Using prompts to serve your fiction

I've been writing 100 prompts just to keep my creative mind loose and active and also to give myself some story starts for the third novel. I had written a prompt in January on retreat that has stuck with me and I suspected it would be part of the novel, maybe even the beginning. But the very first one of the 100, called "Road Trip," turned into the beginning, and on retreat I started from it and wrote chapters. However, others of these prompts are seeming relevant. While I was on retreat this past month, I found myself writing more prompts around some of the characters and using those in chapters.

And I saw for the first time how this prompt exercise can more directly serve my novels by letting me explore issues for 10-15 minutes around the characters, their back story, their hopes and dreams, their obstacles and challenges, their families. I have about 20 more prompts to write of the 100 and I don't expect they will all serve the novel but I am open to that if it happens.

I've written before about Judy Reeves' marvelous Writer's Book of Days, which really got me started with prompts. Judy has put out a second edition with revisions and new prompts, so if this idea of short daily fiction appeals to you, either as a genre of its own or as a skill-building tool, I highly recommend it.

Rejuvenated from the writing retreat

I returned home from the 9-day writing retreat on Thursday afternoon and plunged back into the paid-work life yesterday. I've a lot of work ahead and I'm very grateful as there have been some quite lean times this year so far. At the same time, I've come back quite rejuvenated about my creative life. I'm winding up the 100 fictional prompts (wrote #77 and 78 today). I wrote 7 chapters on novel #3. I got some excellent feedback on novel #2 and am ready to do the third draft. I also feel the tug of poetry. So my challenge over the next couple of months is to figure out how to balance hours needed for paid work and hours wanted for creative work.

After retreats in the past, I've often come home to a lull in paid work as I've finished up projects before I left. But not this time. And after retreats in the past, I've come home with one creative project to work on. And the enthusiasm to carry me through. This time I have lots of work and lots of projects, so it will be an interesting experiment to see if I can keep my goal of spacious living, work a fair amount, and write a fair amount. May need to redefine "spacious."

Clarity arrives with feedback

Two long-time writing friends have read my novel during this retreat and last night I sat down with them to get feedback. It was exactly what I needed to hear at this stage. I'd gotten enthusiastic feedback from two other friends (not writers) and from my sister, who posed some interesting questions about directions that the book could go in. Now with information from Jan and Tamara, I feel clear about making it the best mystery I can at this point and letting the idea of literary fiction go for the moment, at least with this story.

They were very clear about the clues and scenes that needed clarifying and willing to talk over tiny details without being critical of style. Sometimes, when we are tempted to give feedback, we focus on things that the author uses that we would never use. That's all well and good, but each author has a right to her own style of expression and suggesting different word choices is an editor's job, not a reader's.

They had many margin notes of what was working and the places that didn't. I feel very empowered by all 5 readers now to move forward. I'm hoping this next draft will be the work of July and that when the Willamette Writers Conference rolls around and I pitch it to three agents, I'll get a nibble and be able to send it right off.

Writing retreat day #5

I'd had a brief impulse before I got to the retreat to track my progress on either the retreat or my new writing project in this blog but I find the time has gone elsewhere. Today is Sunday and we're coming to the end of Day 5. It's been a wonderful time so far. I've written a couple of new prompts every day. I've read a bit in several writing books I brought with me. Some new information about character development to ponder and a nice confirmation that many of the suggestions of these seasoned writers are things I am already doing. I've had some quiet time for meditation and reflection. Long, lovely periods of journal writing and some good long walks.

And I've drafted four chapters on the new novel. The first two came easily. The third a little slower and today I had to wait almost all day for information or inspiration. The planners of novels, who outline it all, do all this invention in one big effort. Pantsers like me, who invent as we go along, have less control. I like the discovery process of this and it's good for me as well because I am by nature an impatient person and I was forced to rest and enjoy myself rather than be gungho productive today.

I've also spent time looking at some of the very interesting stories and characters and events that are showing up in these prompts that I'm writing and some of them seem to want to be in this novel as well. So I'm going to have to give that some thought.

novel not quite in progress

I'm sitting in the Garden Room at Aldermarsh on Whidbey Island north of Seattle. This is one of my favorite writing spots. A desk built in to the wall. Straight ahead is the lush green half-acre of garden, to my right the alder marsh and the hammock and more lilies than I can count.

I'm here for a luxurious 8 days of writing and this is Day 2. I like it best when I come up here with a project in full steam. Then my tasks are really clear. This time I am both between projects and sitting in indecision about whether to rework novel #2 from a whodunit into a piece of literary fiction or move on to novel #3. I also have poems I want to work with, my 100-prompt project to work on, books on writing to read, books of fiction to read, lots of choices. Probably too many.

So I made a list of possibilities, including some do-very-little items. And I decided to take on writing 3-4 chapters of a new book. It might not turn into anything, and it might. I might decide to stay with it all of the retreat or consider that enough for now.

I took a prompt that I wrote on May 6 (it's actually #1 of the 100 I'm currently writing) called "Road Trip," and I started writing. I like some of what's happening a lot. At the same time, I'm not so sure. So my indecision continues to be at play and I can sit with that.

Feedback from early readers and moving forward

I've had three early readers for my mystery novel. My two friends loved it and had only minor comments. My sister, on the other hand, really liked it but she had some things to say that I've been pondering today. For a whodunit, she said, it's great. "In fact, I'd skip some of the characterization for a whodunit. But, it has the potential for a great piece of literary fiction. Can you take it deeper? Can you develop your own literary voice here?"

Her words have many implications for me. Is it too good for a whodunit and not good enough yet for literary fiction? Do I shop it now and if it doesn't sell, do I rewrite it? But it's a great story and it could be something more. Do I have the writing chops yet to make it more or am I still learning? Do I need more practice novels as I develop my own voice? I think I have a good style but maybe I don't have a solid voice yet.

I'd geared myself up to let go of Ellie and Al and Hansen and move on to the next novel. I've been writing some great story starts from prompts and some intriguing characters and situations have shown up. But maybe Ellie and Al and Hansen aren't done with me yet.

I'm not discouraged by her comments. I find them very intriguing and a good challenge. I want to be a great writer and I want to write literary fiction. Is it time now to step into that?

Short story rules from Kurt Vonnegut

In his book Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction, Vonnegut listed eight rules for writing a short story:




Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.

Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.

Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.

Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.

Start as close to the end as possible.

Be a Sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.

Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.

Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.