Writing about ambition inspired by a play synopsis
Click on the link to www.singlelane.com/proplay, read a synopsis for one of the stage plays and use it as inspiration to write a story using the key word "ambition".
Writing about 'social construction'... of what?
Many people have made claims that various things are 'socially constructed.' Ian Hacking, in his book The Social Construction of What?, has asked what these things are supposedly constructed of.
Write a story about two characters; one who claims something is 'socially constructed' and the other who doesn't hold this opinion.
Write a story about two characters; one who claims something is 'socially constructed' and the other who doesn't hold this opinion.
Writing inspired by Isaac Newton
Newton's fourth rule for reasoning in natural philosophy has been translated as:
In experimental philosophy we are to look upon propositions collected by general induction from phenomena as accurately or very nearly true, notwithstanding any contrary hypotheses that may be imagined, till such time as other phaenomena occur, by which they may either be made more accurate, or liable to exceptions.
Write a story based on conflict between two characters; one who agrees with Newton above and one who does not.
In experimental philosophy we are to look upon propositions collected by general induction from phenomena as accurately or very nearly true, notwithstanding any contrary hypotheses that may be imagined, till such time as other phaenomena occur, by which they may either be made more accurate, or liable to exceptions.
Write a story based on conflict between two characters; one who agrees with Newton above and one who does not.
Searching for inspiration
Go to the Cinema and Fiction Links page, use the blogsearch box on the right to search for a key word of your choice and use one of the results as inspiration for a story.
If you're stuck for a key word, try belonging, amazing or crisis.
If you're stuck for a key word, try belonging, amazing or crisis.
Writing inspired by flash fiction
Click the link to www.flashfictionblog.com and use one of the flash fiction stories as inspiration to write your own original story using the key word "friendship".
Writing interesting dialogue scenes
According to Jennifer van Sijll:
Character-driven movies often fail to enlist cinematic tools defaulting to dialog instead. The scripts appear more like "radio plays" or what Hitchcock has called "talking photographs." But there are many character-driven films like The Piano, American Beauty, and Time of the Gypsies that succeed beautifully. These films, like Charlie Kaufman's Adaptation, use the full complement of cinematic tools available.
Write a major dramatic scene involving dialogue that also makes ample use of non-dialogue cinematic or literary techniques.
If you're stuck for ideas, you could use a scene from the screenplay of one of the films mentioned above (or another film) as a guide. Screenplays are available to read free on sites like www.imsdb.com.
Character-driven movies often fail to enlist cinematic tools defaulting to dialog instead. The scripts appear more like "radio plays" or what Hitchcock has called "talking photographs." But there are many character-driven films like The Piano, American Beauty, and Time of the Gypsies that succeed beautifully. These films, like Charlie Kaufman's Adaptation, use the full complement of cinematic tools available.
Write a major dramatic scene involving dialogue that also makes ample use of non-dialogue cinematic or literary techniques.
If you're stuck for ideas, you could use a scene from the screenplay of one of the films mentioned above (or another film) as a guide. Screenplays are available to read free on sites like www.imsdb.com.
Writing about breaking a habit
Stephen Kosslyn and Robin Rosenberg have described a habit as:
A well-learned response that is carried out automatically (without conscious thought) when the appropriate stimulus is present.
Write a story about a character who has a habit that they come to consider as bad, and how they break that habit.
A well-learned response that is carried out automatically (without conscious thought) when the appropriate stimulus is present.
Write a story about a character who has a habit that they come to consider as bad, and how they break that habit.
Writing about a character and some intrigue
A synopsis of Nikki Gemmell's novel Cleave reads:
Snip Freeman is a painter with a waitressing problem, a wanderer in search of her past. She'll visit a place, find a man and a studio and a scrap job, until the zing of uncertainty pulls her on. She is anchored nowhere, touches the earth lightly. Then she turns her back on a drowning man. And suddenly she has a reason to stay put...
Write a short synopsis that sets up a character and some intrigue, then write a story based on it.
Snip Freeman is a painter with a waitressing problem, a wanderer in search of her past. She'll visit a place, find a man and a studio and a scrap job, until the zing of uncertainty pulls her on. She is anchored nowhere, touches the earth lightly. Then she turns her back on a drowning man. And suddenly she has a reason to stay put...
Write a short synopsis that sets up a character and some intrigue, then write a story based on it.
Writing prompt inspired by Elizabeth Inchbald
Elizabeth Inchbald started her novel Nature and Art with:
At a time when the nobility of Britain were said, by the Poet Laureate, to admire and protect the arts, and were known by the whole nation to be the patrons of music - William and Henry, youths under twenty years of age, brothers, and the sons of a country shopkeeper who had lately died insolvent, set out on foot for London, in the hope of procuring by their industry a scanty subsistence.
As they walked out of their native town, each with a small bundle at his back, each observed the other drop several tears: but, upon the sudden meeting of their eyes, they both smiled with a degree of disdain at the weakness in which they had been caught.
Use the above as inspiration to write a story about two characters who begin with a shared circumstance before diverging and coming into conflict with one another.
At a time when the nobility of Britain were said, by the Poet Laureate, to admire and protect the arts, and were known by the whole nation to be the patrons of music - William and Henry, youths under twenty years of age, brothers, and the sons of a country shopkeeper who had lately died insolvent, set out on foot for London, in the hope of procuring by their industry a scanty subsistence.
As they walked out of their native town, each with a small bundle at his back, each observed the other drop several tears: but, upon the sudden meeting of their eyes, they both smiled with a degree of disdain at the weakness in which they had been caught.
Use the above as inspiration to write a story about two characters who begin with a shared circumstance before diverging and coming into conflict with one another.
Using setting as metaphor for the lives of your characters
Lorraine Hansberry's play A Raisin in the Sun starts off with the paragraph:
The younger living room would be a comfortable and well-ordered room if it were not for a number of indestructible contradictions to this state of being. Its furnishings are typical and undistinguished and their primary feature now is that they have clearly had to accomodate the living of too many people for too many years - and they are tired. Still, we can see that at some time, a time probably no longer remembered by the family (except perhaps for MAMA), the furnishings of this room were actually selected with care and love and even hope - and brought to this apartment and arranged with taste and pride.
This paragraph can be thought of in terms of the setting being a metaphor for the lives of characters in the story.
Write a story beginning with a metaphorical comparison between the setting and the life of one or more characters in the story. The comparison could be made by a narrator, a character, implied by the choice of words and writing style, etc.
The younger living room would be a comfortable and well-ordered room if it were not for a number of indestructible contradictions to this state of being. Its furnishings are typical and undistinguished and their primary feature now is that they have clearly had to accomodate the living of too many people for too many years - and they are tired. Still, we can see that at some time, a time probably no longer remembered by the family (except perhaps for MAMA), the furnishings of this room were actually selected with care and love and even hope - and brought to this apartment and arranged with taste and pride.
This paragraph can be thought of in terms of the setting being a metaphor for the lives of characters in the story.
Write a story beginning with a metaphorical comparison between the setting and the life of one or more characters in the story. The comparison could be made by a narrator, a character, implied by the choice of words and writing style, etc.
Writing inspired by a TV storyline
Click on the link to www.tv.com, select one of the shows displayed and use an episode synopsis for that show as inspiration for a story.
Writing about courage
Click on the link to the Japan Times Film Review page.
Select one of the film review titles and use it as inspiration to write a story about a character who learns to be courageous.
Select one of the film review titles and use it as inspiration to write a story about a character who learns to be courageous.
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