Writing Prompts/Assignments

In one of my creative writing classes this semester, we've been given specific creative writing assignments. Regardless of what you turn out, I think its a useful exercise for stretching yourself and your writing, so I thought I'd post some of the assignments here, full credit given to Dr. Lance Larsen.

-How To: Write a piece in a second person following these guidelines. First, give specific instruction or advice on a recognizable subject, such as how to see a ghost at night, change a car tire, get over a breakup, etc. Second, be sure that your piece violates its own purpose or otherwise wanders far afield. A piece on shooting free throws might end up rhapsodizing about interior weather patterns or complaining about love. The piece should be paradoxical and enticing and arrive at wisdom. Example: "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid.

My piece was called How to Eat Cold Cereal, and ended up being about how cold cereal will always be there even when you have no one and nothing else to turn to. Still heavily in need of revision, but once thats done I'll send it out or maybe post it here.

-Ekphrastic: Write a piece (probably a poem) that describes a black-and-white photograph, detail by detail, and in the process discovers a conflict not apparent at first glance. This might include proposing a narrative of your own devising. Your poem should be clear enough that it doesn't require the original photograph to make sense. Almost any kind of picture will do: documentary, family snapshot, postcard, artistic masterpiece. Why does a given photograph disturb, intrigue, or entertain you? A good ekphrastic poem will set up a problem or spring a trap.

My piece was on Fox Terrier on the Pont D'art by Robert Doisneau. His photographs provide wonderful inspiration for ekphrastic pieces, actually.



-Dialogue: Write a piece that relies predominantly on dialogue. The language must be concrete and lyrical. You might construct some kind if Q & A. The key here is that you strategically use the gaps between voices.

My piece was called Cross-Eyed and was about two sisters on a drive to the airport arguing over what to do with their senile father.

Hope that helps! I'd love to hear about how you've used these assignments and what you've come up with.

Sarah Allen

Personal Editing List

Ever writer has their own unique method, style, and voice, and with this comes unique issues. There are certain quirks, turns of phrase, and specific cliches that they tend towards in there writing. Recognizing these is the first step in avoiding them. It can be hard to figure out what they are, but having others read your writing is one way. Don't get so emotionally involved that you can't change up a few things, and make your writing fresh and intriguing.

My suggestion is to make a list of your own personal writing cliches, make a "personal editing list", and keep it up by your writing area. If you know that you have certain bad habits, you can consciously keep from falling into them.

Here are some things from my own personal editing list. Some of them are specific, sentence level things, and some have to do with the overall, general idea.

-Struggle vs. slump: I have the bad habit of setting my characters in emotionally hard situations that they can't really do much about except passively accept it and try to be happy despite the problem. This can turn into simple "portrait of a saint" stories, which may show kind, generous characters, but they are passive and not interesting as characters. Every story needs active, immediate and relatable conflict, and this is something I have to consciously remember as I come up with my story ideas.

-Words that don't do enough: I have a list of words that I have a habit of overusing, which don't do as much as I want them too. Some of those words are smiled, laughed, sighed, cried and looked. Words like this are so generic that they don't really show whats going on.

-A story isn't poignant/meaningful/significant just because its about infidelity/abandonment/abuse. These things are poignant and important, of course, but they are often such huge topics that they overwhelm the piece. An incredibly meaningful, successful piece can be about things as simple as sister jealousy, unmet expectations, or just the small things that make meaning in our every day life. I have a habit of picking topics like infidelity just because I assume that if its about something significant like that, the piece itself will be significant. That is not necessarily the case, and remembering that helps me steer away from sentimentalism.

Anyway, I hope this helps! What are your bad writing habits, and what are some good ways for getting over them?

Sarah Allen

Using YouTube to Market Your Creative Writing Part II: Examples

A while ago I posted about using youtube to market your creative writing. Today I want to continue that with a couple examples of videos that are themselves works of art that can help you expand your audience. The thing about youtube videos like this is that you can add them to your list of beautiful creations, and then link from the videos to your blog or website and get more attention for your books and other work. Win-win.

Anywhere, here are two videos that I think are beautiful examples of what writers and artists can create in video format.



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I hope you both enjoy these videos and learn from them.

Sarah Allen

Fashion for Writers

I feel a little superficial for writing this, but honestly I think its something fairly important that no one really talks about. I mean the whole dress for success thing. Writers are notorious for being unsociable basement dwellers, but it doesn't have to be that way, and the way you dress can play a part.

If you want to be a celebrity novelist, dress that way. If for you that means pencil skirt suits, great. If for you it means black skinny jeans and vests, awesome. If it means shorts, flip-flops and t-shirts, wonderful. The key is to dress nice in whatever style it is you like. I kind of like attention, so I like the idea of dressing to get that attention. You are an interesting person who deserves to be known, and your attire can help make that known to the world.

Also, the right clothes can do awesome things for your confidence. I have huge self-confidence issues, but when I feel like I'm dressed nice and look pretty good, it's a lot easier for me to put myself out there. It makes me feel stronger, and more willing to take risks. There are lots of ways to learn how to dress your body type. Take advantage of what God gave you, both your mind and your body.

I know this is kind of a weird subject for a writing blog, but like I said, I'm thinking along the dress for success lines. Even if you're a shy, like many writers are, you can't get away from the need for attention just to sell your work. This includes stuff like signings, television interviews, writers conferences, book tours, etc, and in these situations you're selling yourself almost as much as your work. Obviously fashion is not one of the important things about being a writer, but I think its something that can be used to your advantage in your writing career.

Hope this helps. Let your clothes work for you!

Sarah Allen

Enter Man with a Gun

In one of the writing books I've read it talked about a writer who, whenever things were dragging or getting boring, he would send in a man with a gun. Metaphorically or literally, both work. I really like this idea and it's helped me get through important but perhaps boring scenes, and create a more overall exciting story.

This idea has helped me as I'm writing my way through my novel. Just think, how can things get worse? Who is the last person she would want to see right now? And then make that worst thing happen or bring that undesired person in.

'Man with a Gun' could be something like a haunting dream, a letter from a relative, someone in the hospital, something found in Grandma's attic, a natural disaster warning, an unexpected pregnancy, anything that can jolt your characters into passionate action. A plain old man with a gun works too.

I'd love to hear your ideas about keeping things going and going interestingly. I hope this helps, and best of luck in all your writing!

Sarah Allen