Category Archives: Writing Challenge

Writing Challenge #19: Kathleen Lane’s Thing Collection

Posted on December 10, 2012 by

I’m honored to be in a writing group with author Kathleen Lane. She has a strong, compelling voice and an uncanny ability to mix humor, heartbreak and oddities of the human condition. I learn something new about myself every time I … Continue reading →

Posted in Community, Writing, Writing Challenge | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Writing Challenge #17: Cutting Back on Minor Characters

Posted on July 18, 2012 by

Writing Challenge #16 focused on using organic metaphors to lend your minor characters more personality. This one is about the opposite–dealing with too many minor characters. Is your novel-in-progress full of bit players who are sitting around doing very little … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Plot, Writing, Writing Challenge | Tagged , , , , | 22 Comments

Writing Challenge #16: Organic Metaphors

Posted on June 22, 2012 by

When I was younger, I used similes and metaphors whenever they occurred to me. I’d prop up the story with elaborate, supposedly literary comparisons. Then I learned the importance of such language being organic. A metaphor has to grow out … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Writing, Writing Challenge | Tagged , , , | 16 Comments

Writing Challenge #15: Exposition

Posted on April 12, 2012 by

Show don’t tell is an important storytelling rule. But sometimes it’s useful to tell through exposition. Exposition a great way to get a few years to pass, for instance, or to set up a scene in a world that is … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Writing, Writing Challenge | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Writing Challenge #14: Pick a Song

Posted on April 5, 2012 by

Florence, of the wonderful blog fOIS in the City, offers this short but sweet prompt for today’s Writing Challenge: “Listen to your favorite song and when it ends, sit down and write what it called out to you.” Thanks, Florence! … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Writing, Writing Challenge | Tagged , , | 12 Comments

Writing Challenge #13: Cut It Out

Posted on March 8, 2012 by

When a writer is lacking inspiration, looking at pictures can be key to adding color and texture to a fictional world. Many writers use images to help them get to know their characters or their setting. Lisa Rivero recently posted … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Writing, Writing Challenge | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Writing Challenge #12: Happy Leap Day!

Posted on February 29, 2012 by

It has been a while since I’ve run a writing challenge, likely because I’ve been so immersed in my sprawling rewrite. I so thoroughly enjoyed the flash fiction exercise I participated in recently that I decided to offer a prompt as today’s challenge. … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Writing, Writing Challenge | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Writing Challenge #11: Finish Something

Posted on December 2, 2011 by

I used to joke I had only knit three socks. Not three pairs. Three socks. My first pair came together rather quickly. Excited by the outcome, I began a second pair in a lovely reddish-pink Colinette Jitterbug yarn. I completed one … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Knitting, Writing, Writing Challenge | Tagged , , , | 13 Comments

Writing Challenge #10: Keep an Eye on Your First Chapter

Posted on November 11, 2011 by

Many writers are in the midst of speeding through a 50,000-word novel for NaNoWriMo. This challenge isn’t for you–at least not this month! It’s for those of us working on manuscripts at a less aggressive pace. In fact, it’s all about … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Revision, Writing, Writing Challenge | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

Writing Challenge #9: Coloring Your Fictional World

Posted on September 22, 2011 by

As writers, we work daily to avoid cliches and find our own way of saying things. Sometimes it’s easier to dash off a color word–like pink, for instance–to describe a character’s shirt or the kind of light entering the room. … Continue reading →

Posted in Revision, Writing, Writing Challenge | Tagged , , | 11 Comments