Allyson Whipple

Category: Prompts

  • Let’s have a poetry contest!

    When I looked at my phone this morning, I saw the above notification from The Economist on my screen and thought, that could be an interesting prompt. But I wasn’t just interested in writing a poem based on the headline; I wanted to see what other people would write as well. So I’m throwing a quick weekend poetry contest!

    All you need to do is write a poem using “the irresistible rise of K-pop, the NBA finals and how ants avoid drowning” in the title and/or the stanzas themselves. Email me your piece by Monday, October 12th at 11:59 pm CST. Send your poem to allyson@lunanidra.com with a relevant subject line.

    Since all contests deserve prizes, I’ll send the winner a $25 gift certificate to the independent bookstore of their choice.

    I’m excited to see how this goes. I might make it a monthly thing!

  • Writing Prompt: Summer Lovin’

    Note: Apologies for late and/or absent mailings of these prompts. With the summer weather, I’m more inclined to spend my time out and about than at my computer.

    In light of the fact that I’ve been away so much enjoying the weather, I thought a summer prompt would be in order.

    Not everyone loves summer the way I do. Some people in Texas outright hate it. For today’s prompt, make a list of all the things you hate about summer. Circle the thing you hate the most. Then write an ode to what you despise about the season.

  • Weekly Writing Prompt: Tiny Poems About Big Things

    Note: Apologies for late and/or absent postings of these prompts. With the summer weather, I’m more inclined to spend my time out and about than at my computer. 

    Think of something big. It can be physical, like the state of Alaska or Texas. It can be an event, like World War II. Anything you could consider large-scale. Now, write a poem on the subject, limiting yourself to 15 lines.

  • Weekly Writing Prompt: Listen

    Go to a restaurant or coffee shop that’s has a decent crowd in it. Ideally, it will be busy enough that there will be multiple conversations going on around you at once. Sit down, open your notebook or laptop, and listen. (And don’t forget to order something to support the establishment!) See what snippets of conversation you can pick out. Write things down. You don’t have to follow just one conversation. In fact, it’s better if you don’t. Pick out sentences, phrases, and words. Write them down as they happen. Let everything be fragmented and disjointed. I recommend listening for at least 30 minutes.

    Once you’ve gotten a solid amount of material, you can go one of two ways. First, you can find a phrase or sentence that really resonates with you, and build a story or poem using that as your inspiration. Alternately, you can take your hodgepodge of sentences and create a poem using only what you’ve transcribed.

  • Weekly Writing Prompt: A City that Mistakes Itself for Another

    Write a persona poem from the perspective of a city that has mistaken itself for another. How has it changed its weather, its climate, its flora and fauna. What are the buildings like? Do we know why the city is experiencing this confusion? Can it be resolved?

    (Inspired by Saundra Goldman, who posted earlier this week that Austin had apparently mistaken itself for Seattle.)

  • Weekly Writing Prompt: Happy Dog Edition

    Keeping it simple this week. A line and a photo:

    A happy dog transcends language.

    Happy Simon!
    Happy Simon!

  • Weekly Writing Prompt: (No) Makeup Edition

    Image via theeverygirl.com

    As a product loaded with gendered norms, makeup can cause a lot of unnecessary grief. Women who don’t wear it get criticized. Women who wear too much get criticized. The internet is full of tutorials for how to wear makeup without looking like wearing any. Some women reject makeup, and others feel like they need it.

    And if you’re a man who wants to wear makeup, you might encounter your own set of criticisms. Rock stars can get away with it. But an average guy can’t necessarily just wear some eyeliner and blush because he likes it without facing criticism (and that’s putting it mildly).

    Think about our cultural standards surrounding makeup, and then consider your own associations with it. Do you like it? Hate it? See it as wasteful and unnecessary? Want to try it but don’t want to face people’s judgement? Do you yourself judge people for their makeup habits?

    Use this reflection as the jumping-off point for a piece of writing. It can be personal, political, or both.

  • Weekly Writing Prompt: How to Fail

    Pinterest Fail is a site where you can see photos of Pinterest tutorials gone horribly awry. Browse through the site to see all the ways in which the projects can go horribly wrong. Then find a Pinterest tutorial that looks fairly complex. Write an alternate version of the tutorial describing how to fail at whatever it is the tutorial is telling you to do.

  • Weekly Writing Prompt: Unfamiliar

    Spend an entire day (or if you’re brave, an entire week) writing in a style or genre outside of your usual. Try romance if you write literary fiction. Try writing only sonnets if you’re normally a free-verse poet. See what develops when you’re in unfamiliar territory.

  • Weekly Writing Prompt: Random Number Poem

    Get a random number generator. Random.org is a good one, and they also have a great app for your mobile device.

    First, decide what you want your first pass with the generator to determine:

    1. The number of total syllables in your poem OR…
    2. The number of total lines in your poem

    If you went with option 1, set your range between 5 and 500. If you went with option 2, set your range between 1 and 50. (You can go higher if you like writing long poems.) Generate a number. You now have the required total required number of syllables or lines for your poem, depending which option you chose.

    Continue using the random number generator as you write. If you went with option 1, use the random number generator for each new line. Use it to determine the number of syllables for the new line, adding lines until you reach the number of total syllables.

    If you went with option 2, use the generator to determine the number of words per line, writing until you reach the maximum number of require lines.