Hello fellow writers and readers!
Some of you may not be aware that WordPress actually posts a daily writing prompt. The prompt is usually about personal writing, as WordPress is first and foremost a personal blogging arena. However, the prompts could be used in many various ways. For example, the prompt from yesterday was:
So, while this prompt may be intended to inspire you into writing about your secret love of Glee! or your hidden passion for pineapple shaped plastic canvas tissue box covers, it can also be used as a fiction exercise as part of a story or for character development.
As an example, I have written two short pieces below.
Example # 1: Personal Writing
Some people don’t know that I have a love and fascination of the paranormal. This fascination goes so far as to compel me to want to speak with and interview those who have the ‘gift’ and find out how it works. What do they feel when they are being ‘psychic’? Are they psychic all the time? Can they turn it off? and many more questions. I have actually interviewed several psychics over the phone and plan to meet with them in person to interview them further on the topic, eventually crafting a book out of the interviews on psychic abilities.
Example # 2: Fiction Writing – Part of a Story
“Tell me something that even those closest to you don’t know about, Kyra.”
Kyra looked at her psychiatrist and didn’t say a word. Blinking slowly, she processed the question.
“Kyra?” The woman peered at her over her half-glasses, her milky gray eyes blinking. “Did you hear the question, Kyra?”
Making a decision quickly, Kyra grinned a lop-sided grin.
“Yes, Dr. Martinson, I heard the question.” Commiting to her decision, Kyra leaned back on the white leather sofa and crossed her legs. Joining her hands on her slim knees, she bounced her leg so her anklet jingled gently. “The real question, Doctor, is whether you want the answer or not.”
“Kyra.” Dr. Joy Martinson laid her pad and pen aside and looked her patient in the eyes. “We don’t play games here. You know that. Answer the question please.”
Kyra watched her doctor’s face and smiled, her red lips curving gracefully.
“Alright, Doctor.” Her grin widened and her index finger tapped slowly on her leg. Kyra brushed her straight dark hair from her shoulder. “When I was five, my cat went missing.”
“Yes, you told me. Fluffy, right?”
“Yes. Fluffy was the first.”
“First?”
“Yes, when the fifth cat disappeared, my parents finally suspected where they were really going.”
Silence stretched in the room. Without breaking eye contact, Dr. Martinson picked up her pad and pen from the table and adjusted her glasses.
“What happened to all the cats, Kyra?”
Without skipping a beat, Kyra leaned forward.
“I skinned them, Dr.”
The good doctor blinked. “You skinned them?”
“Yes.” Kyra said calmly. “I skinned them.”
Dr. Martinson had heard this from young people before. Kyra was trying to shock her. The doctor knew how to solve this one.
“Ok, Kyra. Tell me about skinning the cats. What did you use to skin them? Did you kill them first or skin them alive?”
The doctor, satisfied with herself, sat back in her chair and waited for Kyra to back down from her challenge.
Kyra’s smile didn’t even come close to reaching her emerald green eyes. Dr. Martinson felt a chill run down her spine and shivered despite the warmth of the room.
“The first cat was already dead and I filleted it with my Father’s fishing knife. The second cat I smashed over the head with a rock before I skinned it with the same fishing knife. For the third cat, I had purchased my own fillet knife off the internet. I skinned it halfway while it was still alive and then it died. I finished skinning it after it died. The fourth cat, I disemboweled and gutted while it was still alive but I was disappointed that it died before I got to skin it. I skinned it anyway. By the time I got the fifth cat, I knew what I had to do. I sliced it open slowly, pushing my bare hands inside her belly. I loved the feeling of her warm insides all over my hand. I wiggled my fingers, finding her heart and massaged it to keep her alive. I skinned her slowly, keeping her open so I could massage her heart while I finished skinning her. When I was done, she was fully skinned and her guts were intact, but exposed to the air. It was a success.”
Kyra sat perfectly still, enjoying the terror that slowly filled her doctor’s eyes. She let a few seconds pass before she whispered, “Well, Dr? Am I making it up?”
The session timer chimed and without another word, Kyra took her purse and left the room.
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I hope you enjoyed my samples! Happy Writing!! 🙂
Eileen Maki 