challenge: Every need inspiration? Go out (it doesn't have to be far) and listen to people talk. This could anywhere: a park, the mall, a wedding, a bus, a restaurant, etc. Listen to different conversations: parent and child, a couple, boss on the phone, strangers fighting, etc. If you hear an interesting tidbit, create a story based on the conversation you heard.
example:
BEFORE: On a bus, an older man offered an elderly woman his seat. She said, "Thank you, but I'm fine. I need to stretch my legs and I'm almost at my stop."
CHANGES: Now, this can be a boring conversation. If it ends like that, but imagine the woman a black duffle bag, her stop is at a gun shop, and she is a killer. Watch how this scene transforms.
AFTER: Mrs Eden was a small, peculiar woman. Despite being well into her sixties, she was agile and sometimes hopped on the bus to run quick errands. When the white and blue transit bus rolled up to the bus shed in front of her house. The bus hissed as if air was being released from a tire. The bald-headed driver with ray ban sunglasses lowered the passenger ramp. She stepped on.
"Thanks, dear." She flashed her senior citizen bus pass which allowed her to ride free in the mornings. The driver nodded.
Mrs Eden ventured further into the crowded bus. One side of the front row was blocked by a mother's stroller and senior occupied the other row.
She trudges forward when a middle-aged, portly gentleman with a grey beard and warm eyes sat by the window. A pregnant lady slept beside him. When he smiled, his eyes crinkled. He moved to get up. "You can have my seat."
She clung to the pole as the bus began to chug along the road. Her other hand firmly held a black duffle bag. "Thank you, but I'm fine. I need to stretch my legs and I'm almost at my stop."
He shrugged. Then proceeded to read his newspaper.
Two stops later, Mrs Eden exited the bus and thanked the driver. The kind gentleman, curiously, watched her leave. His brow furrowed in confusion and she met his eye from outside the bus. She stood in front of a gun and firearms shop.
The bus pulled away as Mrs Eden quirked the corner of her mouth upward and opened the flap of her duffle bag. An assault rifle poked through the opening.
YOU ARE READING
Writing Exercises and Prompts
RandomStuck in a rut? Don't know how to write your next chapter? Feel like writing, but you don't know what? Sitting and waiting for an idea to materialize will solve nothing. Reading this book, however, might.
