Summary

The website content presents a writing prompt designed to help writers overcome the challenge of a blank page by incorporating specific literary elements into a short story.

Abstract

The article discusses the struggle many writers face with the daunting prospect of a blank page, which can evoke a mix of emotions from promise to frustration. The author shares a particular writing prompt that aided in overcoming writer's block, which was originally from the now-defunct online magazine "Postcard Poems and Prose." The prompt challenges writers to craft a story of 600 words or less that includes an Oscar Wilde quote, the title of an Alice Munro story, lines from an Edna St. Vincent Millay poem, two new words, an obscure song lyric, and a unique main character name. The author provides an example of their own story titled "Denouement," which follows a character named Barnet Bromley engaged in a tense interaction with a woman named Charlotte. The article encourages writers to step out of their comfort zones and embrace the prompt as a means to create and grow in their craft.

Opinions

The author believes that the act of writing can evoke a wide range of conflicting emotions.
Writer's block is acknowledged as a significant challenge, with the author having previously suggested various methods to overcome it, including writing stories with song titles and purchasing a statue of Ganesh.
The author values the importance of writing prompts, especially those that are specific and somewhat unconventional, as they can stimulate creativity and break through periods of unproductivity.
The inclusion of elements from well-known literary figures in the prompt is seen as a way to pay homage to the craft while also challenging the writer to integrate diverse influences into their work.
The author suggests that embracing the silliness or unconventional nature of certain prompts can be beneficial and liberating for writers.
The article implies that the process of writing, even when difficult, is inherently valuable and that producing another story is always a positive outcome.
The author encourages writers to support each other, hinting at the financial struggles of both fiction publishers and writers by mentioning the possibility of leaving a tip for the writer's work.

A Writing Prompt to Kick Off the New Year

We all need a nudge sometimes

I don’t know about you, but the most daunting thing I face on any given day isn’t an IRS audit, an overdrawn bank account, or a roving band of Orcs (though that second one is a constant struggle). Rather, it is exactly what you see in the image above: a blank page. As a writer, that blank page can hold promise, terror, fulfillment, and frustration all at the same time.

The emotions I just listed are there any time you start a new project, but are nearly overwhelming when you aren’t even sure what new project you want to start. I have written about writer’s block in the past, suggesting ways to break through it ranging from writing stories incorporating as many song titles as possible, buying a statue of Ganesh, and praying to the patron saint of writers. The only thing I haven’t tried is sacrificing a chicken to the writing gods (chicken is meant to be fried, not sacrificed).

There is one prompt that helped me break through a period when I couldn’t even look at a blank page, let alone put words on it, and I thought I’d share it as a prompt to start the new year for anyone who may need it. It is a very specific prompt, but those specifics aren’t as important as the fact that it makes you think outside your normal confines. Prompts like this can seem a little silly at first glance, but what is writing if not an excuse for adults to act silly sometimes.

I first found this prompt as part of a writing challenge held by the online magazine Postcard Poems and Prose. It was a cool place to write for, one that saw the value of both flash fiction and poetry. It ceased operations several years ago (as so many small writing sites did), and though the publisher hoped to bring it back someday, that hasn’t happened yet. It’s no easier out there for fiction publishers than it is for fiction writers.

With that rambling intro out of the way, here’s the prompt:

“In 600 words or less, write a story that includes: an Oscar Wilde quote, the title of an Alice Munro story, two lines from any Edna St. Vincent Millay poem, two words you did not know previously, an obscure line from a favorite song, and an unusual Main Character name.”

The story I came up with is titled “Denouement,” and I include it below both to show it can be done and because so few have read the damn thing:

The room was black, illuminated only by the faint ember at the tip of his unfiltered Camel. Charlotte sat motionless on the ottoman, mere inches from him. The conversation…no, more than a conversation but less than an argument…had dragged on for hours. Barnet Bromley despised these conversations. The silence between the useless words was the worst part of all.

When she spoke again he was distracted, not for the first time, by the beauty of her voice. From the outset it had amazed him that such a canorous sound could come from the mouth of such a harridan. They had acted out this scene so many times, far too many times, her insecurities crashing against his nonchalance. Each of them fought their demons alone yet had inexplicably chosen to fight them alone together.

“Tell me yes or no,” she said, insisting on black and white responses in a shades-of-gray world.

He hesitated, fully aware of the answer she wanted, an answer he simply could not give.

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple, my dear,” he replied.

She laughed that wonderful, melodious laugh, though now it was tinged with bitterness. Even in the darkness he knew that no smile accompanied the laughter.

“Another of your non-answers,” she said.

Non-answers were his strong suit; the truth was harder. The fact was that they were good in a group; that was how it had started. But alone together the lack of commonality had become an open secret. It had been evident the first night at her apartment: her bookshelves held photos and bric-a-brac and mementos, but not a single book. He remembered a quote from John Waters: “If you go home with somebody, and they don’t have books, don’t fuck them.”

“I don’t know what you want,” Barnet replied. “And neither do you.” The truth, finally.

She paused at this and lit a cigarette of her own, the flame from the Zippo briefly blinding him. The smoke curled toward the ceiling, mingling with his in a way the two of them never would. The snap of the lighter as she closed it felt like the slamming of a door.

“Perhaps, but do you know what you want?” she demanded. “You claim to be numb, but surely you’re not only numb.” He had heard that somewhere before…where?

Silence descended over the room again. He was more than just numb, more than detached. But she had long ago ceased to cause him to feel any more than these. What he felt for her now he felt only in retrospect, a nostalgia for something long past that was never truly how we choose to remember it. Life lived in a rear-view mirror.

“How can we be here today,” she continued, her voice wavering, “when not two days ago you told me how much you love me?”

Her dress swayed from a breeze through the open window. He could not see it in the darkness, but he knew it, the way he knew how this would all end. The way all things end.

“Today is not then,” he said. “And if I loved you Wednesday, well what is that to you?”

It’s not Hemingway or Maugham, but it gave me the kick in the backside I needed at the time. You can obviously substitute your favorite poet for Millay, or use someone you like better than Wilde, but that won’t take you out of your comfort zone, now will it? So give it a shot as is; if nothing else you’ll have written another story, and that’s never a bad thing.

Now get writing.

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