Friday Freewriting – July 2, 2021 – Megan

Posted on July 2, 2021July 1, 2021 by Epic Book Club

This was a fun prompt! I haven’t read much in the mystery genre, so I definitely failed to incorporate that aspect. I think that ghosts are mysterious; and I do love a ghost story. I really like what I named the ship. I might swipe it for other stories. If nothing else, this exercise creates great fodder for other stories.

As always, if you end up using this prompt or any of the other prompts we’ve tried, please let us know – we’d love to see what you come up with! Here’s the format we’re using, if you need a refresher!

Character: Sailor
Object: Thumb Tack
Genre/Tone: Fantasy/Mystery

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Friday Freewriting – Megan – June 25, 2021

Posted on June 25, 2021June 24, 2021 by Epic Book Club

Character: Demigod
Object: Deodorant
Genre/Tone: Sci-Fi

Space, a smelly frontier…
Image by Raziel Abulafia

As I remember, whenever gods show up in Star Trek, they end up being aliens with advanced technology, but they aren’t actually divinities. So with this prompt I wondered what it would be like to be a real demigod in a world of Star Trek-like technology. This is not a full exploration of that possibility, but it was a fun start. I think that adding deordorant to the mix just begs for a funny, light-hearted story. And maybe that’s ok. As usual, if you end up trying the prompt, I’d love to read what you come up with!

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Friday Freewriting – Megan – June 18, 2021

Posted on June 18, 2021June 17, 2021 by Epic Book Club

Did I lean into melodrama? Yes. But since this is a timed exercise, I went with my first idea and stuck with it. I did not do any research into the timing between the male birds molting tail feathers and when the chicks would hatch, apologies to any ornithologist readers! I also totally made up the name Pembledom, please do not judge me too harshly.

I know I’ve said it before, but this is a fun exercise. I like the near chaos (you never know what the prompts will be), but the structure/instruction is always the same. There are other great writing exercises out there, but this one just hits a sweet spot for me. I’d love to see if anyone else does this prompt! Thank you for reading!

This week’s prompts were:

Character: Pianist
Object: Feather
Genre/Tone: Drama

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Friday Freewriting – Megan – June 11, 2021

Posted on June 11, 2021June 10, 2021 by Epic Book Club

I just spent a few days with one of my best friends from college. Her 8-year-old just started participating in swim meets. When they were telling me about the most recent one, I wondered if swim-parents ever get as competitive as parents in other sports and activities. I’m considering it a happy accident that we got this prompt today and I got to put my random thoughts to good use. Don’t play with hair dryers or toasters around water, especially not if they’re plugged in.

This week’s prompts were:

Character: Swimming Instructor
Object: Hair Dryer
Genre/Tone: Crime

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Friday Free Writing – Megan – May 28, 2021

Posted on May 28, 2021May 27, 2021 by Epic Book Club

The saying, “Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it,” is often used as a warning against obstinant ignorance. But sometimes it’s really not anyone’s fault that history is not known; because there is no record to study, future generations do not know what lead to the cataclysm. They might not even know there was a cataclysm. And now I’m thinking of Asimov’s novelette, “Nightfall.”

Both Robert and I both needed extra seconds (and minutes) to finish the exercise this week. Sometimes the time segments seem overly generous, but this week they felt really tight. Time is weird!

As always, if you read this, and want to write your own, please post it in the comments, or link to your own site. I’d be thrilled to read what others come up with!

Character: Historian

Object: Anthill

Genre: Thriller

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Friday Free Writing – Megan – May 21, 2021

Posted on May 21, 2021May 20, 2021 by Epic Book Club

I went with the genre-blend generator today to choose what sort of story we’d be writing. I like the horror-Pygmalion direction that I took with my story, but I’m wondering how much creepier I could have made it if I’d written from the sculpture’s point of view.

Charater: Art Student

Object: Glue

Genre: Horror/Romance

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Friday Freewriting – Megan – May 14, 2021

Posted on May 14, 2021May 14, 2021 by Epic Book Club

Character: Spy

Object: Electrical Outlet

Genre: Comedy

I think of humor as one of my strengths, so I thought that getting comedy as a genre prompt would be fun for me. The thing is, I find humor in exploring the absurdities in other genres, so comedy as a genre feels like a blank to me. It’s like someone pointing at me with no context and shouting, “Be funny!” I thought that the main character might help me find a humor-hold, but “spy” wasn’t helpful for me either, since I’m not well-versed in the spy genre. But this exercise doesn’t ask for a perfect story, just a done story.

Well, I tried! And I think it’s at least a little funny, and there is a spy and an electrical outlet: so unlike Robert, I at least followed the prompt. 😉

Let me know what you think of this Friday Freewrite. If you write your own, please share it and I’ll respond!

Oh, and Language Warning for this one.

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Friday Freewriting – Megan – May 7, 2021

Posted on May 7, 2021May 6, 2021 by Epic Book Club

I’m a little disappointed with myself on this freewrite. It was fun, don’t get me wrong! In the interest of time I missed the chance be more creative in my approach to a certain type of magical object. I have to remind myself that this exercise is supposed to get the creative juices flowing, and it’s not a system to produce perfect ideas on the first try. I’d love to see how others interpret these prompts, so please comment or link back to your own site so that I can see!

Character: Librarian

Object: Rug

Genre: Speculative Fiction

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Friday Freewriting – Megan – April 30, 2021

Posted on April 30, 2021April 30, 2021 by Epic Book Club

Another Friday, another freewrite. As I mentioned last week, my goal was to be serious this week in my attempt; I avoided humor, at least. I did not do a great job at capturing the “Romance” genre, per se. I could also see the argument that the main character is not a father, though he was offered the chance. Let me know what you think, and I’d love to read what you write if you try this prompt!

Character: Father

Object: Ottoman

Genre/Tone: Romance

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Friday Freewriting – Megan – April 23, 2021

Posted on April 23, 2021April 23, 2021 by Epic Book Club

We’re writing new original stories every week, and we’ll be posting them on Fridays. Here’s Megan’s response to this week’s prompts. Feel free to use the prompts to write your own story, and to share it in the comments if you like.

Megan here: I started writing this and I thought I’d try being serious for once. But then I couldn’t resist trying to tell a joke. Maybe I’ll be serious next week. Only time will tell.

Character: Photographer

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