June Meeting: Prompts

The writing task for this month is (for those who were at the meeting) to continue on with the story that you started in the meeting. For everyone else, do a 30-minute exercise based on one of the previous challenges.

Sometimes just finding time to sit down and write is a virtual impossibility. For this reason – and the fact that it seemed to be so successful last meeting, I have decided that part of the June meeting will be a writing challenge. As requested by some of you I am sending the prompts for the meeting in advance – to give you a bit of time to prepare (though I don’t want you to write it all bar the ending to bring in for the meeting – that would be cheating).

For 30-45 minutes (to be decided) the objective will be to write about one of the following (I thought that having a variety of options so that (hopefully) everyone is catered for:

Write a reverse-style story (or at least the start of one):

Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) in the style of Stephen King
Romeo & Juliet (Shakespeare) in the style of Irving Welsh
Lady Chatterley’s Lover (DH Lawrence) in the style of Enid Blyton
Alice in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll) in the style of Ian Fleming
About a Boy (Nick Hornby) in the style of Emily Bronte


First Lines (Select one of the following):

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age...
“Who's there?”
“Do you ever think that your life would be easier if...”
As the door opened with a squeak that spoke of years of neglect he/she/they stepped cautiously into the room and...

And use the following Random words:

Barbeque
Rover
Pluto
Filing
Chauvinist

Or

Clementine
Judo
Barricade
Blasphemy
Hedonism

Or

Anchor
Crown
Blade
Vampire
Vale


What happens next?

Write a “what might have happened instead” story based on:

“Pride & Prejudice” if Lizzy and Darcy had never met
“Jane Eyre” had Jane never returned to Thornfield Manor and Mr Rochester
“Romeo & Juliet” had they not died
For the more ‘contemporary writers’ “Twilight” had Edward succumbed and killed Bella

Next Meeting (subject to change)
Date: Wednesday 3rd June 2009
Time: 5.15 - 6.45
Location: Atrium cafe