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- People who perceive their car as a reflection of their self-identity are more likely to behave aggressively on the road and break the law.
- People with compulsive tendencies are more likely to drive aggressively with disregard for potential consequences.
- Increased materialism, or the importance of one’s possessions, is linked to increased aggressive driving tendencies.
- Young people who are in the early stages of forming their self-identity might feel the need to show off their car and driving skills more than others. They may also be overconfident and underestimate the risks involved in reckless driving.
- Those who admit to aggressive driving also admit to engaging in more incidents of breaking the law.
- A sense of being under time and pressure leads to more aggressive driving.
Writing Prompt: Write a scene about someone driving recklessly for one of the reasons listed above.
Journaling Prompt: Write about a time when you or someone you were riding with drove recklessly.
Art Prompt: Reckless Driving
Photo Credit: thanker212 on Flickr.
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“We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.” -Hunter S Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream (Vintage)
Writing Prompt: Using the first line above as a starting point or inspiration, write a scene or a poem.
Journaling Prompt: Write about a time when your reality shifted.
Art Prompt: Surreal journey
Creative Nonfiction / Speech Writing Prompt: Write about a surreal journey you have taken, whether it was enhanced by drugs or not.
Photo Credit: PhillipC on Flickr
Send to KindleRelated posts:
- Prompt #204 First Line of the Week – J.D. Salinger
- Prompt #146: First Line of the Week – One for the Money
- Prompt #192: First Line of the Week – Adam-Troy Castro
- Prompt #160: First Line of the Week – The Cassandra Project
- Prompt #104: First Line of the Week – Still Life with a Woodpecker
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If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. -J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye
Writing Prompt: Write a scene or poem inspired by this first line.
Journaling Prompt: How would you describe your life to someone who doesn’t know you?
Art Prompt: Teen Rebel
Nonfiction / Speech Writing Prompt: Write about your teen age years.
Photo Credit: iwishiwashannah on Flickr
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If you’re writing about teens, consider including music in your story.
The amount of music that 8- to 18-year-olds listen to has increased by 45 percent in recent years, rising dramatically with the popularity of MP3 players, such as iPods. Previous research has indicated that there is a strong link between exposure to sexual media (on screen and in music) and sexual activity. Teens tend to overestimate the sexual activity of their peers and one source of this misperception is the entertainment media. -Science Daily
Writing Prompt: Write a scene about a teenager listening to music. What do the lyrics mean to him or her? What thoughts arise? What actions do the lyrics prompt?
Journaling Prompt: How does music and the lyrics affect you?
Art Prompt: Music
Photo Credit: TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³ on Flickr
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The pros and cons of narcissism is fascinating as we watch our culture gets more and more narcissistic. I’ve included just a snippet of the information. If you are writing characters, you’ll want to read the entire article and follow the links in it for more information.
For years, psychologists have observed that people routinely overestimate their abilities, said study leader Dominic Johnson, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.
Some experts have suggested that overconfidence can be a good thing, perhaps by boosting ambition, resolve, and other traits, creating self-fulfilling prophecies.
But positive self-delusion can also lead to faulty assessments, unrealistic expectations, and hazardous decisions, according to the study—making it a mystery why overconfidence remains a key human trait despite thousands of years of natural selection, which typically weeds out harmful traits over generations.
Now, new computer simulations show that a false sense of optimism, whether when deciding to go to war or investing in a new stock, can often improve your chances of winning. -Christine Dell’Amore, National Geographic News
Writing Prompt: What is your character overconfident about? How does that benefit her? How does that cause her to make risky decisions?
Journaling Prompt: Write about a time when you were overconfident and how that affected your decision-making.
Art Prompt: Overconfidence
Photo Credit: Mustafa Khayat on Flickr
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The outlaw archetype is one of the most useful archetypes to use in your writing. From Johnny Depp as a pirate and James Dean as a bad boy to Gordon Gekko proclaiming “greed is good” in Wall Street, the outlaw archetype is money in the bank for the movies. For successful fiction, make sure someone in your book is an outlaw.
In those days, the border country between England and Scotland was the resort of robbers, freebooters, and outlaws from both lands. -Mary Queen of Scots, Makers of History by Jacob Abbott (free for your eReader in many formats from Project Gutenberg)
Writing Prompt: Write about a border raid by outlaws.
Journaling Prompt: How does the outlaw archetype express itself in you or one of your friends?
Art Prompt: Outlaw
Photo Credit: country_boy_shane on Flickr
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You know that guy, the one with the red sports car. What message is he trying to send with that thing anyway? Here’s some research:
“Just as peacocks flaunt their tails before potential mates, men may flaunt flashy products to charm potential dates. Notably, not all men favored this strategy — just those men who were interested in short-term sexual relationships with women.” -Science Daily
Writing Prompt: Write about a guy on the prowl and what he uses to signal he’s on the make.
Journaling Prompt: How do you react to a show off?
Art Prompt: muscle car
Nonfiction / Speech Writing Prompt: Write about your own midlife crisis (or that of someone you know).
Photo Credit: Reportergimmi on Flickr
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I believe that the most important thing about writing is to HAVE FUN! You can worry about things like commas, point of view, tenses, etc., later. Right now, just start writing!
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