All Twitter posts must consist of 140 characters or less. And a “story” is defined as “an account of imaginary or real people and events told for entertainment” or “an account of past events in someone’s life or in the evolution of something.”
Let’s fill Twitter with stories!
There are two camps, two schools of thought when it comes to the role of inspiration in the writing process. There is the camp that says this is the only way to write, when writing hits you upside the face and demands your presence for a few seconds or a few hours. Then there is the camp that says, as William Faulkner said, “I only write when I am inspired. Fortunately I am inspired at 9 o’clock every morning.”
Over the last few weeks, I had the opportunity to travel home for the holidays. During this time, I was inundated with advice from older friends and family about life, money, and relationships. But the best advice I received came from the an unexpected source: my seven-year-old cousin.
Writers are thieves. Intentionally or unintentionally, we steal from other artists all the time. We can’t help but be inspired and influenced by the stories we consume. However, we can steal productively by borrowing from other works in a conscious manner.
Every item has a story: The true story of where the item was acquired, who owned it, and where it traveled, and the story you are inspired to write about the item.
This is an Adventure Prompt. However, this is not the television show Mission Impossible, starring Peter Graves, Barbara Bain, and Greg Morris, a popular series from the late 60’s to the seventies. This blog post will not self-destruct in five seconds.
Even so, we will pretend we are going on a real adventure.
Imagine the quintessential writer: introverted, glasses, coffee in hand, sitting alone at a small desk, while poking their fingers on a keyboard.
We all have preconceived notions as to what being a writer looks like, but whatever your idea of a writer, I can bet that one trait is uniform across the board. You probably imagine your writer alone, the Stephen King type, secluded, perhaps in a cabin in the middle of nowhere.
Interestingly enough, being a writer alone is nearly impossible, and after being part of a writers group for almost a year, I’ve learned I could never do it alone.
