And...action!

 

Just as physical exercises stretch, strengthen, define, and build our muscles, writing exercises, when practiced regularly, stretch our imagination, strengthen our writing skills, help define our writing goals, and build our muse’s creative muscle memory. In our day-to-day routine, we physically move and while that is exercise, it is not targeted exercise. It’s the same with writing. Procrastinating when it comes to any form of exercise is commonplace, but when we actually learn to make it a habit, it pays off. With that said, how about we do a little stretching of the muse’s muscles today and practice describing a simple everyday action. 

 What is a strong verb?

If you’re unsure of what a strong verb or noun look like, here’s an example:

We’ll start with the weak verb: “He entered the room.” (While this is active, it is weak.)

If you change “entered” to “walked,” walked is a stronger verb than entered, but it can be improved. Think more specific. If he wandered into room it creates a different image than if he trudged into the room. If he hurried his steps you could use verbs like charged, stormed, dashed, or raced. They paint vivid mental images. Entered or walked only create a basic image. It offers no hint of emotion or mental condition. In fact, it doesn't provide real detail of movement to follow. Vivid is the effect you’re looking for...not basic.

Do the same with your nouns. In our above example, the “room” is quite nondescript. It’s like following the character into a blank. All we really know is that he is indoors. Is it a waiting room, an office, a living room, a parlor, bedroom, music room, sewing room, a cluttered room, colorful room, a class room? As you dig for the right words, I suggest you use a thesaurus.

Pumping Your Muse Writing Prompt

 

 Choose one (or more) of the scenarios below:

• Brushing teeth
• Stopping by the drive through for donuts for the gang at work
• Parking the car
• Changing a flat tire
• Realizing your hair is thinning
• Feeding the cat

Enjoy yourself.

 

When I was young

Creating a character isn’t always quick. At least not if you want them to be interesting. To be interesting, they need to have history. Even when other characters don't have a clue about that history, it can play into the story adding uniqueness and even elements of surprise. Remember, a character's reputation is not necessarily who they are. In some cases, it might be the red herring that introduces an unlikely hero.

Today we’ll create an old woman character who is talking with a young woman who reminds her of herself decades before. Here’s what you need to know about the old woman.

• Emma married young.
• Had four children.
• Husband drank too much.
• Worked hard to try and bring money in. Cleaned houses, took in people’s laundry and ironing.

Snapshot from her younger self

Emma's husband, Andrew, shows up at a house she’s cleaning. He smells of whiskey. She’s in the middle of waxing the floor. Her youngest baby is on a blanket on the floor. He demands she come home, says that she’s embarrassing him by cleaning for people. She gives him a firm, “I’ll be home when I’m done here.” He pulls a gun and starts waving it around. She fears for her daughter and pushes past her drunken spouse and rushes down the stairs. He calls her to stop, but she runs across the field toward the road. She’s short and grass of a field is waist deep. Her mind races as she tries to figure out what to do. The gun goes off. She raises her hands and screams. Another gunshot. She trips and falls. The bullet sliced through the fleshy skin between her thumb and forefinger.

Andrew's voice. “My God, I’ve killed her.”

Another gunshot.

She stands and learns she is now a young widow with four children….

Today’s creative writing prompt

This prompt is really an exercise in character development. Emma is with a young woman she can see is struggling. Your writing exercise today is to create the back story of this young woman. A quick way to learn her backstory is to do a character interview. 

What does Emma see/know that has her concerned? Once you know the young woman’s backstory, write a scene of dialog between the two. In it, expose elements of their stories. It doesn't have to be an info dump, make it real. But your goal is to bring out a fact that might shock or surprise most readers.

 

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A story within a story

Over at Writer’s Village University, I rub elbows with plenty of writers. In a recent exchange with a fellow writer, he talked about mining his book manuscripts for short story ideas related to his longer works. It’s a way to make additional money and even promote his books. 

I’m doing something similar with my novel, Dragonborn. In it, a book of evil plays a big role. The Book Darkmore holds the spirits of the people who used its powers and are no longer living. The spirits live within the pages of the book eternally, but when a new host gives itself to the book, the spirits of the book and its dark magic influence that human host. I have come up with a slew of creative writing prompts and am writing a collection of stories related to the Book Darkmore. Readers will learn of its origins as well as the history of the hosts as well as their spirits. It’s not something you’d have to read to understand the story of Dragonborn, but the stories make it a perfect companion book for Dragonborn fans and will cover all four with books of the series.

Today’s Writing Prompt challenge

Today’s writing prompt challenges you to find a story within a story. It doesn’t matter if the original story is yours or not. For instance, you could pull a story from something like the Wizard of Oz. The first that comes to my mind is, “The House that Fell.” It reminds me of when I lived through a category 4 hurricane. That memory is rife with story prompts. I could make it fiction or non-fiction. It might even involve something like time travel and the opportunity to do things differently before the storm hits. Follow your imagination. If you are stuck, go to one of your favorite fairy tales. The possibilities are endless

Harvest at least one possible story idea from another work. It can be your original work or from somewhere else. But I recommend you make a list of your creative writing ideas. Keep them in your story writing topics folder. Then if/when you feel writer’s block nipping at your muse, pull from your ideas folder and start writing something new. It will get the juices flowing and you’ll be ready to go back to writing what you were working on.

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