The 2021 Writing Series is a series of daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep their creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.
This is not a standard writing session. This is pure production—to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink it, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.
For today's writing exercise you will write a few micro-poems or micro-fictions. These will be either poems under 20 lines or stories under 200 words.
For inspiration go read some micro or hint fiction in this Buzzfeed article, at Microfiction Monday, Alba, Molecule, 50 Word Stories and Nanoism. Or also this Barnstorm blog post "How Microfiction Could Transform Social Media".
Read the full prompt twice before you start writing, because you're looking to keep it minimal, so have ideas. If your first draft is longer don't fret. Hone it down. And the piece will be what it is. I've started out with a goal of 100 words but hit on something and had to cull the end result from 1350 to 1200 for a contest because I loved the result. So each story will be its own beast, but we're ideally aiming for 20 lines or 100-200 words with these.
Micro Exercise 1: 100 Year Storm. Tell the story of a neighborhood or village that is struck by an insanely strong storm, like what news programs every few years call a "100 Year Storm" but actually that rare (or rarer). If you want extra guidance, include a person who must go out in the storm to retrieve something very vital.
Micro Exercise 2: Sun Shower. Write a short piece in which an early afternoon, despite being sunny and practically cloudless, is interupted by a quick 'sun shower' or light rain while the sun is still shining. A pleasant activity should be happening when the rain starts, and at least one person should get irrationally mad or upset by the rain (which they see as 'ruining' something).
Micro Exercise 3: 'Talkin about the weather' 1. Write a micro piece which is mostly dialogue which revolves around 'the weather' but which a friend or family member's recent death is very lightly addressed/subtly talked about.
Micro Exercise 4: 'Talkin about the weather' 2. Take 4 minutes and watch this short video about different 'weird weather events'. Be inspired by that, and write a short conversation in which one of those events is being described to someone who just isn't getting it. Be sure to include some humor, and some interesting actions or descriptions.
Micro Exercise 5: Rain in the Night. Write a piece in which two character's rainy evenings are compared very briefly, one who is working out in the rain, and the other who mostly sleeps through the night rain. Be sure to give us some quirky or interesting details.
If you'd like some background music to write to, try this "Autumn Mix '20" lofi mix.
