Fred and Ethel Fight (I Love Lucy inspired writing prompts!)
And some inspiration from Kara Corthron.
Hello writers! What’s your writing goal for the week?
Your Daily Creative Inspiration
Here’s playwright and novelist Kara Corthron on the benefits of writing an epic story:
“Because I came from playwriting, I entered the world of fiction unaware of established publishing rules, such as: Don’t debut with an 800 page novel! I didn’t know any better, and by the time I found out, I was too far in to turn back. (I did some editing on my own—but that only brought it down from what would have been 1,000 published pages.) Most publishers flat-out rejected the manuscript without reading it, and the few who took an interest hoped I could slash it down to “normal.” But I knew the size was normal for the story I had written. What was the point of decimating the book in order to sell it? I decided to wait until I found a publisher who understood the story in all its heft and was willing to take the chance (and, believe me, there were some melancholy days when I wasn’t sure there was such a publisher). I’m very happy Seven Stories Press took it on. It went on to win the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and to become a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice. I don’t believe any of that would have happened had I discarded two-thirds of the narrative. I am not advocating for authors to write epic novels! Though if you want to, you absolutely, absolutely should. Because my advice is to write what is right for your story, regardless of the conventional modes of practice. The rest will take care of itself.”
Your Daily Writing Prompt
During this week’s Sunday Sprint, my midpoint question (when I ask everyone to respond to one simple question in the zoom chat box) was: what is one word you over-use in your writing? And the answers were all along the lines of "just," "really," "actually," "that," "kind of," "a lot," etc. I think of these as hedging words. (There's probably a real name for them but we're gonna call them hedging words right now.) Let's work on getting rid of those words from our writing. They make our words pack less of a punch!
Okay, today’s prompts were inspired by the I Love Lucy episode “Fred and Ethel Fight.” If you saw Being the Ricardos, this is the episode of I Love Lucy that they're filming during the course of the movie.
EXERCISE #1: “Whom is coming over for dinner tonight?”
PERSONAL PROMPT: Write about an emotional/dramatic dinner you had with a loved one.
NARRATIVE PROMPT: If you’re writing a narrative, write a dinner scene between at least two of your characters. Have one of the characters reveal a secret. Make it a big bombshell.
RANDOM BONUS ELEMENT: some sort of physical ailment
EXERCISE #2: “I thought we had an understanding that you weren’t going to mess around in anyone else’s affairs?”
PERSONAL PROMPT: Write about a time when you WENT TOO FAR. However you want to define that. Something that you regret, now, with hindsight.
NARRATIVE PROMPT: If you’re writing a narrative, write a monologue where your protagonist talks about their greatest regret.
RANDOM BONUS ELEMENT: laughter
EXERCISE #3: “She said my mother looks like a weasel.”
PERSONAL PROMPT: Write about all of your worst opinions: your most offensive, insulting thoughts. Purge them from your brain and put them on the page.
NARRATIVE PROMPT: If you’re writing a narrative, write a scene where another character confronts your protagonist about something they previously said or did that offended them.
RANDOM BONUS ELEMENT: fear
EXERCISE #4: “I gave him the best years of my life.” “Were those the best?”
PERSONAL PROMPT: Look back at your life so far – which year would you consider your “best” year and why?
NARRATIVE PROMPT: If you’re writing a narrative, freewrite in your protagonist’s voice about all of the “bests” in their life: best friend, best love, best accomplishment, best day, whatever. Come up with at least 10 “bests.”
RANDOM BONUS ELEMENT: a surprise
EXERCISE #5: “Why don’t you swallow your pride?” “I’m having enough trouble with this sandwich.”
PERSONAL PROMPT: Write about a time when you got in your own way.
NARRATIVE PROMPT: If you’re writing a narrative, write a scene that shows us your protagonist being prideful. Make it an active scene – let’s say they are building or making something.
RANDOM BONUS ELEMENT: heaviness
EXERCISE #6: “I’ve been in a terrible accident!”
PERSONAL PROMPT: Write about a near death experience. How were you changed by this experience?
NARRATIVE PROMPT: If you’re writing a narrative, write a mundane boring scene that is interrupted by a sudden, alarming, violent act/incident.
RANDOM BONUS ELEMENT: blood because why not?? BLOOD!
EXERCISE #7: “Roast beef or no roast beef, I’m leaving!”
PERSONAL PROMPT: Write about a difficult good-bye.
NARRATIVE PROMPT: If you’re writing a narrative, write the last scene between two of your characters. A break-up or a goodbye that is definitive.
RANDOM BONUS ELEMENT: a gift
EXERCISE #8: “Honey, it was all my fault.”
PERSONAL PROMPT: Confess to something that you’ve resisted coming clean about in the past.
NARRATIVE PROMPT: If you’re writing a narrative, start with that line of dialogue. “Honey, it was all my fault.” But whatever this character confesses to, let’s say the other character does NOT respond the way they expect.
RANDOM BONUS ELEMENT: fire
Your Daily Recommendation
Hey, I’m gonna go ahead and recommend my own books today — have you checked out Pop Prompts yet? It’s a collection of writing prompts inspired by popular songs (they aren’t all pop songs, the music is a mix of all genres). The idea is you listen to the song at the top of each page, feel the emotions of the song (I chose songs that will evoke deep feelings), then read the prompt and write. There are five books in the series:
Thank You For Being Here
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
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