Denise E Lindquist
Bio
I am married with 7 children, 28 grands, and 13 great-grandchildren. I am a culture consultant part-time. I write A Poem a Day in February for 8 years now. I wrote 4 - 50,000 word stories in NaNoWriMo. I write on Vocal/Medium daily.
Stories (1209)
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No More National Novel Writing Month. Top Story - November 2025.
For many years now, in November, I would write 50,000 plus words for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). Each day, I would write. It wasn't important to edit as I wrote, because I knew in a month or two it would be time to edit.
By Denise E Lindquist2 months ago in Writers
A Business Woman, And Her Fiance
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise - In a few sentences, create a specific character in a specific situation. Complicate his life with opposing forces and alternatives within that situation. Ask, Given the situation, what would my character want? What would my character do? How would he act or react? How will those actions propel the story toward a point of crisis and a final resolution? Practice creating characters involved with specific situations. Then outline miniplots for how you would complicate their situations and move them toward an ending. Keep this outline brief. The Objective - To understand how the most effective plots are those driven by character. To see how a character within the given of any situation creates his own destiny.
By Denise E Lindquist2 months ago in Writers
Once Upon a Time Again
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise - Write a linear story, in which a strong main character is on a quest for something important and specific (e.g., a shelter for the baby, medicine for a sick mother, or the key to the storehouse where a tyrant has locked away all the grain from a starving populace). The object is given - don't explain its importance. The main character starts acting immediately. She then meets a (specific) obstacle; finally, she triumphs over the obstacle by means of a magic or supernatural element that comes from the outside (like Dorothy's red shoes in The Wizard of Oz). You may introduce minor characters, but the narrative should never abandon your main character. This story should be told through action and dialogue. Limit: 550 words. The Objective - Like a medical student who must learn the names and location of human bones before going on to more complex systems, a beginning writer must be able to handle and control basic plot before moving on to more subtle elements like motivation, subtext, and ambiguity. Many of the greatest novels incorporate a quest (Moby Dick), a journey (David Copperfield), and triumph over an obstacle (The Old Man and the Sea). These works also concentrate on one protagonist and end, if not happily, at least on an emotionally satisfying note of resolution.
By Denise E Lindquist2 months ago in Writers
The Judge
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise — Break your story idea down into three sentences of three words each. That will give you a beginning, a middle, and an end, and help you understand the architecture of the work. By having to choose three verbs, you’ll be forcing yourself to consider the three parts of the action. The Objective — To see if your story, like a good stool, has three legs to stand on.
By Denise E Lindquist2 months ago in Writers
The Importance Of Dialogue
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise — Highlight the dialogue in a story by a writer you admire. Then determine how much dialogue is summarized rather than presented in quotation marks. Next, set up a situation in which one character is going on and on about something — complaining about grades, arguing with a spouse about the children, or recounting an accident to a friend. Summarize the dialogue, occasionally interspersing it with comments and stage directions. The Objective — To understand what summarized dialogue accomplishes and how it affects tone, pace, and the shaping of a scene.
By Denise E Lindquist3 months ago in Writers
Everyday Elder Conversations of the Past and Present
This year, I started a book with a grant I received from the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council (ARAC). I applied as an elder, Native American woman, with a handicap. I fit 3 categories. How could I lose? It is to be completed in June of 2026. Should be no problem, right?
By Denise E Lindquist3 months ago in Art
