Show Us November Without Saying It

It's been a couple of years since I've written a new prompt for this blog, but I've had so many visitors using it, I've decided to add new content as I update older posts. 

First, thank you so much for visiting Pumping Your Muse Writing Prompts. It's nice to have you here. I started this blog years ago, when I had a book called Pumping Your Muse available. It did well, but it needs updating with all the technological changes that have happened in regards to the tools we use to get the job done. At this time, my writing efforts are concentrated on two other books.

Today's post is a challenge to show and not tell. I'm big on that. Because it's an area where my writing continues to grow. I admire writers who do it well. 

 

Writing Prompt: Show Us November Without Saying It

The trees stand nearly bare, their last leaves skittering across the ground. The morning air nips at exposed skin, and the days seem to grow shorter with every passing sunset. Somewhere, a chimney sends a thin ribbon of smoke into the gray sky.

But you can't use the name of the month.

Your challenge: Write a short scene that makes readers recognize November without ever naming it.

Use sensory details, weather, seasonal activities, familiar sights, or the emotions this time of year evokes. Maybe your scene takes place around a family table, on a windswept country road, or beside a window streaked with rain.

The rules:

• Don't name the month.

• Don't mention a date or read from a calendar.

• Show the season through your character's experiences and surroundings.

• Make every detail count!

Bonus challenge: Can you make readers identify the month without mentioning Thanksgiving, either?

Share your scene in the comments. Let's see how well you can show instead of tell!

Let’s connect! 

Whether you're a new writer or a seasoned storyteller, there's always room to grow. Pumping Your Muse Writing Prompts offers creative challenges to spark your imagination, strengthen your writing skills, and help you discover new ways to bring your stories to life.

If you'd like to learn more about me... 

📖 Visit my book review blog for you next read at Book HookUp 

⭐ Follow me on Goodreads for updates and reviews across all genres - Goodreads Books I've read
  📸 Join me on Instagram for quotes, bookish highlights, and behind-the-scenes posts My Instagram
  🐦 Follow me on X (Twitter) for quick book insights and discussion as well as news about my own books. Donna Sundblad
  👍 Visit my author website: donnasundblad.com

 

My Newsletter: Imagination in Ink

👉 Sign up now and step deeper into my world. Join my mailing list

As an author of fantasy and historical western romance. Once a month, I open the door to my writing world and share what I’ve been working on, what’s coming next, and a few things you might not find anywhere else. 

Pull up a chair, and let’s see where the imagination takes us this month. ✨ 

📬 One email. Once a month. No spam. Just story.

Monday Morning Muse: Recycling writing

 "Good morning and happy Monday! 🌟 

As we step into the new week, may your day be filled with inspiration and creativity. Remember, every challenge is a chance to grow and every moment is an opportunity to shine. Let the possibilities of this week unfold like a fresh canvas, and may you find joy in every little discovery along the way. Here’s to a Monday that sets the tone for a fantastic week ahead!

Today's Pumping Your Muse Writing Prompt

Recycling writing 

For today's creative challenge, dig out one of your unfinished fiction projects and take a look at it. If it's an older piece, and you've written for years, it can be an eye-opener to see how much you've grown as a writer. And you may also see the merit in your original idea. The question is, why is it unfinished. Did you get stuck? Lose interest? Did it grow cumbersome and too complicated?

Refresh your memory and re-immerse yourself in the story. 

• If the story starts to wander or lose focus stop reading. That's your starting point. 
• If you couldn't figure out how to end it. When you reach that point in your reading. Stop. That is your starting point.
• If you recognize it is too cumbersome stop when you recognize it. That is your starting point. 

Based on your starting point write a short story related to your narrative, but write it from a secondary character's POV in the first person. Let them talk. If you're lucky, they'll tell you something you didn't know, and it might just be what you need to finish the story.

 

 

 

 

 

Connect the dots with 60s songs

 

This writing prompt is inspired by a book I’m currently reading titled, “Purple Haze” by Andrew Einsprunch. It’s a YA fantasy loaded with humor at many levels. One agent he uses to deliver humor are song titles and lyrics or, I should say, a play on song titles and lyrics. Granted, if the reader doesn’t know the song or recognize the reference to the lyrics in the story they will miss out on the joke, but they are hard to miss for those familiar with them. And, they blend well enough into the dialog of the story, that those who don’t get it, will carry on reading probably unaware of the gem they just missed.

Pumping Your Muse writing prompt

With this fresh on my mind, I thought about playing a game of connect the dots with popular 60s song titles to come up with a scene or short story. Challenging but fun, right? It’s a great way to find a new creative nugget for your muse to mine.

Choose at least three to five 60s songs titles from this song list and connect them with a plot thread using the genre of your choice.

• Brown Eyed Girl (Van Morrison)
• Pale Blue Eyes (Velvet Underground)
• Mustang Sally (Wilson Pickett)
• Barbara Ann (Beach Boys)
• Help Me Rhonda (Beach Boys)
• Bernadette (Four Tops)
• Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You (Frankie Valli)
• Save the Last Dance for Me (The Drifters)
• Louie Louie (The Kingsmen)
• Sugar Sugar (The Archies)

 

• I Can’t Get No Satisfaction (Rolling Stones) – For this one you can just use the title “Satisfaction” if you prefer.
• Fortunate Son (Credence Clearwater Revival)
• These Boots are Made for Walking (Nancy Sinatra)
• White Rabbit (Jefferson Airplane)
• Born to be Wild (Steppenwolf)
• Eight Days a Week (Beatles)
• Piece of My Heart (Janis Joplin)
• I Heard it Through the Grapevine (Marvin Gaye)
• I’m a Believer (The Monkees)
• House of the Rising Son (Animals)
  

Once you discover your character(s), if you find them interesting, do a character interview to learn more about them. You'll be surprised where it can take you.

A sample connect the dot writing exercise

Born to be wild by Donna Sundblad

A hooded brown eyed girl with caramel skin and long wavy ebony ringlets stood before me. “Are you Mustang Sally?” She closed her eyes without answering. A wave of dizziness washed over me. I thrust my arms out to the side trying to keep my balance. The spinning sensation eased and I opened my eyes. “What was that?”

The girl’s eyes fluttered open. Her icy pale blue eyes sent a chill down my spine. Feline features transformed her face. I couldn’t move. Fear clutched me. I wanted to scream, but I only squeaked out, “I can’t take my eyes off of you.”

She moved her head from side to side purring with her tongue as she released me. “Louie, Louie. I warned you but did you listen? I am born to be wild.”

 

Photo credits: wikipedia

As different as night and day

The idiom, “as different as night and day,” describes a clear distinction between two things. When you look into it a little more, you’ll find the use of “night and day” as well as “day and night.” While these phrases can be used interchangeably, it turns out that the use of “day and night” more frequently indicates that things get worse, while the use of “night and day” tends to show that something improved.

 Pumping Your Muse writing prompt:

Equipped with this knowledge, for today’s prompt, you choose where to start: Day or night with the goal of moving from one to the other. I challenge you to create a sky that works as a harbinger foreshadowing what is to come. You can make this as simple as showing that it is going to rain while someone is getting ready for a big outdoor party/concert/wedding. Let your setting set the mood.

Or, start with a sunny day where all seems well, but as the story unfolds the characters learn things are not okay. By the time readers see the night sky, make it clear that things have taken a turn for the worse. I’m looking for the feeling you get when the werewolf sees a full moon or Dracula is sleeping and it’s almost time for the sun to set.

The secondary goal is to show not tell. Choose strong verbs that let your readers experience your world as they read. And remember, have fun. Let your muse run with it.

* * *

About The Inheritance by Donna Sundblad

Written within the allegorical tradition of classics like Pilgrim's Progress, The Inheritance offers a literal but symbolic story for today's fantasy enthusiasts. This cleverly devised tale doesn't tell you what to think, but stimulates thought as to why you believe what you believe in your own quest for the Eternal City. The Inheritance is an ideal discussion starter for youth groups, homeschoolers, and families who enjoy meaningful discussions. 

 

The Inheritance is available on Kindle, paperback on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo (Christian fiction), Smashwords and Google Books. When you read it, be sure to leave a review! Thanks for your support. 

Coming soon! Dragonborn by Donna Sundblad

Dragonborn conjures up a winning fantasy with dragons, humans, time travel, and magic. Follow the journey of the young prisonguard, Ervig Greenfields, as he seeks out dragons to remove a curse. The dragons offer him access to the Labyrinth of Times, which will purge the dark magic. But there’s a catch. Erving must take the Dragon Oath that requires allegiance--to fight alongside dragons for centuries, never to return to his own time. He and a handful of others take the selfless oath and become Dragonborn. The Dragonborn and their dragons become seeds of change, in this epic tale, of sacrifice for the greater good. Ride along with them as they slip through a tear in time to the past to change the future.