Stream of Consciousness
Someone Is Walking Around In My House. Top Story - November 2025.
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise — You're taking a shower in your house or apartment. You are not expecting anyone, and the front door is locked (the bathroom door is not). You hear a strange noise in a rooom beyond the bathroom. Now, take it from there for no more than two pages. This can be in either the third or the first person. Don't spend any time getting into the shower; you're there when the action begins. The Objective - To tell a convincing story centered on speculation and terror.
By Denise E Lindquist2 months ago in Writers
Today's superhero
Superpowers Wouldn't you like to have them? Have you ever thought about becoming a superhero? Just like in the movies—we get a new one almost every year. A new version, a sequel, or something completely different. I’ve talked to loved ones about this, and I think about how much I’ve learned from them. It’s all money-related. They create a superhero movie, we go watch it, it does well and then they make a sequel. That’s the pattern. Have you wondered about how everything has a pattern? There's a trend in so much around us. If a movie does well, you can bet a “Part II” is coming. Sometimes they even create new versions with new characters, which I’ve learned can be due to contract deals. That isn't the only reason, because it can be that the actor just doesn't want to be the character anymore. It can be due to other factors as well. One thing is for sure. It’s all business and money. We’re the guinea pigs in this entertainment-driven life.
By Holisticwithh22 months ago in Writers
Encouraging Speculation And Exploring Motivation
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise — Imagine you are in a line of traffic driving away from the country at nine o’clock on a Saturday morning in August. This line of traffic is much heavier than you anticipated. Who are these people and why are they leaving the beach instead of going in the opposite direction? Account for the occupants of the six cars in front of you. (For examplel the man in the Chevy is going back to town because he just found out his doughnut shop there was broken into at 3:00 a.m. He is pissed.) The Objective — To train yourself to take off from what you see and hear and create an instant story out of it. To encourage speculation and explore motivation.
By Denise E Lindquist2 months ago in Writers
My Hawks
For most of my life, I’ve envisioned two hawks perched on my shoulders. I don’t remember precisely when they appeared; certainly when I was a child navigating my tension-filled home. Much of that history is lost to blockage still, my father’s volatility and my mother’s survival skills visible to me only as peaks of experience emerging through a cloud cover, seen from a great height. I have realized recently it’s been the hawks who have kept me lifted above all those traumatic memories, and it’s only recently that I’ve begun to really make their acquaintance and honor their role in my life.
By David Muñoz2 months ago in Writers
Confidence
In every mirror, I sought a phantom, pursuing an illusion that had been escaping me for what felt like an eternity. I had mistakenly labeled this part of myself as 'dull', 'untalented', and 'delusional', yet I yearned for this missing piece to return and make me whole.
By "Ann Garza"2 months ago in Writers
I Was Robbed
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise — Here is the situation: You have just come out of the movie theater around seven in the evening, and you are mugged — a person asks for your money, then knocks you to the ground before running away. Or make up your own situation. Next, pretend you are telling the account of this event to five different people: Your mother, your best friend, your girlfriend or boyfriend (or wife or husband), a therapist, a police officer, The Objective — To become conscious of how we shape and shade the stories that we tell to each other according to the listener. Your characters also tell stories to each other and make selections about content according to who they are telling the story to, the effect they want the story to have, and the response they want to elicit from the listener. A lot of dialogue in fiction, in real life, is storytelling — and there is always the story listener who is as important in the tale as the tale itself.
By Denise E Lindquist2 months ago in Writers
Sunday
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise — Title it “Sunday.” Write 550 words. The Objective — Certain words and ideas, such as retirement, in-laws, boss, and fraud, serve as triggers for stories or scenes in fiction. Sunday is one of these. Try to think of others.
By Denise E Lindquist2 months ago in Writers
The Healing Power of Publishing Memoirs. Top Story - November 2025.
Over the last eight months, I took a break from publishing anything new — apart from the odd piece here and there for a handful of writing competitions. And to be honest, after wrapping up the competition submissions and these past couple of years, trying to make it as a writer, I felt totally wiped out.
By Chantal Christie Weiss2 months ago in Writers
Do You Want People to Separate You From Your Art?. Top Story - November 2025.
Roman Polanski, Kevin Spacey, Michael Jackson, Caravaggio, Richard Wagner, Woody Allen, J.K. Rowling, T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Virginia Woolf, R. Kelly, Miles Davis, Carl Jung, Francis Bacon, and Jackson Pollock.
By Paul Stewart2 months ago in Writers
