Word Prompts Lead To Real Stories

One of the best writing exercises is the very simple word prompt.'  My critique group does one on a weekly basis, and we get the most interesting kaleidoscope of responses to a single word. The idea is to look at the word and then freewrite for ten minutes, stopping in mid-sentence at the end of that time if necessary.

It's my turn for all of May to provide the words that the other members will use in the exercise. Since we'd been to a wedding on Saturday, that's the word I selected for this week. And, oh what delicious responses there have been. Most wrote about their own weddings and their feelings toward the type of wedding they wanted, one wrote a piece of fiction about a wedding that was most amusing.

As for me, I wrote about my now-husband, then-fiance, saying he would not be there if more than 20 people attended. Believe me, it's a story worthy of a Chicken Soup book. There is a call for stories about weddings for a new Chicken Soup book now. The deadline for the Brides and Weddings book is June 30th, so you've got plenty of time to write your story to submit.

Start by doing the ten minute freewrite on the word wedding and see what you come up with. Then take the best part and write a story to submit. Remember that they want a real story, not an essay of your thoughts about weddings. Review the guidelines on the website www.chickensoup.com