Friday Freewriting – September 10, 2021 – Megan

Posted on September 10, 2021September 9, 2021 by Epic Book Club

Is a story that makes you think, “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” a mystery? Because that’s what I’ve got for you this week.

Character: Llama Rancher
Object: Deck of Cards
Genre: Mystery/Fantasy

In a moment of panic, as the timer counted down, I realized that I had a great set up for a murder mystery, but I had no idea how I wanted to resolve it. Then I remembered that the genre was mystery/fantasy, so I introduced magic. And a bit of nonsense. Well, I still like it.

How would you use these prompt elements in a story? Please let us know if you write your own!

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Friday Freewriting – August 27, 2021 – Megan

Posted on August 27, 2021September 9, 2021 by Epic Book Club

We had some discussion about following the rules today. Neither of us has been great about keeping to the sentence limit that Mary Robinette Kowal recommends in her video. But we decided to wait until another day to pay attention to that aspect. It’s funny how it seems like you need more time to write less.

The prompt this week was

Character: Programmer
Object: Coat
Genre/Tone: Action

I feel like say this almost every week, but this is a genre that I’m not super familar with. I should look into composing a reading list that will help me fill in the gaps in my knowlege. If you have any favorite books in the action genre, let me know in the comments!

And, as always, let us know if you felt inspired to try out the prompt this week (or from any other week!). Happy reading, and happy writing!

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Friday Freewriting – August 20, 2021 – Megan

Posted on August 20, 2021August 19, 2021 by Epic Book Club

Character: Fisherman
Object: Scarf
Genre/Tone: Historical Comedy

It’s not funny, but it’s a comedy in the sense that it ends on a hopeful moment for my main character. I love to laugh, and to make others laugh, but sometimes I just can’t think of a good joke in a time limit. I might have tried for some slapstick, especially near the end when someone nearly falls off the boat.

As usual, please let us know what you think! And if you try this exercise, we’d love to see what you come up with. Happy Reading! Happy Writing!

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Friday Freewriting – July 30, 2021 – Megan

Posted on July 30, 2021July 29, 2021 by Epic Book Club

Detail from The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger

I won’t say either way whether this story reflects my opinions about politics or politicians. It’s the idea that first started gelling in my brain-space when we got our prompts. Sometimes the hard thing about these prompts is that no one idea really sticks out to me, and I end up with a mushy mash of ideas that only kind of work. Since we try hard to stick to the time limit, there’s really no chance to extract an idea if it doesn’t reveal itself immediately. At least, that’s how it generally works for me. Robert might think differently! Anyway, enjoy this saga about a politician and his lute. If you join in this exercise, please let us know! We’d love to read your stories and know what you think of the exercise.

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Friday Freewriting – July 23, 2021 – Megan

Posted on July 23, 2021July 22, 2021 by Epic Book Club

When ‘satire’ was selected as our genre, Robert said he was just relieved it wasn’t romance, which is how I got to the idea of a werewolf breakup. I like the idea of a regular apartment building inhabited by both regular mortals and monsters, in a sort of uneasy truce – I’m adding that to my idea list for a later date! For now, I hope you enjoy the drama of Rodrick and Helen.

Let me know what you think, and if you try this exercise, please let us know!

Genre: Satire
Character: Werewolf
Object: Packing Tape

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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 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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