Miscellaneous Notes and Quotes--Writing Prompts?

Lake Superior Sunrise. Photo courtesy John Heino

I've been on another cleaning jag in my home office. In the process I found envelopes filled with scraps of paper containing notes, quotes and observations.

As any long term reader will attest, I especially enjoy collecting and sharing quotes. In a couple places I have card catalogs full of quotes from 40 years ago or so, and on my bookshelf a notebook that I purchased in Mexico in which I collected quotes from my readings.

This week I wrote a brief defense of this habit of collecting and using quotes which was published here at A Philosopher's Stone. It begins, unsurprisingly, with a quote... from Montaigne.

All this is lead in to these scribblings and scratches which I found in those envelopes in a shoebox. This is hardly all, but it's a start. In fact, much was pretty worthless and here's why. The scrap of paper had an idea but the idea wasn't sufficiently fleshed out so that I can't recall--40 years later--what prompted it. TIP: If you are a writer and you have an idea that strikes you in a profound way, don't write, "Story Idea: The Rings of Saturn." This is not a story idea. It was a note that may have been triggered by a story idea, but it's going to be useless 30 years later unless you include more details.

I know that some of these were probably written down from dialogue in a film, so it would be hard to take credit for all of them as my own. Nevertheless, they can still be used as writing prompts. Or as a starting point for a discussion. Or...

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Is efficiency always better?

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"A man needs the truth at least once before he dies."

"He didn't need the truth. He needed comfort."

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"You speak so eloquently, yet you say such appalling things."

"That's been the story of my life. Everybody appreciates the form but is frightened of the content."

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The history of the world is a history of people doing improbable, even impossible, things.

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Mapped Life Series. Kentucky. By the Author

The Temple of Doubt
Skepticism and two kinds of questioning: to mock or to know.

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A man who needs nothing can afford to risk everything.

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"A wavering mind cannot produce a stable life."

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"Indecision binds even a strong man."

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"No one can lower his standards without reducing himself as well."

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"It is better to be drawn by a vision than to be driven by ambition."

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Diary of a Water Bug

Today two boy humans spent half an hour bombarding me with missiles.

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What are some ways people signal their need for help?

How can we become better at recognizing these signals and what can we do about it?

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For what it's worth, there so many great websites that collect quotes. One of the more comprehensive now is Wikiquotes. (It even has quotes from every season of Seinfeld.)  I like it because it identifies the sources and doesn't select what some person or committee has decided for you to be the 23 Best Quotes by >INSERT FAMOUS NAME HERE<

I've been listening to an audiobook of 50 Philosophy Classics and if one wanted, they could go to Wikiquotes and bone up on the ideas of each person you've just read about.

For what it's worth, I will close off here... with a two more quotes, observations by Nobel Laureate Andre Gide

"It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not."
--Gide

"The artist who is after success lets himself be influenced by the public. Generally such an artist contributes nothing new, for the public acclaims only what it already knows, what it recognizes."
--Gide

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Related Links
Writing Prompts at Reddit
365 Creative Writing Prompts

"Live, Die, Repeat" and Other Writing Prompts

Earlier this week I watched the 2014 film Live Die Repeat with Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. I was surprised that I'd never seen a word about this flick until I went to IMDB.com and saw that it was originally called Edge of Tomorrow and has been repackaged with a new name for broader distribution.

After watching this film, I couldn't help but imagine how the screenwriters came up with this story. They grew up playing those video games where you keep dying over and over again until you learn the route to victory. It's a nasty variation of Groundhog Day in which Hollywood excels at what it does best: SFX. In the first ten minutes we see the setup. Cruise as an officer whose specialty is PR, his cocky persona front and center until he's thrust into a new existential reality: the front lines of a suicide mission against the alien invasion of Europe. It's a wickedly wild thrill-ride.

But what if it were left as a title alone, like an empty container that you were asked to fill?  Like a writing prompt: Live. Die. Repeat. What would be the tale you told if you had to come up with something along those lines?

This weekend I've been working on final revisions for my upcoming book of writing exercises to help home schooling parents teach writing. Writing prompts are a central feature of the book. My aim is to make writing fun.  If your student or child enjoys writing, she will do more of it than if she hates writing. The more they write, the more sentences and words you’ll have to edit. You’ll also gain insights into the ways your kids think. You’ll receive glimpses of who your students and children really are.

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Writing prompts aren't just for kids. They can be a great source of entertainment for fledgling writers and writers who desire to hone their craft. When I was young and first becoming serious about a writing career I used to practice "writing on command" in which I would sit down with a sheet of paper rolled into my typewriter and a daily assignment to stay put until I filled that page with words. My writing prompts came from within, but it would have been fun to use some of the prompts that have been created and compiled online.

While going over a section of my manuscript I decided to check out the sub-Reddit site called Writing Prompts. Reading through these pages of prompts can be entertaining, even if they don't ignite your fire to write. Some are silly, and many show how much our media drives our thinking. Superheroes abound. Plenty of religion and philosophy, too. There's a lot of imagination cataloged here.

Here are just a few, from the hundreds I looked at, that I found especially share-worthy.

[WP] Depressed? Suicidal? Life got you down? Then why not stop by Uncle Jim's Super Fun Happiness Center, today!? Your first visit is absolutely free!

[WP] You relive the same day over and over, until you do what you had to yesterday
(EdNote: Sounds like Groundhog Day or Live. Die. Repeat., doesn't it?)

[WP] You're a modern Superhero, but no-one believes you, as your powers don't work when observed.

[WP] You are an alcoholic that has ruined his life by killing the love of his life while intoxicated.

[WP] "You've reached Trogdor, devourer of galaxies, darkness incarnate and kicker of puppies. How may I direct your call?"  

[WP] The elves present their newest invention to Mr. Claus, their AI called S.A.N.T.A

[WP] A pirate is sailing the seas looking for a legendary treasure, but never finds it, while his crew has lavish parties every night. You're the crew's accountant, and you're starting to get annoyed.

[WP] Take a random object or event and write a conspiracy theory about it, complete with evidence that supports your "theory"

[WP] As you leap from the skyscraper, arms wide, you realize you can't actually fly. But you also learn something else.

[WP] You have lived in this house for 15 years and have never seen that staircase before. Where does it go?

[WP] You're a Slinky and everyone loves you. A drunk wizard decides to turn you into a living human and now you have to come to terms with people being completely indifferent with your existence.

Meantime, have a great weekend.