The Writing Reader

Prompt #410 Fear

Tue, 04 Sep 2012 01:00:58 -0700

He had lost his courage. In its place was a sick nausea. -L. Ron Hubbard, The Great Secret (Stories from the Golden Age)

Fiction Writing Prompt: Use this as a first line for a story or as the inspiration for a poem.

Journaling Prompt: Write about a time when your courage left you.

Art Prompt: Fear

Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about fear and its impact on your life or the life of a famous person.

Photo Credit: fluffisch on Flickr

Original Article

Prompt #409 Colonizing Mars

Mon, 03 Sep 2012 01:01:49 -0700

Michael Crichton would have loved this: Bacteria common to spacecraft may be able to survive the harsh environs of Mars long enough to inadvertently contaminate the Red Planet with terrestrial life, “If long-term microbial survival is possible on Mars, then past and future explorations of Mars may provide the microbial inoculum for seeding Mars with terrestrial life,” according to researchers from the University of Central Florida. “Thus, a diversity of microbial species should be studied to characterize their potential for long term survival on Mars.” Off the record, many astrobiologists believe that we’ve already contaminated the planet. -The Daily Galaxy

Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a story about an accidental microbial infestation.

Journaling Prompt: Write about space travel - do you dream about it? fear it?

Art Prompt: Microbes on Mars

Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about the human history of transporting microbes as they travel.

Photo Credit: kat m research on Flickr

Original Article

Prompt #408 - Visual Prompt of the Week - Longing

Sun, 02 Sep 2012 01:03:10 -0700

Create whatever this visual prompt inspires in you!

Photo by theskinimin on Flickr.

Original Article

Prompt #407 First Line of the Week - Elif Shafak

Sat, 01 Sep 2012 01:01:18 -0700

“There we were, my mother and I, caught in a bittersweet maze of feelings that only mothers and daughters are capable of getting caught in.” Elif Shafak, Black Milk: On Writing, Motherhood, and the Harem Within

Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a story beginning with the first line of the week.

Journaling Prompt: Write about how you and your mother relate to each other.

Art Prompt: Mothers and Daughters

Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about the relationship between a mother and a daughter.

Photo Credit: Ctd 2005 on Flickr

Original Article

Prompt #406 Word of the Week - Maw

Fri, 31 Aug 2012 01:04:46 -0700

maw: 1. The upper digestive tract (where food enters the body), especially the mouth and jaws of a ravenous creature. 2. Any great, insatiable or perilous opening.

Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a story using the word of the week.

Journaling Prompt: Write about a perilous opening that you’ve gone through.

Art Prompt: Maw

Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Use the word of the week in your writing or speech.

Photo Credit: Furryscaly on Flickr

Original Article

Prompt #405 Courtesy

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 01:04:53 -0700

Consider the custom, in American society, of constantly saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’ To do so is often treated as basic morality: we are constantly chiding children for forgetting to do it, just as the moral guardians of our society - teachers and ministers, for instance - do to everybody else. We often assume that the habit is universal, but… it is not. Like so many of our everyday courtesies, it is a kind of democratization of what was once a habit of feudal deference: the insistence on treating absolutely everyone the way that one used only to have to treat a lord or similar hierarchical superior…

All of this is a relatively recent innovation. The habit of always saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ first began to take hold during the commercial revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries - among those very middle classes who were largely responsible for it. It is the language of bureaus, shops, and offices, and over the course of the last five hundred years it has spread across the world along with them. It is also merely one token of a much larger philosophy, a set of assumptions of what humans are and what they owe one another, that have by now become so deeply ingrained that we cannot see them. -David Graeber, Debt: The First 5,000 Years

Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a story set in a society where no one says “please” or “thank you.”

Journaling Prompt: What are you grateful for today? To whom do you need to express your gratitude?

Art Prompt: Please and Thank You

Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Discuss courtesy and its role in society.

Photo Credit: rustiqueart on Flickr

Original Article

Prompt #404 Aggression and Self-Control

Wed, 29 Aug 2012 01:00:02 -0700

Criminologists and sociologists have long believed that people commit violent crimes when an opportunity arises and they’re low on self-control. “It’s an impulsive kind of thing,” says Thomas F. Denson, a psychologist at the University of New South Wales. He cowrote the new article with C. Nathan DeWall at the University of Kentucky and Eli J. Finkel at Northwestern University. For the last 10 years or so, psychologists have joined this research, using new ways of manipulating self-control in experiments; they have found that, indeed, self-control and aggression are tightly linked.

A psychological scientist can deplete someone’s self-control by telling the subject they’re not allowed to take one of the cookies sitting in front of them. Studies have found that, after people have had to control themselves for a while, they behave more aggressively. In a 2009 study, after someone’s self-control was depleted, they were more likely to respond aggressively to nasty feedback that ostensibly came from their husband or girlfriend. Specifically, they assigned their partner to hold a painful yoga pose for longer. -Science Daily

Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a story where one person purposely depletes another’s self-control and what happens.

Journaling Prompt: What depletes your self-control and how do you react?

Art Prompt: Self-control

Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: What aspects of modern life are depleting our self-control and leading to a generalized increase in aggressiveness?

Photo Credit: seriousbri on Flickr

Original Article

Prompt #404 Aggression and Self-Control

Wed, 29 Aug 2012 01:00:02 -0700

Criminologists and sociologists have long believed that people commit violent crimes when an opportunity arises and they’re low on self-control. “It’s an impulsive kind of thing,” says Thomas F. Denson, a psychologist at the University of New South Wales. He cowrote the new article with C. Nathan DeWall at the University of Kentucky and Eli J. Finkel at Northwestern University. For the last 10 years or so, psychologists have joined this research, using new ways of manipulating self-control in experiments; they have found that, indeed, self-control and aggression are tightly linked.

A psychological scientist can deplete someone’s self-control by telling the subject they’re not allowed to take one of the cookies sitting in front of them. Studies have found that, after people have had to control themselves for a while, they behave more aggressively. In a 2009 study, after someone’s self-control was depleted, they were more likely to respond aggressively to nasty feedback that ostensibly came from their husband or girlfriend. Specifically, they assigned their partner to hold a painful yoga pose for longer. -Science Daily

Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a story where one person purposely depletes another’s self-control and what happens.

Journaling Prompt: What depletes your self-control and how do you react?

Art Prompt: Self-control

Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: What aspects of modern life are depleting our self-control and leading to a generalized increase in aggressiveness?

Photo Credit: seriousbri on Flickr

Original Article

Prompt #404 Aggression and Self-Control

Wed, 29 Aug 2012 01:00:02 -0700

Criminologists and sociologists have long believed that people commit violent crimes when an opportunity arises and they’re low on self-control. “It’s an impulsive kind of thing,” says Thomas F. Denson, a psychologist at the University of New South Wales. He cowrote the new article with C. Nathan DeWall at the University of Kentucky and Eli J. Finkel at Northwestern University. For the last 10 years or so, psychologists have joined this research, using new ways of manipulating self-control in experiments; they have found that, indeed, self-control and aggression are tightly linked.

A psychological scientist can deplete someone’s self-control by telling the subject they’re not allowed to take one of the cookies sitting in front of them. Studies have found that, after people have had to control themselves for a while, they behave more aggressively. In a 2009 study, after someone’s self-control was depleted, they were more likely to respond aggressively to nasty feedback that ostensibly came from their husband or girlfriend. Specifically, they assigned their partner to hold a painful yoga pose for longer. -Science Daily

Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a story where one person purposely depletes another’s self-control and what happens.

Journaling Prompt: What depletes your self-control and how do you react?

Art Prompt: Self-control

Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: What aspects of modern life are depleting our self-control and leading to a generalized increase in aggressiveness?

Photo Credit: seriousbri on Flickr

Original Article

Prompt #403 Awaiting Doom

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 01:04:03 -0700

During the night of May 18/19 of 1910, when the Earth passed through the tail of comet Halley, some people took precautions by sealing the chimneys, windows, and doors of their houses. Others confessed to crimes they had committed because they did not expect to survive the night, and a few panic-stricken people actually committed suicide. Enterprising merchants sold comet pills and oxygen bottles, church services were held for overflow crowds, and people in the countryside took to their storm shelters. A strangely frivolous mood caused thousands of people to gather in restaurants, coffee houses, parks, and on the rooftops of apartment buildings to await their doom in the company of fellow humans. -Gunter Faure and Teresa Mensing, Introduction to Planetary Science: The Geological Perspective

Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a story set during a time when people believe that they are doomed.

Journaling Prompt: How would you spend tonight if you knew it was the last night of your life?

Art Prompt: Awaiting Doom

Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: How do you see the tendency toward doom and despair playing out in today’s world?

Photo Credit: NASAblueshift on Flickr

Original Article

Prompt #402 Spelling Affects Meaning

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 01:05:19 -0700

Words spelled with more letters on the right of the keyboard are associated with more positive emotions than words spelled with more letters on the left, according to new research by cognitive scientists Kyle Jasmin of University College London and Daniel Casasanto of The New School for Social Research, New York. Their work shows, for the first time, that there is a link between the meaning of words and the way they are typed - a relationship they call the QWERTY effect…

Linguists have long believed that the meanings of words are independent of their forms, an idea known as the “arbitrariness of the sign.” But the QWERTY effect suggests the written forms of words can influence their meanings, challenging this traditional view.Should parents stick to the positive side of their keyboards when picking baby names – Molly instead of Sara? Jimmy instead of Fred? According to the authors, “People responsible for naming new products, brands, and companies might do well to consider the potential advantages of consulting their keyboards and choosing the ‘right’ name.” -Science Daily

Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a story with characters that you’ve name using the QWERTY effect. Pay attention to how you feel about the characters now that you’re aware. Is it affecting your perception?

Journaling Prompt: Analyze your name. What does it say about you if the QWERTY effect is real? If you were going to rename yourself to use the effect to your advantage, what name would you choose?

Art Prompt: QWERTY

Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Compare and contrast brand names using the QWERTY effect information. Look for the humor!

Photo Credit: bennylin0724 on Flickr

Original Article

The Writing Reader is going to Orlando!

Mon, 30 Jul 2012 01:06:51 -0700

That’s right. The World Championship of Public Speaking is just a couple weeks away. I have been speaking 4 or 5 times a week for the last two months to prepare my speeches for the semifinal and final rounds. I am now exhausted! I’m taking the next 2 weeks off to rest, finalize my speeches, and make final preparations before heading to Orlando. Watch my personal blog for news about the contest results!

Original Article

Prompt #401 - Visual Prompt of the Week - Horses at Sunset

Sun, 29 Jul 2012 01:03:38 -0700

Create whatever this visual prompt inspires in you!

Photo by Moyan_Brenn on Flickr.

Original Article

Prompt #400 First Line of the Week - Nicole Kornher-Stace

Sat, 28 Jul 2012 01:04:21 -0700

The story is an old one. Old as dirt, shit, blood, sleep, fire. Old before anyone set voice to it, set pen to it, aimed wanderers’ tongues and toes toward its reconnaissance. It digs deep, sinks its roots deep, drinks deep. It goes back and back and back.

You say you know it already. True, the stage, set by now, seems familiar. The archetypes are all in attendance. Girl, mother, basket, greenwood, cape. Yes, yes. But do you know the story? -Nicole Kornher-Stace, The Promise (free to read online at Lightspeed Magazine)

Writing Prompt: Write a modern retelling of a familiar fairy tale.

Journaling Prompt: Write about Little Red Riding Hood and what the story means to you.

Art Prompt: Little Red Riding Hood

Photo Credit: martinak15 on Flickr

Original Article

Prompt #399 Word of the Week - Bemuse

Fri, 27 Jul 2012 01:01:42 -0700

bemuse v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. bemused) puzzle, confuse, or bewilder: her bemused expression | he was bemused by what was happening.

Writing Prompt: Write a story, scene, or poem using the word of the week.

Journaling Prompt: Write about things that bemuse you.

Art Prompt: Bemuse

Photo Credit: stev.ie on Flickr

Original Article

Prompt #398 Funny Little Boy

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 01:02:18 -0700

I had never spoken with Mrs. Pickett, but I knew the smile she wore. It said I was a funny little boy with some silly ideas that she could easily set straight. I was afraid she was right. -Will Shetterly, Dogland

Writing Prompt: Use the prompt to create a character sketch. Who is the funny little boy and what are his silly ideas?

Journaling Prompt: Write about a teacher you had who set you straight on some silly ideas.

Art Prompt: Funny Little Boy

Photo Credit: specialoperations on Flickr

Original Article

Prompt #397 The Problem with Collaboration

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 01:01:08 -0700

From the corporate boardroom to the kitchen table, important decisions are often made in collaboration. But are two — or three or five — heads better than one? Not always, according to new research from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. “People who make judgments by working with someone else are more confident in those judgments. As a result they take less input from other people” — and this myopia wipes out any advantage a pair may have over an individual, says psychologist Julia A. Minson, who conducted the study with Jennifer S. Mueller. “The collaborative process itself is the problem.” -Science Daily

Writing Prompt: Write a scene where collaboration leads your protagonist into a dangerous decision.

Journaling Prompt: Write about a time at work or in a volunteer position where collaboration led to a decision that wasn’t optimal.

Art Prompt: Collaboration

Photo Credit: National Assembly For Wales / Cynulliad Cymru on Flickr

Original Article

Prompt #396 Greek Gods

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 01:01:29 -0700

We do not believe in the reality of Olympus, so the ancient Greek gods live on in us as symptoms. We no longer have thunderbolts of Zeus, we have headaches. We no longer have the arrows of Eros we have angina pains. We no longer have the ecstasy of Dionysus, we have addictive behavior. Even though we no longer recognize the gods we experience their powerful forces.-Carl Jung

Writing Prompt: Write about a character with a symptom caused by the spirit of a Greek god.

Journaling Prompt: Write about a time when you felt like the victim of the wrath of a Greek god.

Art Prompt: Greek god

Photo Credit: Eddi van W. on Flickr

Original Article

Prompt #395 (Un)Ethical Behavior in the Upper Class

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 01:04:13 -0700

Our studies suggest that more positive attitudes toward greed and the pursuit of self-interest among upper-class individuals, in part, drive their tendencies toward increased unethical behavior,” said lead researcher Paul Piff of UC Berkeley.

The research revealed that relative to the lower class, upper-class individuals are more likely to break the law while driving, more likely to exhibit unethical decision-making tendencies, more likely to take valued goods from others, more likely to lie in a negotiation, more likely to cheat to increase their chances of winning a prize and more likely to endorse unethical behavior at work.

“The relative privilege and security enjoyed by upper-class individuals give rise to independence from others and a prioritization of the self and one’s own welfare over the welfare of others—what we call ‘greed,’” explained Piff, whose research was funded in part by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

“This is likely to cause someone to be more inclined to break the rules in his or her favor, or to perceive themselves as, in a sense, being ‘above the law,’” he said and therefore become more prone to committing unethical behavior. -Science Daily

Writing Prompt: Write a story, scene or poem about entitlement in an upper class protagonist.

Journaling Prompt: Write about a time when you were affected by someone who felt entitled.

Art Prompt: Greed

Photo Credit: erix! on Flickr

Original Article

Carnival of Creativity July 22, 2012

Sun, 22 Jul 2012 13:07:18 -0700

Welcome to the Carnival of Creativity for July 22, 2012. All links will open in a new tab or window, so feel free to click through and leave some love in the comments. Once you close that window, you’ll be right back here for more linky goodness.

Sharing Our Work

Eula McLeod presents Signs posted at View from the Wine Press.

Writing Quote of the Week

The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug. ~ Mark Twain

Writing Tips and Prompts

Esther Inglis-Arkell presents How to Convince People You Have Psychic Powers posted at io9. Maybe one of your characters needs to know this.

Joanna Penn presents Traditional Publishing vs. Self-Publishing: Either or Both posted at Live Write Thrive.

Robert Lee Brewer presents Best Blogs for Writers to Read posted at My Name is not Bob.

Chrys Fey presents Creating Mood posted at Write with Fey.

Journal Writing

Michael Hyatt presents The 7 Benefits of Keeping a Daily Journal posted at Intentional Leadership.

The Business of Creativity

Leonie Dawson presents 9 Steps to Getting Paid for Your Gifts posted at Leonie Dawson.

Crafts

Melissa presents Craft Group posted at Making the most of………...

That’s all for this week. Be sure to submit your article for next week’s Carnival of Creativity by Friday at midnight!

Addendum: Carnivals will be on break through August. They will resume in September.

Original Article