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Thursday, July 19, 2012

Writing Prompt: Things I Regret

By Marilyn Friedman

Sorry that I have been remiss with the writing prompts for a couple of weeks! I went on vacation to the deep South and had the privilege of touring Savannah and the Mercer-Williams House (subject of the fantastic book and movie, "Midnight In The Garden of Good and Evil"). But now that I'm back, I've crafted a prompt that will encourage you to dig deep from the well of personal experience and come up with an entertaining story!

Speaking of using your personal life to fuel your writing projects, if you have always wanted to write a gripping memoir, we have a new Memoir Bootcamp class with accomplished author and journalist, Richard Rushfield starting this Monday! If you're the type that prefers to hide behind your imagination, we have two classes this weekend that will help you with that. Learn how to turn your big ideas into the next Hunger Games in Writing The Market Friendly Masterpiece with Harper Collins Author Derek Taylor Kent and create fantastical but realistic worlds in our Paranormal Fiction class with RITA-award nominated author Zoe Archer! I hope to see you soon, and I hope that you are enjoying your summer so far.

Classes Starting This Week
Fiction and Memoir

Journalism, Personal Essay and Web Writing

Screenwriting

*Classes with an asterix will be held at our Westside location in Culver City!



Writing Prompt:
Make a list of 5 times you (or your fictional character) did something that you wish you could take back (e.g. put your foot in your mouth, slept with someone you shouldn’t have, drank too much, jumped out of a plane). Pick one. Now add a sensory detail to it (smell, taste, sound, touch, sight). Now write for 10 minutes about this thing that you wish you could take back including the sensory detail and post the results in the comments of this blog!

If it makes you feel better, I’m going to write about that time that I drank too much and yelled at a bartender because he didn’t say hello to me, and I had a crush on him. I can’t wait to see what you come up with (feel free to email me if you want to remain anonymous but still enter the comment contest).

Write about something that you regret! If you post your 10 minute write in the comments of this blog, you could win a free class!

4 comments:

Todd Yeager said...

Summer camp 1984. It was one of those years when locust sizzle like electric wires in the evening. I was nine. One morning before breakfast, a millipede scuttled out of a crack in the ceiling. The camp Director took a broom and smashed the beast into a pile of black jelly. I don’t think I’ve seen a millipede since.
I had been having a secret love affair with a girl all week. At the formal dance on the last night, I decided it was time to let her in on the secret. I waited like all the other goofy boys against the wall, nursing a cup of lemonade. I waited and tried to psyche myself up to ask her the age old question, “Do you wanna dance?”
Finally, the DJ called for a couples dance. I took a deep breath and asked her. The next thing I know, we’re dancing arm and arm to “The Girl is Mine,” by Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney. It seemed too perfect to be true. My pre-pubescent heart was busting out of my chest. I knew this was going to be the start of a beautiful relationship. She smiled at me. I smiled at her. I looked around the room. I smiled at the people smiling at me smiling at her. I couldn’t stop smiling, but I knew it was time to say something. Anything. So I said “I hate slow songs.” She didn’t catch it and leaned in a little. I said it a little louder, “I hate slow songs”. She stopped smiling. I don’t remember if she waited until the song was over, or left right then, but I do recall calling out to her “… I meant in general”.

Todd Yeager said...

That last one was me Todd Yeager

Anonymous said...

Hey, Yeager I really liked the last post. Really good.

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