"I am irritated by my own writing ..."

Suzie Homemaker from Hell

Wandering about Amazon I ended up reading an excerpt from Nikki Sixx's (of Mötley Crüe) biography and came across the description "Suzie Homemaker from Hell" :-)

Take it from there. Play around with perspective and see how it affects how she comes out. You can write it from the point of view of someone observing her. (Omniscient (God's eye view), Dad's new girlfriend from the point of view of the ex-wife or (teenage) son or daughter, the next door neighbor of the new couple who just moved in, Suzie's mom. ) Or first person, from Suzie's point of view.

Foul fowl

Use the following homophones in sentences that have a science fiction theme.

praying/preying
rapped/rapt/wrapped
bite/byte
hole/whole
raise/raze
ceded/seeded
foul/fowl
might/mite
hair/hare
rack/wrack

"For your born writer ..."

In the beginning was the word

"In the common words we use every day, souls of past races, the thoughts and feelings of individual men stand around us, not dead, but frozen into their attitudes like the couriers in the garden of the Sleeping Beauty." -- Owen Barfield, author (1898-1997)

Every word has its beginning, a first time it was uttered, either as a new idea or as a replacement for an older word. Every word has important moments in its "career", moments when its presence in a speech or writing changed the course of events for good or bad.

Tell its story from the point of view of the word. You can use a real word and even be inspired by its real origin. Or make up a word and its story.

If you want to use a real origin, most dictionaries have word origins, as does Wiktionary, but here are a few sites with brief stories about words:

• Word Origins -- The Big List
  
• Etymologically Speaking
  
• World Wide Words -- Weird words

Like a demon in paradise

“Alexander Hamilton ran up those very treads!” said Steve Laise standing in the foyer of Hamilton's home. “It just puts you in such close proximity with the past. For those of us who really wish we were living back then anyway, it’s probably more of a stimulus to our imagination than we really ought to have.”

That was said in the New York Times. Steve has found his element as chief of cultural resources for the National Park Service.

Write about a character who feels he's in the wrong time or place or universe. (He doesn't need to be in contemporary times of course! Doesn't even need to be in or of our world.)

Has he found a way to fit in? Or appear to fit in? Does he spend all his time working on ways to escape? Does he escape?

"The story is always better ..."

Petal Pushers

Petal Pushers, a clever name for a new flower shop. Or is it merely clever? The shop has become very popular very quickly and the other flower shop owners in town are curious about their competitors' success. Is it the prices? The flowers? The customer service? The owners? Or is there something else that's drawing in the customers?

Write from the point of view of a customer, competitor, owner, investigator. Whatever inspires you :-)

Welcome to my nightmare

You've won a week's vacation at an old resort that's been resurrected and refurbished. When you arrive you're greeted by your hosts (pictured). Several other people have also won the vacation. You don't know any of them but one person does look vaguely familiar.

Each of the other guests (as few or as many as you want) is associated with one or more of the following words. (You don't need to use them all.)

falling star
zany
black velvet
winter solstice
formerly
serene
ruthless
mythological
vanquish
underworld
remorseful
smoky
inspire
whrling
sea of nectar
lotus blossom
sparrow
radical
winter grass
drum
flamingo

"It is better to write ..."

Top 10 Tabloid Headlines for June 2008

Though the Weekly World News is no more, here's the headlines from the archives of City Newstand in Chicago, for writing prompts or just for fun :-)

Top 10 Tabloid Headlines from JUNE 1998

1. MONA LISA WAS A HOOKER! -- WWN
   
2. Shakespeare had the world's worst B.O., says historian -- WWN
   
3. DISEASE MAKES WOMAN'S OWN HAND BEAT HER SENSELESS -- WWN
   
4. STUPID DOG EATS 8 WRISTWATCHES! -- WWN
   
5. Smart dog saves stupid cats from spinning clothes dryer! -- WWN
   
6. DA VINCI'S ROBOT COMES TO LIFE -- AFTER 500 YEARS -- SUN
   
7. HOW TO CREMATE PETS -- IN YOUR OWN HOME! -- WWN
   
8. Terrified villagers flee bizarre Devil Chicken! -- WWN
   
9. ANIMAL-RIGHTS NUTS CALL FOR BAN ON WEREWOLF HUNTING! -- WWN
   
10. Scandal over She-Pope rocks the Vatican -- SUN