Why Every Writer Should Use Writing Prompts - Jonathan Blum
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- čas přidán 22. 05. 2024
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Jonathan Blum grew up in Miami and graduated from UCLA and the Iowa Writers' Workshop. He is the author of two books of fiction: The Usual Uncertainties (Rescue Press, 2019), a story collection, and Last Word (Rescue Press, 2013), a novella. Both were named one of the best books of the year by Iowa Public Radio, and The Usual Uncertainties was named one of the 15 Best Short Story Collections of 2019 by Electric Literature. Blum has twice appeared on KCRW's Bookworm. His short stories have been published in Gulf Coast, Kenyon Review, Northwest Review, Playboy, and Shanxi Literature, among others. His short story, "The White Spot," which was published in Electric Literature with an introduction by Deborah Eisenberg, appears in the award-winning anthology The Best Peace Fiction (University of New Mexico Press, 2021). He has taught fiction writing at The University of Iowa, Drew University, and the Iowa Summer Writing Festival, and is the recipient of a Michener-Copernicus Society of America Award, a Hawthornden Fellowship in Scotland, and a grant from the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation. He has also been a guest writer at the Tianjin Binhai New Area International Writing Program in China. He lives in Los Angeles.
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#entertainment #reading #writing
I'm a big believer in writing on paper. There's no "delete" button in a spiral notebook.
✨💯✨
That’s why there’s a million scratches in my notebook.
Save a tree just kidding. I recently started writing and I use paper then back it up on computer so I have the physical and digital.
Don't write stories, write characters. With what they do and how they act, they only have a few ways they can approach a given scenario. They may even take over and write the story for you!
Love that!
(Even if I don't *entirely* agree 😊).
@@scotlandtheinsane3359
Reading back, I can see a possible disagreement in that certain characters have chances to take over/alter your stories. I admit, I've only ran into _this_ particular instance six times throughout my writing career.
The example being I have this singular obsessive compulsive character who is, more or less, a sympathetic antagonist. He's the last one remaining of his village which _he_ himself burnt to the ground after both he and the love of his life were condemned. They were both framed for the murder of her family, although it was an _(unrelated)_ accidental fire caused by her younger sister placing one too many logs in their fireplace. However this character only chose to save _her_ on the account she was pregnant with their child. In spite of a third of this small villages protests, she's killed. In the villagers' shock, this character uses a swing from the executioner's axe to break his cuffs then moves out of the way as his momentum carries him off over the edge the stage, falling and breaking his neck. Meanwhile, a kind smith _(longtime friend of the girl)_ grabs the child and flees. The chief, being pinned by the falling body of the executioner, is then set ablaze by our character, who from here on out takes up residence in the massive estate in the village square for several hundreds of decades.
_(I throw in paranormal elements)_
Now I almost forgot to mention this village was secluded deep in the mountain woods for worshipping "Gods," and I throw a female at him to keep him company during the introduction of my protagonists.
However, this character hurled her threw a portal and she was torn to pieces by the darkness of it.
_(he's held up in the library, opening gates trying to discover a way to bring back his love)_
This _isn't nearly_ the entirety of his character- I'm being harshly reductive. Needless to say, however, him throwing the Goddess into the gate _was not_ planned!
Now I'm curious to uncover what _you_ disagree with! I'm eager to find new perspectives and learn wherever I'm able.
Please! Let's *DISCUSS!* 😁
My daughter is a novelist. While working on a story, her main character was not working out as a main character. One of her secondary characters stepped up and said "I can do better than this guy". She was right.
In screenwriting, Aaron Sorkin says the complete opposite, I believe, in his masterclass.
I learned today what a “prompt” is. I kind of give myself prompts. I like when Hollywood uses play-on words in their movie titles. I think of common phrases as a movie title, then think of a story that use the phrase as a play-on words.
I think the important thing to remember is that if you use a prompt, write from the character's pain and not from the prompt itself. Unless the prompt includes a source of internal conflict you are going to have to craft the internal conflict under the prompt that you are working with. (Kind of like an umbrella plot)
Best of luck on your journey! Don't let the ink eat your pen. It does that sometimes.
Is there an example you can share?
"Write a love letter from a burning building" is the most unexpected out of context way to start a video 😂
It's a great way to catch the watchers' attention, too. You should use it more often. 😌
Edit: "and" is a really teasing way to end a video. You should use it less often. 😂
One thing i have noticed is i get a lot of ideas when i concentrate on story elemnts while reading and playing computer games. I also play the what if game a lot.
After i started doing this i have generated more interesting ideas than i know what to do with.
Inspiring stuff
I write...and character or no character, the brush strokes fill the canvas and the story comes to life.
I give myself five pages to write a day or I try to of a spec screenplay I’m working on. Sometimes I can churn out an entire screenplay in a few hours by doing so. Other days it’s less cause I stop after twenty or thirty pages. But I try and write at least five pages of a screenplay every day to get more of my work done.
Just a question. Though not on prompts. What do you think about the SAG strike. Is it about money as usual or would AI really take over the industry?
Hi Dennis, we asked this question to our community. Here's the link - czcams.com/users/postUgkxCXNkW3vhs1OIlHR1F1Nc3r-Y8DZKsdMe
I love it
Cheers Ryan!
How often do you use writing prompts?
I write collaborations with other writers, mostly dead writers. Tender Buttons by Gertrude Stein is my favorite jumping off point.
I agree, but many writing prompts are useless. For example, it's Christmas Eve and Santas elves are on strike.
@markforster6457 I think that case's about what kind of story you're aiming to write; sometimes, when I'm in the "funny stories" mood, I take prompts like that. It's all about writing whatever you want 😉
I actually disagree with using writing prompts. Mainly because it doesn't give you a character's misbelief to carry the story, nor do they make for an interesting character arc. Prompts are great for scene/concept ideas, but good characters who can carry such grand ideas they do not make.
I used writing prompts for years, and they got the creative juices flowing, but they didn't make for original characters. It was a lot of "what would I do in this situation?" rather than, "what if this specific character was in this situation?" It was only when I created compelling, relatable characters to write about was I able to write a story worth telling.
Thank you for sharing your experience!