The Writing Reader
Currently viewing the tag: "first line"
Send to KindleIt was the baby, of all things, that woke her up. Not her husband. Not the police. Just the baby and his crying. -Todd Ritter, Bad Moon
Fiction Writing Prompt: Use the first line of the week as the starting point or inspiration for a scene, story, poem, or haiku.
Journaling Prompt: What is usually your first indication that something is wrong at your house? Describe how it happens.
Art Prompt: The Curious Incident of the Baby in the Night Time
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write a humorous piece about your personal security system, whether it be a baby, a dog, or something else.
Photo Credit: rabble on Flickr
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Tagged with: art prompt • baby • children • complications • first line • journaling prompt • night • sleep • speechwriting prompt • surprise • writing prompt
Send to Kindle“Jonah was dead for a brief time before the paramedics brought him back to life.” -Dan Chaon, You Remind Me of Me
Fiction Writing Prompt: Use the first line of the week as the starting point or inspiration for a scene, story, poem, or haiku.
Journaling Prompt: Write about a time when you felt like you were getting a second chance and what it meant to you.
Art Prompt: Risen from the dead
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write a piece with the theme of resurrection or second chances.
Photo Credit: ER24 EMS (Pty) Ltd. on Flickr
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Tagged with: art prompt • first line • journaling prompt • resurrection • second chance • speechwriting prompt • survival • writing prompt
Send to KindleArchie Sheridan slept with the light on. -Chelsea Cain, Kill You Twice
Fiction Writing Prompt: Use the first line of the week as the starting point or inspiration for a scene, story, poem, or haiku.
Journaling Prompt: Have you ever slept with a night light? Why or why not?
Art Prompt: Sleeping with the light on
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Give your audience information on how to establish healthy sleeping habits.
Photo Credit: creating in the dark on Flickr
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Tagged with: anxiety • art prompt • fear • first line • journaling prompt • psychology • sleep • speechwriting prompt • writing prompt
Send to Kindle“There were once two little girls who saw, or believed they saw, a thing in a forest.” -A.S. Byatt, Little Black Book of Stories
Fiction Writing Prompt: Use the first line of the week as the starting point or inspiration for a scene, story, poem, or haiku.
Journaling Prompt: Write about how being in a forest makes you feel.
Art Prompt: Mysterious thing in the forest
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: prompt here
Photo Credit: Alex Pepperhill on Flickr
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Tagged with: A.S. Byatt • art prompt • first line • forest • imagination • journaling prompt • speechwriting prompt • writing prompt
Send to KindleWhat happens is I write a first sentence, then I read the sentence that I’ve just written, and then I immediately erase that sentence; then I begin anew by writing another first sentence for a completely different story; then another first sentence for another story, so on and so forth.” Courtney Eldridge, Unkempt
Fiction Writing Prompt: Use the first line of the week as the starting point or inspiration for a scene, story, poem, or haiku.
Journaling Prompt: What do you do when you have trouble getting started writing in your journal?
Art Prompt: Abandoned Beginnings
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about the importance of beginning well and the dangers of getting stuck.
Photo Credit: Anthony Mianzo on Flickr
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Tagged with: anxiety • art prompt • Courtney Eldridge • fear • first line • journaling prompt • neurosis • speechwriting prompt • Unkempt • writing • writing prompt
Send to Kindle“The madwoman in the attic was standing at the window.” -Peter Rushforth, Pinkerton’s Sister
Fiction Writing Prompt: Use the first line of the week as the starting point or inspiration for a scene, story, poem, or haiku.
Journaling Prompt: Sometimes our thoughts are like a madwoman in the attic. What thought is standing at the window of your mind today?
Art Prompt: Madwoman in the Attic
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about how thoughts can drive us crazy and what we can do to get them under control.
Photo Credit: Balmain Heritage on Flickr
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Tagged with: art prompt • first line • journaling prompt • madwoman • Peter Rushforth • speechwriting prompt • thoughts • writing prompt
Send to KindleKortovsky gave himself a final once-over in the elevator mirror before he reached the hotel lobby. -Gerald Elias, Death and the Maiden
Fiction Writing Prompt: Use the first line of the week as the starting point or inspiration for a scene, story, poem, or haiku.
Journaling Prompt: How concerned are you about your appearance?
Art Prompt: First impressions
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: First impressions
Photo Credit: roland on Flickr
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Tagged with: anxiety • art prompt • behavior • first line • Gerald Elias • human nature • journaling prompt • speechwriting prompt • writing prompt
Send to KindleSnake oil sales
were slow.
-Kevin Young, Black Maria
Fiction Writing Prompt: Use the first line of the week as the starting point or inspiration for a scene, story, poem, or haiku.
Journaling Prompt: Write about something that is touted as healthy that you think is as bad as snake oil.
Art Prompt: Snake Oil
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Inform your audience about how they can avoid health scams.
Photo Credit: Benjamin Chun on Flickr
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Tagged with: art prompt • first line • journaling prompt • Kevin Young • snake oil • speechwriting prompt • writing prompt
Send to KindleWhen Emily Daggett Weiss boarded the Twentieth Century Limited in the spring of 1913, bound for a brief sojourn in the West, one or two old biddies gave her the hairy eye. Woman traveling alone. No better than she should be, as her mother used to say about young women of low moral standards. Worse than the biddies, a traveling salesman winked at her. -Irene Fleming, The Brink of Fame
Fiction Writing Prompt: Use the first line of the week as the starting point or inspiration for a scene, story, poem, or haiku.
Journaling Prompt: Imagine traveling a century back in time. What would be the most difficult thing for you to get used to?
Art Prompt: 1913
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about how women’s place in society has changed in the last century.
Photo Credit: phlubdr on Flickr
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Tagged with: art prompt • change • culture • first line • Irene Fleming • journaling prompt • society • speechwriting prompt • train • women • writing prompt
Send to Kindle“As most New Yorkers have done, I have given serious and generous thought to the state of my apartment should I get killed during the day.” -Sloane Crosley, I Was Told There’d Be Cake
Fiction Writing Prompt: Use the first line of the week as the starting point or inspiration for a scene, story, poem, or haiku.
Journaling Prompt: Write about your cleaning routine.
Art Prompt: Messiness
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about the rituals you do every day just in case something happens to you.
Photo Credit: JessicaHume. on Flickr
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Tagged with: art prompt • first line • journaling prompt • New York • Sloane Crosley • speechwriting prompt • writing prompt
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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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