I’ve been away from the site for a couple weeks since I’ve been down with COVID. It might have been a time to do some writing, but unfortunately, it was not the asymptomatic variety. But I’m back now and almost as good as ever. This week’s prompt is the first line of a story: In…
Self-Delivery
I got the idea for this story on Wednesday, but I got COVID earlier in the week, so this is the first I’ve had the strength to write it down. You could chalk this up to my fevered brain, although I write this kind of thing all the time, so I guess that’s no excuse….
Muse on Monday – May 9, 2022
When we think of conflict, we often think of very dramatic things: wars, murders, and attacking creatures if it’s external or fights, gossip and backstabbing if it is interpersonal conflict. However, conflict does not always have to be big. It could be as subtle as a girl trying to get a particular seat in class…
Writing Corner: Writing Spaces
When it comes to writing productively, when and where we write are very important and very individual. Everyone is going to write best in different circumstances based on their personality. Personally, my ideal writing situation is in the evening in a coffee shop. I’m a night person so that is when I’m the most awake…
Wolves and Dark Fire
Wolves and Dark Fire I wake with my face in the furry back of a wolf. It does not have the musky smell of an animal—these wolves smell only of ash, and if the damp is up, mold. It is a smell I am used to. I sit up and put my back to the…
Muse on Monday – May 2, 2022
A lot of art is about contrast and that is true for fiction as well. Putting two very different things next to each other helps us to see and understand both of them better. For example, we can understand being rich and being poor better in a story with both rich and poor people in…
Morning, Joe
Morning, Joe These days, every school has a “Joe”: someone to provide a sly shot of the banned pick-me-up to keep you sharp. I did business in the basement art room, killed years ago by budget cuts. Just before first period Principal Singh walked in. My heart raced but my expression remained bored. “Morning, Joe.”…
Writing Corner: Cliffhangers
Two of the things that keeps people reading your story are mystery and tension: not only things that the readers doesn’t know but very important things to the characters: things that could make or break their whole lives even. One way to do this is with cliffhangers. A cliffhanger is when the story stops at…
The Last One Out
The Last One Out My body feels like it has merged with the couch. I scroll through one app, switch to another, scroll, switch back. I don’t have any attention span and feeling my parents’ eyes on me when they walk past just makes it harder. They’re worried about me but don’t know how to…
Muse on Monday – April 25, 2022
I would argue that a writer’s goal is not just to tell a story but to tell an impactful story. We want the reader to keep thinking about the story after they’ve finished reading. There are a lot of ways to do this but one way is with description. We want the reader to be…
The Green-Walled Treehouse 