Writober Early Birds

Here we are. It’s already Writober Eve. This year I have lots of useful writing tools, and fun prompts to keep us inspired to write every day. You can take what inspires and leave the rest. You can come back to any post when you have more time. Or you can write whatever moves you and link to it in the chat. The challenge is to write every day in October. My job is to inspire, motivate, and encourage. Please let me know what is working and what isn’t. I am more than willing to adapt and look forward to lively discussion. Make sure to enjoy each others’ efforts by reading, “liking,” and commenting on each others’ work.

OctPoWriMo

For this first introductory prompt, lets take a look at John Keats’s “When I have fears that I may cease to be,” written in 1818 and published posthumously in 1848.

When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain,
Before high-pilèd books, in charactery,
Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain;
When I behold, upon the night’s starred face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And think that I may never live to trace
Their shadows with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour,
That I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the faery power
Of unreflecting love—then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.

This poem talks about a poet’s fears in the moments before death, but it could also speak to the other universal fears: moments before separation, ego death, loss of autonomy, or mutilation.

Prompt: Write a poem as someone in this state of urgency moments before nothingness. What would be your biggest fears? What would you be thinking about and need to express?

Form: This poem is a Shakespearean sonnet- iambic pentameter (second syllable stressed, ten syllables per line) that follows the rhyme scheme ababcdcdefefgg. If you are looking for more of a challenge, write your poem as a sonnet. There are many forms of sonnets, and many modern poets have changed the form to make it their own. I recently wrote about a sonnet in a different meter. Feel free to play with the form loosely.

Writober Flash Fiction

Imagine if you or your character woke up and found this in the yard. Or you were taking a walk and just happened upon it, and no one else was around. Write a story with a beginning, middle, and end, with conflict that leads to change, in less than a thousand words (no minimal word count) about universal fears, inspired by this image.

Halloween Photography Challenge

Here’s the calendar for October for those who like to start thinking ahead:

For today’s early-bird image, take a picture that represents Universal Fear.

Most importantly, have fun

Tell your friends

And come back tomorrow!