Writing Challenge: Let’s Flex Our Bulwer-Lytton Muscles
23 Feb 2010 Leave a Comment
The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest is a hilarious way to get yourself writing fiction, albeit writing bad fiction.
The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest describes the contest by saying:
An international literary parody contest, the competition honors the memory (if not the reputation) of Victorian novelist Edward George Earl Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873). The goal of the contest is childishly simple: entrants are challenged to submit bad opening sentences to imaginary novels. Although best known for “The Last Days of Pompeii” (1834), which has been made into a movie three times, originating the expression “the pen is mightier than the sword,” and phrases like “the great unwashed” and “the almighty dollar,” Bulwer-Lytton opened his novel Paul Clifford (1830) with the immortal words that the “Peanuts” beagle Snoopy plagiarized for years, “It was a dark and stormy night.”
My favorite winner: Paul Revere had just discovered that someone in Boston was a spy for the British, and when he saw the young woman believed to be the spy’s girlfriend in an Italian restaurant he said to the waiter, “Hold the spumoni–I’m going to follow the chick an’ catch a Tory.” –John L. Ashman, Houston, Texas
Who knows, if you take this challenge, you might be the next winner!
Writing Challenge: Upcycled Christmas Card
13 Jan 2010 Leave a Comment
It might seem a little same-o, same-o to post another writing challenge in the same week, but I want to slide this challenge in before it’s too late. For today’s post, I’m going to ask you to think back to a long time ago: Christmas 2009. If you’re like me, chances are you got a few Christmas cards in the mail. If you’re as organized as me, you haven’t yet thrown them away, recycled them, or taken them down from the top of your TV. So, here are the steps to get your writing going:
- Grab a holiday card that has an image on the front that you find interesting. If the card Aunt Edna sent you of her cats dressed as Mr. and Mrs. Claus is the most interesting one you can find, go ahead and use it. I won’t tell.
- In the spirit of choose-your-own-adventure books, you can decide which of the following three ways you’ll approach this assignment:
- Write a flash fiction (700 words or less) story based on the image from the card.
- Writ a flash nonfiction story based on a holiday memory that you remember by looking at the image from the card.
- Write a sonnet based on the card’s image.
Whew! Three challenges in one! Do I have a repressed English teacher inside or what?
–Whitney
Writing Challenge: The Oft-Forgotten Sonnet
10 Jan 2010 3 Comments
in poetry, sonnet, Writing Challenge
Just using the word “oft” makes me feel Shakespearean, which is a splendid mood for this post.
Whitney’s writing challenge from last week came at the perfect time for me. I am in the middle of some major changes in my life. I quit my office job about 6 months ago so that I would have more time to spend with my kids and more time to write. The kid part is definitely happening, but I’ve found that I have to be purposeful about the writing. It’s not quite as “immediately necessary” as a poopy diaper or lunch.
But, I’ve found that I’m a better mom, a better friend, a better wife, a better woman in general when I allow myself to live in the purpose that God has gifted me.
Although writing can be lucrative–I’ve made a decent living from it since I was 15–I’m trying to explore the open, creative, fun side of writing. When I was kid, I wrote poem after poem after poem, enjoying the fun rhymes and rhythmic syllables. So, this week, I’m writing sonnets. Won’t you join me?
A little background:
In Elizabethan English, sonnet meant “little song” and basically was any short, lyric poem. But, the mighty Italians soon took over the sonnet and gave it much more standard form. They defined the number of lines and stanzas it should have, the rhyming scheme and so forth. A wave of sonnet types followed. You can Google Italian sonnet, Spenserian sonnet, English sonnet, and so forth if you’d like details on each. You can also get a copy of Patterns of Poetry by Miller Williams, which I highly recommend for anyone wanting an excuse to luxuriously waste away a day with descriptions of poetic forms from the very traditional sonnet to the more quirky haiku. The book is a gorgeous work of descriptive detail that I find myself often entangled with. Like right now.
The big deal with sonnets, though, is the rhyming scheme. They often have a pattern where the last word of each line rhymes as follows:
A
B
A
B
C
D
C
D…
The rules for our sonnets:
This week, try to write one sonnet each day. It doesn’t need to be anything too serious or too “right.” The main rule is that it has to be fun. Let’s go for whatever rhyming scheme floats your boat, but to make things a little interesting, let’s keep with the standard 14 lines of the original sonnet. The length of those lines is up to you, but each line must have the same number of syllables. As an example, here’s a sonnet I wrote my husband many years ago:
we
spend
the
end,
but
you
cut
through
such
dreams.
touch
me.
sleep
deep.
Totally romantic, right? I get weak in the knees just reading it, don’t you?? (wink, wink).
Seriously, take a look at the structure. 14 lines. 1 syllable per line. Notice the rhyme scheme? ABABCDCDEFEFGG. It’s a sonnet!
Here’s a quick recap of the rules:
- Write 14 lines.
- Each line must have the same number of syllables.
- Use whatever rhyming scheme you want.
- Write one sonnet a day.
Now, go get to work on your own! If you write one and want to share, feel free to post it in the comments or link to your site where you have your own.
Writing Challenge: You’ve Got Mail
03 Jan 2010 1 Comment
in Letter Writing, Writing Challenge
Amanda and I started Wild Geese Labs for one main reason: to give ourselves a dedicated place to write. Our writing challenge series is designed to help us write more often, and we hope you will join in the fun. if you take the challenge, we’d love to see your feedback in the comments section!
Here’s today’s challenge.
I often find myself setting goals and making resolutions this time of year. As 2009 drew to a close, I realized I didn’t even remember what resolutions I’d made back on January 1, 2009. While I had accomplished some of my goals, I’m sure I set some I never even started, let alone finished. A few months ago, a cooking blog I read, Joy The Baker, did an awesome post about a letter she wrote to herself in the future. I loved Joy’s post, and I loved her idea. So here’s the deal:
- Write a letter or postcard to yourself. This is a note from you, to you, for your eyes only. In it, consider detailing the goals you’d like to accomplish this year and why, or give your future self some advice and encouragement. Don’t let your inner editor sabotage your work–write it once and don’t worry about proofreading. This challenge is about content.
- Put your letter or postcard in an envelope marked July 3, 2010, and place your letter somewhere safe and private.
- On July 3, 2010, I’ll post about this again. At that time, we’ll have a mail call and open our letters. No peeking before then!
Tip: If you’d like to take this challenge, but find yourself staring at pretty blank stationary, think back to last July–what’s the one thing you wished your future self had told you then?
