It's Time for Halloween What Ifs!

Halloween is just a few weeks away, and it's time to get into the Halloween mood. Try out this What if for your short story:

What if zombies ruled the world?

The plot and characters will be your own, and you need to describe the world, in detail, with zombies at the head. You have only 3000 words (or less) to write your story. When you are done, post your story, or a link to it, in the Comments section.

Good luck, and happy writing!

A First Sentence that has enough prose in it...

...for a whole novel altogether.

Your job is to use the following first sentence as the basis of a short story that is no more than 1000 words long (including the first sentence!). The plot and characters are entirely yours. When you are done, post the story in the Comments section, or post a link to it so that people can read your work.

Here is your first sentence:

"There were many ways to get lost at the farmers' market, especially when you had to go through a maze of turnips, eggplant, peas, peanuts, green beans, and lima beans; when you had to listen to your thoughts above the negotiations on prices for gourds, squash, zucchini, mustard, and radish; and when you had to balance a bag of tomatoes and garlic on one hand, and a basket of onions and ginger on the other."

Good luck and happy writing!

A Little Storm of Goo

It's time to rearrange the weather and your characters. Your job in this goo exercise is to pair up the following rain variants with a character, and write how that character is affected by the weather. Is the character happy? Sad? How? Why? Elaborate on the character's mood in no more than 300 words.

downpour drizzle hail thunderstorm
professor scientist poet painter

This exercise should help you say the most about your character in as few words as possible. It should also help you explore how your characters can be the product of the weather that surrounds them.

At the end of the exercise, you should have 16 short text snippets. Pick the best one and post it in the Comments section, or provide a link to your work. Good luck, and happy writing!

A Last Sentence for NaNoWriMo

Here's a dream sentence for you NaNoWriMo enthusiasts:

"I finished my novel early, and that was that."

True, this is rare, but what if it really did happen? What if you finished your work early? What could have led to your success?

Your job is to use this sentence as the very last one in your short story. You have only a thousand words, at the most, to write the tale. The plot will be entirely your own. When you are done, post your story in the Comments section, or provide a link to it so that other people can read how you achieved your novel writing success.

Good luck, and happy writing!

Be a Stickler for All Things Accurate and Precise

A lot of people might not care about accuracy and precision, especially when it comes to historical or scientific fact. That doesn't mean that you should jump on the bandwagon.

Precision: saying what you want to say; avoiding vague terms that turn your writing into a nebulous blob of "Huh?"

Accuracy: sticking to the facts as closely as you can. You can take some literary license now and then, but when you've taken one too many, you're just one lazy writer.

Be a stickler for precision. Start with grammar. Don't leave your work to an editor who might not catch the spirit of your writing, and who may simply blot out a few words and punctuation marks.

Be a stickler for accuracy. Start with research. Be as accurate as you possibly can, whether it's historical information or jargon, you need to tell a story. Tell it as accurately as possible. True, people will see the truth in different ways, but that shouldn't stop you from doing research! Hit the balance between good grammar and good storytelling; hit another balance between good grammar and good research; and hit the balance between good storytelling and good research. The latter may be the most difficult to do, but with practice (and prudent nitpicking) you can do it!

Last, stamp precision and accuracy on your mindset. When you start concentrating on being precise and accurate in your work, it may soon come naturally to you.

Be the best writer that you can be.

Good luck, and happy writing!

Reminder: National Novel Writing Month is coming!

When November 1st strikes, it's time to start typing!

National Novel Writing Month is coming!

If you still haven't heard of this cool enterprise - comprising people who decide that they want to get carpal tunnel in a full-fledged, 30-day writing party - then you might have been living under a digital rock for the last decade.

National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, as it has been fondly christened, is a challenge to writers everywhere. You have 30 days in November to start a novel and get past the 50,000 word mark. Your prize: the fulfilment of having gotten all your words on paper.

This is a month of zero edits. You only need something to work on in the future, so get those words out!

For more information, head over to http://www.nanowrimo.org. You can register as a new user - or if this is your umpteenth time to get your word count up, up, and away, log in and register!

Happy writing - and happy researching for your November novel!

Clean Out a Cupboard!

Cleaning up is hard to do, especially when you have so many other things to take care of. But if you do clean up, then it's one less thing to do, right? Today's focus is your kitchen. You may or may not have cleaned it up, but you need to focus your attention on your cupboard - in particular, a cupboard where canned or preserved goods are kept.

Ready? Your job is to get to that cupboard. Now:

1) Pick up a can or bottle at random. Make sure that the can or bottle has nutrition information and information about ingredients.

2) Under the list of nutrients, pick the 3rd nutrient. It could be fat, sodium, potassium, or anything under the sun. Write down what this 3rd nutrient is.

3) Under the list of ingredients, pick the 3rd ingredient from the last. If you have only 1 or 2 ingredients, pick the last one. If you have only three ingredients, pick the first one. Write down this ingredient.

4) Write a story of 1000 words or less about how the can or bottle of food got the nutrient. Was it from the farm that it was harvested from? Was it from the cannery or bottling facility?

5) Write a story of 1000 words or less about how the can or bottle of food would taste WITHOUT the ingredient in #3.

When you are done, post your stories in the Comments section, or simply provide a link to your work. Good luck and happy writing!