Showing category "Creativity" (Show all posts)

How to Create a Story Arc

Posted by Ronda Levine on Friday, February 5, 2010, In : Creativity

A story arc is another word for "story structure," but this term goes back to Aristotle's conception of what makes an aesthetically pleasing story in Poetics. A classical story demonstrating dramatic structure generally has three parts:

The Inciting Incident - This part of the story sets things up, piques our interest and gives us a taste of what's to come. The best stories begin "in media res," in the middle of things.
The second act - This part of the story builds through rising action unti...

Writing Prompt 8/10/09

Posted by Ronda Levine on Monday, August 10, 2009, In : Creativity

Family can be a tricky thing. They're always there when you need them, and they're always making things interesting for you. In today's prompt, you will write a description of each member in your family.

Writing Prompt Rules

Write for 15 minutes
Don't stop writing
Don't erase anything
Don't cross anything out

As always, feel free to share in the comments section or by leaving a link to your own blog.

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Writing Prompt 8/2/09

Posted by Ronda Levine on Monday, August 3, 2009, In : Creativity

You've heard of the phrase, "Slaying Dragons" before. Lots of people use it to refer to those people who go out and achieve in a highly competitive way showing courage. What "dragons" would you like to slay given the chance?

Writing Prompt Rules

Write for 15 minutes
Don't pick up your pencil
Don't stop
Don't cross anything out

Happy Writing!

(Oh and feel free to post your results here or links to your results in the comments section!)

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12 Tips to Find Ideas for Your Writing

Posted by Ronda Levine on Wednesday, July 29, 2009, In : Creativity

One of the most difficult things to do in writing is to come up with an idea. Sometimes a lack of ideas can cause writer's block. You'll need ideas whether you are writing creatively, for class, or for your business. Here is a list of things that you can do in order to come up with ideas for your writing.

Keep an idea file. I have two - a folder on my computer desktop and a hard copy folder for ideas I came up with while sitting in a restaurant. The folder on my desktop is broken into fil...

Combating Writer's Block

Posted by Ronda Levine on Monday, July 27, 2009, In : Creativity

It happens to the best of us - the dreaded writer's block. It seems most common when we have a new project, a large project, or a recent success. You stare at the computer screen and watch as the blank page taunts you. What's someone to do? Here's a list of tips that have helped me stave writer's block off.

Give yourself permission to write a terrbile first draft. This is possibly the best peice of writing advice I've received and it came from Anne Lamott's book, Bird by Bird. By allowin...

Writing Prompt 7/11/09

Posted by Ronda Levine on Sunday, July 12, 2009, In : Creativity

It's summertime. Remember when you were younger and you would daydream of that summer love? Or maybe you have a summer love right now. Whatever the case may be, like in the movie Grease, these affairs are meant to be just a fling, but sometimes the feelings run deeper and it continues. Today's writing prompt will be about summer love - and "what if's." Take fifteen minutes to write about what if that "Summer fling" turned out to be something more.

Don't pick up your pen
Don't cross anythin...

Writing Prompt 7/4/09

Posted by Ronda Levine on Sunday, July 5, 2009, In : Creativity

Since July 4th in the USA is the day we celebrate the independence of our country from imperialist Britain, it seems appropriate to have today's writing prompt concern the concept of freedom. What does it mean to be free? This is the question I would like you to answer in today's prompt.

Writing Prompt Rules:

Keep your hand moving
Don't cross anything out
Don't pick your pen up
Write for 10-20 minutes on the topic. If you run out of things to say, try starting over with the sentence "Freedom r...