A Taste for Life Fun Writing Challenge

Freewriting Challenge: A Book, One Sentence, Your Story

Would you like to try a fun challenge using a random sentence from a book you read to create a story?

Freewriting is a creative process using unstructured writing to encourage exploring ideas.

During the writing process, the main focus is to let your creative juices flow in a set time period without focusing on grammar, form, and punctuation.

Masterclass writers define freewriting as:

“the practice of writing without a prescribed structure, which means no outlines, cards, notes, or editorial oversight. In freewriting, the writer follows the impulses of their own mind, allowing thoughts and inspiration to appear to them without premeditation.” — Masterclass, Sep 9, 2021

For A Taste for Life’s 10-minute fun freewriting challenge, you need a random sentence from a book. You can use it to write a poem, a fictional story, or an essay.

Is this the kind of challenge you like? Are you interested to see if a random sentence in a book will spark your creativity?

If you are interested to try this challenge please follow the instructions below as part of your 10-minute free writing activity.

How to do this challenge:

Use a book (fiction or non-fiction) you are currently reading, or the last book you read for this writing activity/challenge.

Follow the instructions below to complete your story.

1. Turn to page 12 of your book.
2. Select any paragraph on the page without reading it.
3. Read the paragraph. Choose a random sentence that you connect with in your chosen paragraph.
4. Ponder the sentence for exactly one minute. Where does it transport you to in your mind? You can use the sentence word for word as part of your story or write your story based on an idea/theme it sparked.
5. Start writing or typing your story uninterrupted for 10 minutes. Write without editing spelling or grammar mistakes. You can edit it at a later stage.
6. Stop writing after 10 minutes.
7. It is time to relax and take a break from your writing activity.
8. After your break return to your story and complete your editing.
9. Include the name of the author, the title of the book you used, and your chosen sentence in your back story.
10. Once satisfied hit the publish button or submit your story to a publication of your choice. Remember to tag me (@jasonedmunds) so I can read your story.

I have written a fictional short story titled “An Important Call,” during a similar freewriting prompt in June 2022.

I found it interesting, challenging, yet satisfactory to write a short story based on 7 minutes of musings.

Tagging a couple of writer friends that I think might like to participate: Alize, Bella, Becca, Cristina, Mustapha, Sanghita, Sheri, Ravyne, Vidya