Open the box...

You're walking at the beach just before dusk and you notice something catching the sunlight near the rocks. It's a big, metal box. You stop and dig it out from the sand.  You try the lid. It opens to reveal....

...take the money...

Write for 10 minutes, beginning "If I won 10 million dollars, I would..."

Sadness

The news has left me feeling sad the last few days, making we want to explore sadness in my writing. What makes you sad? How does sadness feel? Write on this topic for 10 minutes, going wherever the flow takes you. (I promise happier things tomorrow).

Food of life

Time for another musical challenge. Write for 10 minutes beginning with the words "Happiness is...." as you listen to this music: http://www.youtube.com/user/okanokumo?v=czZoOWa51n8

Dialogue I

Writing dialogue can be tricky, but the main thing is to write it how real people speak. For instance, very few of us go around saying "Thank you very much, goodbye". Rather, we say "Cheers, catch ya later" or "Thanks, see you soon".  TASK Have a go at using dialogue to create a story, using as little non-dialogue writing as you can. Begin with the words "Janet and Frank were sitting on the sofa when the bomb hit." When you've finished, read back your story out loud and correct any dialogue that doesn't sound like a real person would say it.

Metaphor, 1

Metaphors are words used to give the reader a greater sense of something. Unlike a simile, which is a word used to describe what something is like ("The dog is like a storm"), a metaphor is used to describe what something is, metaphorically ("The dog is a storm"). Note the different energy in these two statements. Spend a few minutes coming up with a range of metaphors for the following: LOVE, THE OCEAN, HATE, THE SKY, YOUR BED, THE SUN. Spend the rest of your 10 minutes using these metaphors in a piece of writing. If you like, begin with the words "The sun is....".

Dusk words

This evening, head outside at dusk and experience the world as it loses light. Spend 10 minutes writing about the experience, beginning with the words "Goodbye to..."