A New Format For This Newsletter (let me know your thoughts!)
Plus today's writing prompts were inspired by Ten Things I Hate About You.
I’d like to create a community here on Substack, so I’m making some changes and I’d love to know your thoughts — how can I best serve your needs?
The main reason for these tweaks is I want to know what you’re writing. Are you working on a screenplay? A novel? A children’s book? A comic book? Songs? Poetry? A zine?? (I’ve heard zines are back, tell me it’s true.) Basically, WHO ARE YOU and WHAT IS YOUR CREATIVE JAM?!?!? I need to know. I used to have a blog a million years ago (okay, 15 years ago) and that comment section was THRIVING. Some of those posts would get hundreds of comments, we had our own inside jokes, people became IRL friends, it was the place to be. As Angela Chase says at the end of the first episode of My So-Called Life, “we had a time.” I want to try to recreate some of that magic here.
The thing is, I’ve always fantasized about running a creative commune (NOT A CULT — A CREATIVE COMMUNE) (and yes, there’s a difference) and it recently struck me that, wait, THIS could be the creative commune I long for. Let’s make it so!
Writers often ask if they can share their work with me. (People on TikTok are always saying, “Hey, I did the prompt, where do I post it???”) But normally I don’t have time to read everything people want to send. UNLESS… Okay, here’s what I’m thinking: from now on, every substack post will be free, but if you want me to read what you’ve written from these prompts you can do so by becoming a paid subscriber. (It’s okay $5 a month!) I will read everything paid subscribers post in the comments. So comment your poems, your scenes, your lyrics, or even just your inside jokes and random thoughts. I won’t give critiques or feedback, but I promise I will read and respond to everything you post in the comments! Paid subscribers also get access to the gently-guided writing sprints I host on Zoom every Weds (from 6-8pm PST) and every Sun (from 12-2pm PST). Just send me a message to get added to that email list.
The money I make here helps me keep the Substack going, so I appreciate you considering becoming a paid subscriber. Again, it’s only $5 a month! (Putting my salesman hat on) You guys, what a deal!!! (Taking my salesman hat off because my head is too large for hats.)
Oh, and here’s the new basic structure of these newsletters. I will begin with Your Daily Creative Inspiration, which will be words of wisdom from a fellow writer or artist. Then we’ll segue into Your Daily Writing Prompt(s), which, as always, will consist of 16 prompts (8 journaling prompts and 8 fiction prompts) inspired by popular culture (mostly movies and music). Then I might share Your Daily Video Prompt, which is one of my writing prompts from TikTok, for those of you who aren’t over there. Then I’ll share Your Daily Recommendation, which will be a hodgepodge selection of Art That I’ve Recently Consumed and Recommend, naturally. Finally, a section we’ll call My Life As a Writer, where I’ll share personal writing updates, when and if I have them, as well as invitations to things like readings and shows.
Okay, enough preamble. Let’s get to the newsletter.
Your Daily Creative Inspiration
I’m obsessed with this passage from the oral history of SNL where Bill Murray describes the last time he saw Gilda Radner. I think it's a nice reminder, especially in these strange and scary times we’re living in, to be there for our friends and carry them when they need to be carried. (Just read it, it's a sad-but-lovely memory.)
"Gilda got married and went away. None of us saw her anymore. There was one good thing: Laraine had a party one night, a great party at her house. And I ended up being the disk jockey. She just had forty-fives, and not that many, so you really had to work the music end of it. There was a collection of like the funniest people in the world at this party. Somehow Sam Kinison sticks in my brain. The whole Monty Python group was there, most of us from the show, a lot of other funny people, and Gilda. Gilda showed up and she’d already had cancer and gone into remission and then had it again, I guess. Anyway she was slim. We hadn’t seen her in a long time. And she started doing, “I’ve got to go,” and she was just going to leave, and I was like, “Going to leave?” It felt like she was going to really leave forever. So we started carrying her around, in a way that we could only do with her. We carried her up and down the stairs, around the house, repeatedly, for a long time, until I was exhausted. Then Danny did it for a while. Then I did it again. We just kept carrying her; we did it in teams. We kept carrying her around, but like upside down, every which way—over your shoulder and under your arm, carrying her like luggage. And that went on for more than an hour—maybe an hour and a half—just carrying her around and saying, “She’s leaving! This could be it! Now come on, this could be the last time we see her. Gilda’s leaving, and remember that she was very sick—hello?” We worked all aspects of it, but it started with just, “She’s leaving, I don’t know if you’ve said good-bye to her.” And we said good-bye to the same people ten, twenty times, you know. And because these people were really funny, every person we’d drag her up to would just do like five minutes on her, with Gilda upside down in this sort of tortured position, which she absolutely loved. She was laughing so hard we could have lost her right then and there. It was just one of the best parties I’ve ever been to in my life. I’ll always remember it. It was the last time I saw her."
- from Live from New York: an Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live
Your Daily Writing Prompt
Today’s prompts were inspired by the 90s movie Ten Things I Hate About You.
EXERCISE #1: “I hate the way I don’t hate you.”
JOURNALING PROMPT: Make a list of at least ten things you hate about someone you love. Once you have your list, pick one thing from your list to write about in more detail. Write about this hatred with love.
FICTION PROMPT: If you’re writing a narrative, write down the name of a character who your protagonist has STRONG/INTENSE feelings about. Write a monologue where they’re ranting about this person. Include a reference to something this other character SAID, something they DID, and a description of either what they SOUND LIKE, SMELL LIKE, or TASTE LIKE.
EXERCISE #2: “Tell me something true. Something real, something no one else knows.”
JOURNALING PROMPT: Write about something you believe deeply that you’ve never confided to anyone.
FICTION PROMPT: If you’re writing a narrative, make a list of things your protagonist believes deeply. Think of it like a personal manifesto for them. Write down big existential beliefs and little tiny “pointless” beliefs. Paint a picture of them through what they believe.
EXERCISE #3: “You’re not as vile as I thought you were.”
JOURNALING PROMPT: Now look at the you of today and the you of ten or fifteen years ago. What’s something you believed then that you don’t believe now? (or vice versa)
FICTION PROMPT: If you’re writing a narrative, write a scene where your protagonist changes their mind about something BIG.
EXERCISE #4: “You never give up, do you?”
JOURNALING PROMPT: When are you relentless? What brings out that side of you?
FICTION PROMPT: If you’re writing a narrative, go back to that list of your protagonist’s beliefs and write a scene where they are pursuing one of those beliefs in some way, or trying to convince another character of something. They should be UNRELENTING. By the end of the scene, blood (either metaphorical or literal) should be shed.
EXERCISE #5: “Leave it to you to use big words when you’re shitfaced.”
JOURNALING PROMPT: Write everything you can remember from either the last time you were drunk or the last time you were with someone drunk. And just for fun and for the exercise of it, incorporate some language (aka “big words”) that you wouldn’t normally use.
FICTION PROMPT: If you’re writing a narrative, write a scene where at least one of your characters is drunk. Play with the language they use when they’re inebriated. Write an argument about one of their beliefs.
EXERCISE #6: “You went to the party? I thought we were officially opposed to suburban social activity.”
JOURNALING PROMPT: Write about the worst fucking party you ever went to.
FICTION PROMPT: If you’re writing a narrative, write a scene where your protagonist tells another character about a godawful party. Give them a motivation for telling this story: either they’re flirting with the person they’re talking to, or they’re trying to hurt this person. Your choice.
EXERCISE #7: “You can’t just buy me a guitar every time you screw up, you know?”
JOURNALING PROMPT: Write about the last thing you really screwed up. Something that you haven’t resolved yet. A relationship that you want to repair.
FICTION PROMPT: If you’re writing a narrative, write a scene where your protagonist asks for forgiveness. Whatever the other characters reaction is, make sure it isn’t easy for your protagonist.
EXERCISE #8: “You know how sometimes you just become this persona? And you don’t know how to quit?”
JOURNALING PROMPT: Write about a part of your “public” self that doesn’t feel like the “real” you.
FICTION PROMPT: If you’re writing a narrative, write a scene where your protagonist takes off a metaphorical mask, where they reveal a deeper part of themselves to another character.
Your Daily Video Prompt
Your Daily Recommendation
I am obsessed with Miranda July’s book All Fours. If you saw Babygirl and wished it was weirder and more complicated, this book is for you.
Are you a foodie who loves dystopian fiction? I just finished Land of Milk and Honey by C. Pam Zhang and it’s wonderful. It made me hungry and it scared me a little.
My Life As a Writer
I’m currently finishing the first draft of a new play, rewriting two plays, and finishing a first draft of a new spec coming-of-age screenplay. No public readings or performances on the books as of right now, but there are a few in the works that I can hopefully announce soon!
Thank You For Being Here
Get my prompt books: https://www.camdenhighstreetbooks.com
Attend a writing sprint with me on Zoom: https://www.patreon.com/erikpatterson
Commission a prompt via Cameo: https://www.cameo.com/erikpatterson
Read one of my plays: https://www.camdenhighstreetbooks.com/plays
Your Daily Writing Prompt uses affiliate links, where possible. As an Amazon Influencer, I earn from qualifying purchases.
I really like it!!!