Writing Prompt: Prose
As part of a writing exercise series, this post shares one of the writing exercises I carried out and that you can practice too.
Hey everyone,
I am testing out some writing exercises to prompt writing. Some I picked up along the way when I volunteered at literary events and others I have created myself that have been inspired by my former teaching profession. I will be doing them too and sharing my process with you. I hope it stimulates your own writing!
-Emma
Rules:
Setting- 2 mins, Character- 3 mins, Conflict- 4 mins
This exercise I colloquially called 'Timed', because I forced myself to write under strict timed conditions. I was tempted to carry on but for the sake of the exercise but I didn't.
Do not change anything whilst writing, just continue even if you aren't happy with sentence
I have typed it out as I am well aware that my handwriting is near illegible, but I want to be transparent with you and share the process in real time as well.
Setting (2 mins):
The market was bustling with bodies. All swarming in and out of each other. Sirens blaring from people's mouths, shouting their deals. Mountains and hills of produce clambered on top of one another, each glistening like the perfect object in an oil painting. The tinned roof poured in
Character (3 mins):
Rona and Carl peeped behind their produce as they did everyday. They had worked opposite each other for the past seven years. Rona, small in size had to stand on two fruit boxes to be seen, her red fringe meeting you first and her broad smile to follow. Carl, a thick broad man with a neck that seemed to travel in a straight line from his head, poked fun at his small neighbour as they chatted
Conflict (4 mins):
On leaving work, Carl asked Rona to close up for him. Rona without fuss said she would help her fellow market seller out. All was well and on the evening of packing up, Rona did both stalls with relative ease, though as a woman of her size, it took her some time. Carl marched in the next morning and saw what he only saw in his nightmares- spoiled produce and missing produce. Flaming with anger he roared for Rona. Rona came from Albert's meat stall, her dinner in hands and as she edged closer, froze in her small footsteps.
'Bloody hell Carl, what happened?'
'Seeing as you shut up last night, you tell me!'
They stood
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Reflections:
Felt it was difficult to start as I had a lot of different settings appear in my mind and didn't know which direction to go with
Planning time would have been useful for this
Pressure of time was helpful, I like what I wrote and will keep it but as I was working against time there are of course (many!) things I would edit
Thank you for reading. I am Emma and I publish writing tips and prompts on my website. I am an IELTS tutor and tutor for conversational English.