just writing like there's no tomorrow.

Pick a time of the day to do this: you can choose the morning, when you wake up, so that you don't have any idea what the problems of the day will be; or you can choose the evening, right before you sleep, so that the day's problems can be washed away through writing. In any case, pick a convenient time, a time when you are not forced to write.

This exercise will allow you to see how fast you write when you are having fun and just letting your ideas fly. You may want to note your speed, just so you know if you're really on a roll (writing at your recorded speed or slightly higher or slightly lower), if your writing might be going a little out of hand (if you're writing way too much, and most likely not making a lot of sense), or if you are getting burned out (if you're going way too slow).

Of course, this isn't your single benchmark for good writing, but it can be a good guide for NaNoWriMo. After all, you do need to know when you should stop writing and start breathing for a moment.

The Last Sentence #1

Your job, dear writer, is to open your journal and start writing, or open a new file on your computer and start typing. It's time to write a short story of no more than 5000 words, with your choice of plot and characters, and with the style that you want. All that I ask is that you end it with the following sentence.

"She could not weep, but she could harden her heart, until it would break into a thousand pieces and be no more."

Good luck! Share your stories through the comments section, by pasting it (if it's short) or providing a link. Have fun!