Bettina's Books: Writing Prompts for March 29, 2012: I'll Give You the Beginning and the End...the Rest is Up to You!

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Writing Prompts for March 29, 2012: I'll Give You the Beginning and the End...the Rest is Up to You!

Here is a bookend prompt for you to consider. A bookend prompt is (as far as I know) something I created. It is comprised of two prompts. You should use both, though you can use them in either order. Use one as the beginning of your writing and the other as the last line of your writing.

Left Bookend Prompt: He had all the answers.

Right Bookend Prompt: Wait...what just happened?

So, what do you envision between those? A know-it-all scientist who discovers that the laws of physics aren't always accurate? Or maybe a boyfriend who thinks he know what his girlfriend expects of him...only to be surprised by something she does.

Remember, you can also reverse the prompts, so that the story starts with confusion and ends with your character feeling assured of his own knowledge. Good luck, and keep writing!

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Writing Prompts: Traditional and Bookends

This section contains traditional prompts--those that inspire writers to start a short story or novel. It also contains a type of prompt that I created: the Bookend Prompts.

For the Traditional Prompts, take my suggestions and start writing! Feel free to tweak, alter, or completely reinvent the prompts to suit whatever story you want to write.

Traditional Prompt:
"I always knew that jumping jacks were dangerous. Now, I had proof..."

Bookend Prompts: Use the pair of prompts listed below as the beginning and end of your writing. A bit more challenging, but I know you can do it!

Bookend Prompts

1a. Why me?

1b. When he heard the sizzling of meat on the grill, he knew he was home.

For more writing prompts, check back regularly in the main blog (center column). I'll post more as I think of them!

Fanfiction Links

Even with a solid grasp of writing basics, it can still be intimidating to create an entire world of your own in which to write. Has this setting been done before? Are the plot twists too predictable? Are the characters no more than stock cut-outs, or are they so original that a reader won't know how to empathize with them?

To avoid those pitfalls, I suggest starting with fanfiction. You can't make money off of it, because the characters and settings have already been taken by established writers, but you can practice emulating writing styles, character descriptions, and plot twists until you're confident enough to use these elements in your own writing.

There are sites online that will host your fanfiction, but be sure to add a disclaimer at the beginning of these stories, so that it's apparent you aren't trying to horn in on another author or screenwriter's meal ticket. At these links you will find several (okay, so it's a few dozen) of my fanfiction attempts. These are Supernatural and Magnificent Seven fictions, sometimes crossed with other shows or characters, such as Highlander, The Pretender, and Boondock Saints.

Standard disclaimer for stories in this section: These characters aren't mine, and I'm writing for fun, not profit. No copyright infringement intended.