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Idea You Can Steal 3: The Box
Top o’ the mornin’ to ye, friends. (Or afternoon, or evening, or…) Happy St. Patrick’s Day! There may not be a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow, but there is a story idea.
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We Stress Reading Too Much
So I have a confession to make. I can’t remember the last time I read a novel for pleasure. The last book I chose to read was nonfiction. According to some fiction writers on the internet, I’ve failed at one of the first rules of being a serious writer — reading. Writers are supposed to…
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Writing Prompts 3
Spring is nearly here. (Or fall, if you’re in the southern hemisphere.) Here’s a bouquet of prompts to start a new season of writing.
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Friday Flash 2: Our New World
At last, we found it — the new Earth. What our scans had prophesied would be a new home. Air, water. Life? We did not know what became of the old Earth. Perhaps destroyed in anger lightyears ago by a miniature sun. Not that any of us cared, really.
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Idea You Can Steal 2: The Monk and the Engineer
Happy (belated) Valentine’s Day, readers! Or Singles Appreciation Day. Or Hearts Day. Whatever you call February 14th. Anyway, here’s another story idea you can steal.
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Goethe’s Three Criteria
If I learned nothing else from Professor Todd’s classes, it was Goethe’s Three Criteria. Though Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is best known as a poet and playwright, he also wrote criticism and is credited with developing a three-part critical framework. Professor Todd drilled these into our heads in his History of Theater classes. The written…
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Writing Prompts 2
Have you given up on your new year’s resolution yet? Let’s hope not. Here are five more prompts to help get you back in the swing of writing.
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Friday Flash 1: Eruption
Amber, liquid rock leaps toward the stars. The mountain remakes itself before their eyes. Little creatures with black and yellow scales raise their limbs in praise.
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Idea You Can Steal 1: The True Tyrant
Ideas You Can Steal are longer, meatier writing prompts. A scenario and direction for the plot are suggested, but the details and ending are completely up to you. Take this idea wholesale as a kind of outline, or cut it apart to use as inspiration for multiple projects.
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Should Critiques Be Objective?
So I’ve been thinking about critiques lately, specifically whether or not these things can be objective. Is there an objective measure for how good a piece of art is? What this measure is will vary from medium to medium, but does the presence or involvement of this measure make the critique objective?