Silence…

Prompt: Write about silence. What kinds of feelings does that word evoke in you? Are you fearful of the silence, or do you wish for it, revel in it?

Starter: We crept along the edge of the house…

Quote: “The room was quiet. I hated the silence. All kinds of thoughts could pop up in that silence. Silence was like the dark- anything could be hiding in it.” –Dancing on the Edge by Han Nolan

 

Madness…

Prompt: Write about a time when you thought you would go mad- with pain, with desire, with rage, with anything. Be as detailed and emotional as possible.

Starter: He walked slowly to the edge of the cliff.

Quote: “Sanity calms, but madness is more interesting.” -John Russell

 

Picture Prompt:

Story Starter: “I don’t know what else to do…”

Quote: “Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.” -Cyril Connolly

 

Picture Prompt: 

Starter: She stared down at her hands as if seeing them for the first time. What have I done? she thought, beginning to panic.

Quote: “There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside of you.” -Z.N. Hurston

 

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

Prompt(s): Look out your window- what is the first thing you see? Write about what makes it beautiful.

Write about the most beautiful person you know.

Starter: The sun began to peek out from behind the clouds.

Quote(s): “Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.” -Anne Frank

“Sometimes people are beautiful. Not in looks. Not in what they say. Just in what they are.” -Mark Zusak, I Am the Messanger

 

Live to Work, or Work to Live?

Prompt: Do you live to work or work to live? Have you found that perfect (for you) balance? Would your friends/family agree with you? What is the reasoning behind your answer? Does it make a difference to you?

Story Starter: “Mommy, mommy! You’re home!”

Quote: “Don’t confuse having a career with having a life.” -Hilary Clinton

 

Why We Write

Today, the company I work for posted a link on Facebook to this article from The Huffington Post. While I have never been a fan of Jodi Picoult’s writing, I found this excerpt from Why We Write: 20 Acclaimed Authors on How and Why They Do What They Do (a compilation of essays from famous authors) to be somewhat interesting. But what really captured my attention was near the end of the interview- a piece of advice from Picoult to aspiring writers, which I will be using as our quote today.

Prompt: Why do you write? What is your inspiration? Your motivation? Your muse? What do you love about writing? What do you loathe about it?

Starter: The force of the blast threw him backward several feet.

Quote: “Write even when you don’t feel like writing. There is no muse. It’s hard work. You can always edit a bad page, but you can’t edit a blank page.” -Jodi Picoult

 

My writing: “Why do you always do that to me?!” she shouted. Her fingernails dug into her palms as she struggled to keep her fists at her sides. It was all she could do not to pummel him, to make him feel even a fraction of the pain that coursed through her, breaking her heart.

Prompt: Write about a time you were left completely and utterly speechless.

Story Starter: “Not now, I’m tired.”

Quote: ”Do not the most moving moments of our lives find us all without words?” -Marcell Marceau