3 December 2014

Wednesday Writing Prompt #1

For those creeping - or screaming - over the NaNoWriMo deadline of 50,000 words, well done you! I hope you find the November Wednesday editing tips useful in the days to come.

For those who wished they'd had a go, it's never too late to start. For those who'd prefer a little hand-holding, my new series of Wednesday Writing Prompts could well help you out.

Each week I shall be offering a quick and easy start - literally the beginning of a sentence. But don't be fooled by a handful of words; these have been chosen with care so their connotations, and computations, can be thought through to a myriad of finished fiction. Let me show you what I mean:

Johnson laid across the corner of the crumpled bedding

Who is Johnson?
What is Johnson?
Note the laid - this denotes a past tense conveyance.
Note that there is no mention of an actual bed.
Where is this bedding?
Whose bedding is it?
Why is it crumpled?
Do you want to add a full-stop (period) to that phrasing, or add more words?
Do you want to enclose the entire phrase in speech marks?
Who might be speaking those words?
To whom are they being addressed? And why?

Who, What, Where, When, How and Why are the mainstays of a fiction-writer's thought process. Put yours to work here.

And when you have come up with a story - and edited it, AND polished it - don't rest on your laurels. Take the same opening and write a Romance, then a Thriller, then a Crime, then a Fantasy. That should keep you occupied until next Wednesday when there will be another prompt waiting. Sign up to the blog to get it directly into your Inbox.

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