November 2010
196 posts
“Oh! For a muse of fire that would ascend the brightest heaven of invention.”
– Shakespeare, Henry V (via deliriumsedge)
October 2010
103 posts
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At that moment, you could practically hear the “dum dum dum dum” on the spooky organ. #amwriting #writingparty
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Self-adjusting word-count tracker →
You may know ahead of time that some days are going to be easy or problems as far as meeting your prescribed word count. You can weight those days on the calendar at this site to prompt you to write more or less than the 1,667 words.
If you don’t equal a particular day’s word count, the calendar refigures what you need to do on subsequent days to catch up—keeping in mind your...
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Warmup
[This] is the best tool for carving pumpkins. Where did your character find it? What else is it used for?
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First Horror Movie
We had a black and white TV until I was well into high school (and no, kids, it’s because my mother was in radio, not the decade I was in high school). The Shining came on one night, and I was slowly sucked in. Even with fuzzy reception, even with ad breaks, even with the washes of black-and-white blood, I couldn’t tear myself out of the room to tell my father, who I knew liked the...
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Warmup
Race against time! I’ve got to get it all done before the class party on Friday afternoon. What’s your character’s deadline?
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Warmup
For some people, January marks the start of a new year, new routine. For others, it’s the beginning of a new school semester. Once I hit October, I’ve put disruption to bed and I’m settled into a new routine. How is your character out of synch with the schedule? In your story, is there something that’s not playing according to the usual timeline?
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“All of us have failed to match our dream of perfection. I rate us on the basis...”
– William Faulkner (via thechocolatebrigade)
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Ghosts in the Machines
(Neil Gaiman in the New York Times)
We are gathered here at the final end of what Bradbury called the October Country: a state of mind as much as it is a time. All the harvests are in, the frost is on the ground, there’s mist in the crisp night air and it’s time to tell ghost stories.
When I was growing up in England, Halloween was no time for celebration. It was the night when, we were...
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Warmup
It’s autumn and the plants and animals are dying or going into dormancy for the winter. What didn’t get done over the summer? Is this the natural order of things or a cause for regret?
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A character in my National Novel Writing Month project is a duchess who doesn’t like being at home. Here’s a possible home.
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Seasonal (Writing) Warmup
Your character wears a disguise. Is it real or metaphorical? Under what circumstances does it go on? Who gets to see the real self?
