Writing Prompt: Silly Personal Ad

We need Wonder Woman's
special boots to get
through this week!

By Marilyn Friedman and Alana Saltz

Last week was a hectic and wonderful week for Marilyn! She got an essay published on Salon. Hooray! This week's prompt is inspired by her essay topic (a search for couple's friends in LA) and our Twitter class with Rob Gokee!

Rob has 8000 followers, gets 90% of his freelance work as a composer from Twitter, AND he met his wife on Twitter. He wrote the popular book "In the Belly of the Fail Whale: How Twitter Changed My Life In One Year" about his experiences with Twitter and will be sharing his tips for leveraging this social media outlet on Wednesday, July 19th. We'll be there! We hope that you'll join us so you too can learn how to use Twitter to boost your writing, acting career or promote your business.

If you're looking for something thrilling to do this Friday night, join us at our TV Horror Panel with EP's and writers Tim Minear ("American Horror Story"), Lee Shipman ("Hemlock Grove"), and Angela Kang ("The Walking Dead) on June 7th. They'll talk about how they create scary TV shows that keep us on the edge of our seats (only $5, includes snacks and sangria)!

Classes June 3-10:

It's All About You: A One-Person Show Intensive

From Pitch To First Draft: Writing the Television Drama (7 Wk)

Memorable Memoir: Writing A Compelling Past (1 Day)

So You Want To Be A Freelancer Seminar

Dream It, Write It, Pitch It: Screenwriting Bootcamp

Story Time Plus: A Performed Essay Workshop (5 Wk)

Other Classes:

Creative Writing, Memoir, and Fiction

Mini Writing Pad Bootcamp

Short and Sweet: The Art of The Short Story

Writing The Marketable Picture Book

Literary Games: The Art of The Found Story

Zombies, Space Ships, Killer Robots: Science Fiction/Fantasy Writing

Get Your Picture Book Published

Memorable Memoir Bootcamp: Make Your True Tales Thrilling

Addictive Fiction: Writing The Knock Out Novel

It's Story Time: Storytelling For Kids

Journalism/Web Writing

Tales From The Carpool Lane: Writing The Parenting Essay
#FameSuccessLove: Harnessing The Power of Twitter

Take Your Blog to the Next Level: A Blog Writing Intensive

On The Record: Writing and Publishing The Profile

You In 1200 Words: Writing And Publishing The Personal Essay

What Do You Think? Writing the Op-Ed or Cultural Essay

You've Been Featured: Writing The Mini-Feature for Magazines and Newspapers

From Cheng Du to Timbuktu: A Travel Writing Workshop 

Screenwriting

Writing A Pilot That Can Fly (Weekend Intensive) 

Work The Room: Mastering The Power of The Cocktail Party Pitch

Writing Prompt and Twitter Contest:
In honor of our upcoming Twitter class (taught by Master Tweeter @RobGokee), we're having a special contest just for this prompt. The winner will get a free writing class AND a digital copy of Rob Gokee's book, "In The Belly of the Fail Whale: How Twitter Changed My Life in One Year." 


Write a silly personal ad about yourself in 80 characters or less. You'll be adding a link and hashtag for the contest at the end, making it a total of 140 characters (the Twitter limit). It could be an ad for a relationship, a new friend, a couples friendship, etc. It could even be the ad you would have written to attract your current significant other. Have fun with it!


Here's how you do it (it only takes 10 min., we promise):
1. Write down one strong personality trait that you have
2. Write down something that you love with a passion
3. Write down a character trait or short description for your prospective partner
4. Specify what type of relationship you're looking for
5. Now fill in the blanks:
__________    and _____________     seeks _________ for________.
(personality trait)    (what you love)     (desired trait for desired relationship type)

6. Write your ad in your own words, make it clever using only 80 characters total including spaces.
7. Put your ad in quotes and add this at the end of it: 
Write a silly personal ad: http://ow.ly/lFfan #wpcontest

Tweet your ad (and post it in the comments of this blog) to be entered into the Tweet Contest for a free class and a digital copy of Rob Gokee's book! Be sure to include the link and hashtag to be entered into the contest. The deadline to submit your ad is this Tuesday, June 4th at midnight.


For example, this is what Marilyn did (but don't worry--she's not friendless anymore! The story in her essay took place almost 10 years ago.):
“Neurotic hostess and stuffed pizza addict seeks artsy foodie couples friends.” Write a silly personal ad: http://ow.ly/lFfan #wpcontest 


And here's Alana's ad:
"Nerdy girl and Doctor Who fan seeks companion for love and time travel." Write a silly personal ad: http://ow.ly/lFfan #wpcontest

If you had 80 characters to create a personal ad for yourself (or a fictional character), what would it say? 

Tweet your ad (and post it in the comments of the blog) to be entered into the Tweet Contest for a free class and a digital copy of Rob Gokee's book!  Be sure to include the link and hashtag to be entered into the contest. The deadline to submit your ad is this Tuesday, June 4th at midnight.