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Cause-and-effect thinking is critical to human survival, Legare said. So it’s natural for people to find logic in supernatural rituals that emphasize repetition and procedural steps. If doing something once has some effect, then repeating it must have a greater effect. For example, if a mechanic says he inspected something five times, the frequency of his actions leads the customer to overestimate the effectiveness of his work. -Science Daily
Fiction Writing Prompt: Create a ritual for your character to use and then write a scene about it. Focus on the internal monologue.
Journaling Prompt: What rituals do you use?
Art Prompt: Supernatural Ritual
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about the psychology of ritual. Include stories about the rituals used by famous people.
Photo Credit: rodolfoaraiza.com on Flickr
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The four culture types identified, which together comprised 89 percent of families surveyed, are:
- The Faithful: These parents base their moral compass on religion and seek to maintain traditions within their homes and through their children.
- The Engaged Progressives: These parents view morality through a lens of personal responsibility and freedom and strive to raise “responsible choosers.”
- The Detached: These parents don’t feel very close to their children and tend to adopt a “let kids be kids and let the cards fall where they may” attitude.
- The American Dreamers: These parents are very optimistic about their children’s future and focus heavily on giving them every possible advantage while also protecting them from negative influences. -Kecia Lynn
Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a scene about something that happens in within a family. Re-write the same scene for each of the family types.
Journaling Prompt: Where does your family fall in this list? Write about how you feel about your family type.
Art Prompt: Families
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Inform your audience about the four American family types.
Photo Credit: normalityrelief on Flickr
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If you’re going to pay with your life, you may as well buy something worth the price. -Michael Langlois, Bad Radio
Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a scene about a character who gives his or her life as a sacrifice for someone or something.
Journaling Prompt: What would you be willing to give up your life to save?
Art Prompt: Sacrifice
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about someone who gave his or her life for something.
Photo Credit: Augustin Brunault on Flickr
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A great flat head broke the surface not ten feet away. I could see the water purling away from keeled scales that ran in a crest down the sinuous neck. The water was agitated for some considerable distance, and I caught a glimpse here and there of dark and massive movement beneath the surface of the loch, though the head itself stayed relatively still. I stood quite still myself. Oddly enough, I was not really afraid. I felt some faint kinship with it, a creature further from its own time than I, the flat eyes old as its ancient Eocene seas, eyes grown dim in the murky depths of its shrunken refuge. And there was a sense of familiarity mingled with its unreality. The sleek skin was a smooth, deep blue, with a vivid slash of green shining with brilliant iridescence beneath the jaw. And the strange, pupilless eyes were a deep and glowing amber. So very beautiful. And so very different from the smaller, mud-colored replica I remembered, adorning the fifth-floor diorama in the British Museum. But the shape was unmistakable. The colors of living things begin to fade with the last breath, and the soft, springy skin and supple muscle rot within weeks. But the bones sometimes remain, faithful echoes of the shape, to bear some last faint witness to the glory of what was. Valved nostrils opened suddenly with a startling hiss of breath; a moment of suspended motion, and the creature sank again, a churning roil of waters the only testimony to its passage. I had risen to my feet when it appeared. And unconsciously I must have moved closer in order to watch it, for I found myself standing on one of the rock slabs that jutted out into the water, watching the dying waves fall back into the smoothness of the loch. I stood there for a moment, looking out across the fathomless loch. “Goodbye,” I said at last to the empty water. I shook myself and turned back to the bank. -Diana Gabaldon, Outlander
Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a scene or poem about a mythical creature appearing to a contemporary person.
Journaling Prompt: Which mythical creature would you most enjoy seeing in person and why?
Art Prompt: Nessie
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about the power of mythical creatures to inspire our lives.
Photo Credit: Carla216 on Flickr
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Thinking about leaving is something I sometimes do. Staying is what I do every day without thinking. -Louis Maistros, Anti-requiem: New Orleans Stories
Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a scene or character sketch about a character who is thinking of leaving. Include some inner dialogue.
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting /Journaling Prompt: Write about a time that you were trying to decide between staying and leaving, whether it be about a relationship, a job, or a location.
Art Prompt: Thinking about Leaving
Photo Credit: SodanieChea on Flickr
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No front porches. My uncle says there used to be front porches. And people sat there sometimes at night, talking when they wanted to talk, rocking, and not talking when they didn’t want to talk. Sometimes they just sat there and thought about things, turned things over. My uncle says the architects got rid of the front porches because they didn’t look well. But my uncle says that was merely rationalizing it; the real reason, hidden underneath, might be they didn’t want people sitting like that, doing nothing, rocking, talking; that was the wrong KIND of social life. People talked too much. And they had time to think. So they ran off with the porches. -Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
Writing Prompt: Write a scene set on a front porch in bygone days.
Journaling Prompt: Write about where you like to go to just sit and think. What makes that place special?
Art Prompt: Front Porch
Photo Credit: David Boyle on Flickr
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“Ren stood perfectly still in the dark, listening.” -Gin Phillips, Come In and Cover Me
Writing Prompt: Write a story or scene based on this first line.
Journaling Prompt: What do you hear when you listen in the dark.
Art Prompt: Listening in the dark
Photo Credit: vavva_92 on Flickr
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I wish friends held hands more often, like the children I see on the streets sometimes. I’m not sure why we have to grow up and get embarrassed about it. -Stephanie Perkins, Anna and the French Kiss
Writing Prompt: Write a story, scene, or poem based on holding hands.
Journaling Prompt: Would you be embarrassed to hold a friend’s hand in public? Why or why not?
Art Prompt: Holding hands
Photo Credit: Cliff Beckwith on Flickr
Send to KindleSend to KindleWelcome to the Carnival of Creativity for May 27, 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.
Announcements
I took last week off due to an ability to get my feet back on the ground after winning the District 3 International Speech Contest. I’ll be traveling to Orlando in August to compete in the International semi-finals, and then, if the judges smile on me, to compete in the finals. I’m still floating up amongst the stars, but I’m trying to get back on track for this week with my blogging. So let’s have a carnival!
Resources/Tools
One of my favorite features on Morning Edition (NPR) is StoryCorps. Since 2003, Story Corps has collected and archived more than 40,000 interviews from nearly 80,000 participants. Head over there and take a listen if you’re in need of some inspiration for your story, journal, or art. At the top of site is a link for “question generator.” Great for journaling ideas! (Thanks to Loren at Conversation Matters for reminding me of this great resource. Sign up for Loren’s newsletter. It’s great!)
Sharing Our Work
Eula presents Robots posted at View from the Winepress.
Liz presents The Time Traders Series Book Review posted at LizAndraShaw.com.
Writing Quote of the Week
We writers and teachers don’t change lives, and we certainly don’t make lives. We nudge them. We nudge the nudge-able. Let’s not let anyone tell us that the Internet is going to murder the book, because the automobile has yet to murder the bicycle. The book, like the bicycle, is a perfect invention, and perfection dies hard. What object is more beautiful than a book? And if Keats’s calculation is correct and beauty equals truth, then we need to understand that the right books in our hands are paramount for our survival as a species. There’s this great line by W. S. Merwin that I always carry with me: “But we were not born to survive, only to live.” Books, like love, make living possible. -William Giraldi, First Fiction, Poets & Writers Magazine
, July 2011
Writing Tips and Prompts
Gail presents Time Management Tuesday: Why Writers Might Want to Take Part in Projects Like “The May Days” posted at Original Content.
Chrys presents Characters Make a Book posted at Write with Fey.
Mari presents How to Keep a Journal When You Don’t Ever Have Any Time posted at CreateWriteNow.
B. McKenzie presents How to Make a Boring Character Interesting posted at Super Hero Nation.
C.S. Lakin presents Muddle the Middle of Your Scenes at Live Write Thrive.
Creativity Boosts
wizard presents The Answer Lies in “You” posted at Wizard Corpse.
Podcasts
I’ve got two great podcasts from Writing Excuses to share with you this week. The first is on Cathartic Horror with guests Michael Collings and Michaelbent Collings. The next is a Project in Depth look at Howard Tayler’s new book, Force Multiplication. Fascinating!
The Business of Creativity
Michael presents Business Thank You Notes posted at ThankYouNotes.com.
Nicole presents Writing is not a Business Model posted at Nicole on the Net.
Derek presents Can You Use the Kindle Store as a Marketing Channel? posted at Concentrix.
Spam of the Week
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That’s all for this week. Be sure to submit your article for next week’s Carnival of Creativity by Friday at midnight!
Send to KindleSend to KindleWelcome to the Carnival of Creativity for April 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.
The Creative Mindset
iman presents How to stay creative in a non-creative environment posted at LabellaIman, saying, “A few tips on staying creative in a non creative environment”
Resources/Tools
Chrys Fey presents Formatting Your Manuscript posted at Write with Fey.
Sharing Our Work
Tracy Fulks presents working out : eating bacon posted at tracyfulks, saying, “I know I’m not the only one…”
Eula McLeod presents That’s Entertainment posted at View from the Winepress. Guaranteed to make you laugh!
Sherril presentes Water Run posted at Today’s Visions.
Marcy presents 47 Years of Great Rock: You Say It’s Your Birthday at Too Timid, Too Squeamish. Don’t miss this one – put on your headphones and enjoy!
Liz Shaw presents Peter Watts, Feedbooks, and FictFact posted at Liz Andra Shaw.
Writing Quote of the Week
Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip. Think of what you skip reading a novel: thick paragraphs of prose you can see have too many words in them…if it sounds like writing, I rewrite it. -Elmore Leonard
Writing Tips and Prompts
C.S. Lakin presents The Defining of a Scene posted at Live, Write, Thrive.
Creativity Boosts
Melanie Grant presents How to Journal: Create a Personal Profile posted at Mel’s Mouthful on Mothering, saying, “Creatively designing your journal creates a wonderful environment for you to express yourself”
Podcasts
The Writing Excuses podcast is continued from last week as the guys continue giving Mary feedback on her novel outline.
Visual Arts
Sarah presents Etsy Spring Amsterdam posted at Natsumi.
Daniela Baker presents 7 Landscape Film Photography Tips posted at Guide to Film Photography, saying, “For those who want to build a career in landscape photography, here are 7 tips that will give you stunning landscape photographs every time.”
The Business of Creativity
Chase Dumont presents How to Make an eBook (That Makes You Buckets of Money) posted at Chase Dumont, Rainmaker.
Spam of the Week
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That’s all for this week. Be sure to submit your article for next week’s Carnival of Creativity by Friday at midnight!
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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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