Weekend Writing #46: This Is The End

TGIF, writers/readers! Your editors are hard at work putting together the fall issue of The Green Light, but in the meantime, we wanted to give you all something to get the creative juices flowing! This is the last real weekend of summer here in WI, so we want to do one more summer-themed prompt.

First, we want you to make a list. Just go with us here. We want you to list the first 10 words that come to your mind when you think of “winter.” Don’t think about this too much. Just get a pen & paper (or open up a word doc) and jot down the first 10 words that come to your mind. No requirements or restrictions here.

Once you’ve got your 10 winter words, we want you to create your piece. Set in summer. That’s the only setting requirement. The other requirement? You must use all 10 winter words you came up with. Be creative. Try something as a verb that isn’t usually, etc. Stretch your imagination, here!

We would love to see what you came up with for this one! Tweet at us using #weekendwriting, tag/mention us on Facebook, or submit your piece to our next issue!

Happy Listing!

Weekend Writing #42: From the Stage

The weekend is here! It’s back again! This weekend, we want you to create a persona piece. From the perspective of… drum roll, please!

A musician! You can pick any genre of music, any location, any setting, time period, etc. Pick a famous rock star or a hometown hero. The only thing we ask is that at some point, your piece take place during the character’s show. That and, you cannot use the following words:

music
audience
guitar
sing
beat

We can’t wait to see what you come up with for this one! Tweet at us using #weekendwriting, tag/mention us on Facebook, or submit your piece for our upcoming fall issue! Head over to our submissions page for deadline details and don’t forget about our “Refer a Friend” giveaway contest happening now until 8/23/19!

Happy Writing!

Weekend Writing #41: In a Tree

Happy Friday, readers! This weekend, we want you to write about a tree.

First, we want you to set a timer for 15 seconds and quickly make a list of every tree name you can think of. After the timer has gone off, pick one of the trees on your list and do some research. Spend about 30-45 minutes finding out everything you can about the tree you chose. Mythology, etymology, habitat, wood uses, etc etc.

Once you have compiled your research, we want you to create a piece from the perspective of that tree. You can pick any setting, within the constrictions of your tree, and go wild! Be as realistic or fantastical as you like. Try to include as many facts from your research as you can.

As always, we would love to hear what you came up with for this one! Tweet at us using #weekendwriting, tag/mention us on Facebook, or submit your piece for our fall issue!

Happy Researching!

Weekend Writing #39: The K-Mart Episode

Greetings, readers! So, question? How many of you have seen the iconic teen drama Dawson’s Creek? Any Team Dawson fans out there? How about Team Pacey? We here at The Green Light are diehard Team Pacey fans and, if you’ve seen the show, you will know of course the infamous K-Mart episode to which our title refers.

If not, that’s okay. Basically, this weekend, we want you to create a piece that takes place at a K-Mart. That’s literally the only rule! It can be an old, abandoned building that used to be a K-Mart, a K-Mart in its Blue Light Special hayday, open or closed, etc etc etc. We would especially like to see what you photographers can do with this one.

As always, tag/mention us on Facebook, tweet at us using #weekendwriting, or submit your piece for our fall issue (details soon)! We are so excited to hear from you. (If you can’t come up with anything for this prompt, we are also willing to discuss Dawson’s Creek with you.)

Happy Shopping!

Weekend Writing #38: It’s the 4th!

Happy (late) 4th of July, American readers! This week, we celebrated Independence Day here in the good old USA, so we’re using that for our prompt this week(end).

We want you to create a piece that takes place on the 4th of July in America, but you cannot use the following words:

America
Holiday
Flag
Fireworks
Water

Feel free to play around with the setting. You are limited to a general place and specific date, but roam around the country and play around with the time! Heck, set your piece on July 4, 1600! Nobody said you have to talk about the holiday! Or, imagine if/how we will celebrate on July 4, 2200!

We’re excited to see what you come up with for this one. Tag/mention us on Facebook, submit your piece for our fall issue (details soon!), and/or tweet at us using #weekendwriting!

Happy Fourthing!

Weekend Writing #35: Gearing up for National Poetry Month 2/2

Greetings, Writers / Readers! One last #weekendwriting comin’ at ya before we close up shop for April to showcase our special issue each day! This will be another poetry prompt, but feel free to explore other genres too!

This weekend, we want you to write a persona poem from the perspective of… your parents! You can choose one or both of your parents at any point in their lives (or from the afterlife!). Write this poem in the voice of whoever you choose. It can be about a specific incident, day, year, event, or not! Really get into the persona of your chosen person. You might be surprised by what you end up with!

We want to hear from you about this one! Tweet at us using #weekendwriting, tag/mention us on Facebook, submit your piece for our next issue, or just shoot us an email letting us know what you thought!

Happy Writing!

Weekend Writing #30: First Date

TGIF readers and writers! We’re less than a month out from our special Valentine’s Day issue, and we’re so excited about the submissions we’re getting, we want to keep the momentum going with another loooOoOoOoOOOooOOoOove prompt!

This weekend, we want you to write (or photograph!) about a first date. This can be a nonfiction piece about your own life, a poem, anything you want. You can pick two people you know in real life and put them on a first date, two celebrities, imagine your parents’ first date! You can be as ordinary or as extraordinary as you wish. Make sure you focus on the details–what do the characters smell, see, taste, hear? Where are they? What time of year is it? What time of day? You get it.

As always, we can’t wait to hear (or see!) what you come up with for this one. Tag/mention us on Facebook, tweet at us using #weekendwriting, or if you’re feeling extra romantic, submit your piece for our special issue!

Happy dating!

Weekend Writing #26: NaNoWriMo pt. 3

And just like that, we’re halfway through November! We can almost smell Thanksgiving dinner from here! This weekend we want you to focus on plot by creating a short piece with a complete beginning, middle, and end. We want somethingto happen to your character. That’s about as specific as we’re going to get.

The catch? The character is you. We want you to write a short piece about a character based very closely on yourself but living ten years in the future. Try to be as realistic as possible with this piece. Draw on your exercise from last week about setting and place your character in what you imagine ten years from now will actually look like. In addition, think about where you imagine yourself to be in ten years. Put yourself there. Make something happen.

Ideally, your character should go through some kind of change from the beginning of your piece to the end, but as long as somethinghappens to your character, something that is not exactly ordinary, whatever that means ten years from now, we’ll count that as a win. We want you to exercise your creative muscle while also trying to stick as close to reality as you can.

Let us know what you came up with for this prompt by submitting your piece to our next issue, tweeting @greenlightlit and/or tagging/mentioning us on Facebook!

Happy Aging!

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