Meeting May 26. 2019

Members made us aware of two websites where one can receive free writing courses: www.futurelearn.com and www.coursera.org.

Diane will be reading at the Orangeville Public Library's W.O.W. Storytelling series on Monday, June 17th at 1:00pm.

Writing Prompts

Island Adventures

1.      A medieval monk is making his way to an uncharted island that is rumored to harbour small people. The sailors who tell the story of the Island of the Fair Folk give warning that the ships that approach the island past the sentinel stones will be swallowed up in a fog and never return. The monk has convinced his superiors that he should go to minister to these small people and that it’s likely they are only short of stature and not fair folk at all. What he finds is beyond anything he ever imagined.

2.      A young couple is setting out to live their dream of sailing around the world, when a fierce storm strikes and beaches them on a small deserted island. While waiting for a rescue, they experience an unusual earthquake that makes everything appear as if it’s made of rubber. They find themselves cast into a different time when a merchant ship comes to rescue them.  

3.      A single professional woman is invited to a party by one of the company’s clients. The multi-billionaire owns an island off the coast of Cuba and is having the party to celebrate his recent victory of a hostile takeover of one of his rival’s companies. While attending the party, she discovers that the takeover was more hostile than she thought and that the client counted victory too soon.

4.      A band of pirates fleeing a fleet of the King’s ships come upon a small island hidden in the bay of a remote land. Thinking to wait out the ships until they pass, the pirates conceal their ship behind the island and make camp among the unusual trees, where there are a number of exotic looking fruits. Low on supplies and unable to go out to fish, the pirates chance eating the fruits and find themselves transformed.

5.      A group of novice ghost hunters seeking to establish themselves as serious professionals charter a boat to a small island in the Mediterranean Sea that was used at various times as an asylum, a prison and a quarantine colony for the Bubonic Plague. Rumours from the locals say the island is haunted by malicious spirits and has been abandoned for over a hundred years. No one has attempted to approach the island since the priests deemed it a gateway to Hell and forbid anyone in the neighbouring area to set foot on it lest they be damned. Lured by the prospect of fame and fortune, the ghost hunters ignore the warnings and find more than just spirits inhabiting the island.

OR

Use some of the elements of the above island stories to create your own Island Adventure!

Medieval monk/Priests

Ship/boat

Storm

Party/Celebration

Pirates/Sailors

Rivals 

Cartels

Secret/Hidden                        

Fairies

Time travel

Merchants

Fame/Fortune

Magical Plants   

Gateway

Colony

Ghosts/Spirits

Next Meeting is Sunday, June 9th, 1:30pm

Orangeville Public Library

Patricia will be leading

Sunday, May 5th, 2019: Meeting

Writing Prompts

We had a lot to choose from but it was fun.

Do one of A, B, C, or D. Stretch your imagination. Mix and match.

A) Write a story inspired by a common saying. Here are some examples but feel free to use another:

1. The way to a man's heart is through his stomach.
2. A stitch in time saves nine.
3. Home is where the heart is.
4. It never rains but it pours.
5. Two heads are better than one.
6. There's no time like the present.
7. It's always darkest before the dawn.
8. Be careful what you wish for. You might get it.

B) Bottles can hold anything. Write about one of these:

1. A genie in a bottle.
2. A bottle full of mysterious liquid.
3. An antique bottle.
4. A bottle holding a surprise.
5. A note in a bottle.

C) Write a drabble. A drabble is a story that is exactly 100 words long. Short enough to challenge your editing skills, long enough to make a point.

D) Use one of the following prompts:

1. I bolted upright, fear clenching my heart in its fist, eyes searching the darkness for whatever had awakened her.
2. Finally, I was home. But nothing was as I remembered it.
3. He didn't look anything like I expected. Could the stories be true?
4. I stared at the cards and swallowed fear.
5. I was born in the wrong century. Too early, too late, I don't know. But I didn't fit here. I didn't fit now.
6. The rains were late that year. When they finally came, they were half-hearted, like a kid dragging his feet to school.


As always we encourage you to share your work here. For the first exercise a few people used more than one of the common phrases in one story.

Next Meeting Sunday, May 26th

Orangeville Public Library, 1:30pm

Sonja will be leading