What I have decided to do is take the writing prompts from www.writingexcuses.com and use write a short story for each prompt. I am shooting for roughly 4000~6000 words per short story.
Oh, you don't know about www.writingexcuses.com? It is a web site that hosts a podcast with the authors Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Howard Taylor, and Mary Robinette Kowal. They aim to help aspiring (and possibly established) writers in their journey of becoming better. Essentially, they go over topics from outlining your story, to pacing, to character development, the business behind writing, and even taking Q & A at conventions. Writing Excuses has also added a writing prompt for each (they started in the later part of Season 1) topic for writers to focus on a specific aspect of writing to hone the skills necessary.
I first took the writing prompts as just throw away ideas for fun. Honestly, I think that they are mainly a gimmick to punish Howard to come up with random topics on the fly. The first time that they came up with a writing prompt I had not noticed. This happened because I was focused on my Golden Book as Dan puts it later in the series. I wanted to make that most amazing and awesome story that had been stuck in my head forever. The problem with this, as you have so ingeniously figured out by now, was that I have no experience in writing at all. Sounds like a ship wreck already, right?
To get these prompts I had to do a little digging even though they are mainly listed on the web site. The best resource that I used to compile them all was the live journal that holds the transcripts for each podcast.
So now I am here typing this out to you. There is little in the bank to go to school for creative writing. I have less than a handful of friends that are into writing. The rest are just bastards. I meant that in the best of ways. So this leaves coming up with my home work assignments to drive me creatively further. I chose to go further with the writing prompts from WE because they are far fetched. They are crazy and absurd at times. By being all of these things it will drive me to continue on. To be excited about what I write. If I can pull off their crazy than I can pull off my crazy.
With that I thank you for visiting.
