Writing Prompts from November 3, 2019

Writing Prompts

1. Things I should have said, things I could have said, and things I would have said. We all have these stories in us - the stories of what was left unsaid. Write about one of them (and the regrets or impact it had on you).

2. By the time the officer arrived, Jacob had done his dirty work.

3. I thought I had a perfect (marriage, career, etc.) and then, Fate, as Fate so often does, threw a wrench into the works.

4. If I could just make it home before David opened the letter, our lives could continue as they were.

5. Finnigan, my father's long-dead gray cat, always appeared in the house just before someone in the family died. Who had it come for this time?

6. That night, she put the beautiful porcelain doll, the one she'd bought at the antique fair, in a chest of drawers in her sitting room, and went to bed. Some time in the night she got up when she heard a sound like a child crying, and found the doll lying on the floor outside her bedroom door.

7. She stared into the crumpled car at her own mangled body, when a woman in a pale blue suit appeared and said, "You must come with me now." She protested vigorously so the woman said, "We will let you live this day over again but you must discover the one moment in it that could have changed this outcome, not just for you but for many others as well."

8. Hannah dropped the hitchhiker off in front of the house where she said she lived. It was a cold rainy night, so Hannah watched her as she ran up the driveway toward the front door, to make sure the girl was home and safe. But the girl never made it to the door - she vanished into thin air.

9. The turbulence was the worst she'd ever experienced on a flight and she was glad when they touched down safely; but when she entered the airport from her gate, everything looked, not radically different, but subtly and disturbingly different. This couldn't be Toronto. A passing flight attendant assured her that it was.

10. If you could go back in your life and relive one day in your past, what day would that be?

Next Meeting

Sunday, November 17th

1:30pm

Headwaters Writers' Guild 2020 Meeting Schedule

Below is the schedule of meetings for 2020. Leaders are not listed here. That copy was emailed to group members.

2020 Meeting Schedule

All Meetings at the Orangeville Public Library, Start time 1:30pm

Sunday, January 5^th –

Sunday, January 19^th –

Sunday, February 9^th –

Sunday, February 23^rd –

Sunday, March 8^th –

Sunday, March 22^nd –

Sunday, April 5^th –

Sunday, April 19^th –

Sunday, May 3^rd –

Sunday, May 24^th –

Sunday, June 14^th –

Sunday, June 28^th –

Sunday, July 19^th –

Sunday, August 16^th –

Sunday, September 13^th –

Sunday, September 27^th –

Sunday, October 4^th –

Sunday, October 25^th –

Sunday, November 8^th –

Sunday, November 22^nd –

Sunday, November 29^th – Christmas Social

My First Writing Conference by Diane Bator

This feels a bit like an essay I did once in school.  What I Did This Summer by Diane Bator. Remember those? Only this one is about something I did for the first time as a published writer. I attended a writer's conference. Yes, it's taken me eight novels to finally get to one!

I've read posts by friends who travel to conferences all over the place but was lucky that the Writers' Community of York Region sponsored one in Newmarket, Ontario this past weekend. This was the first event the WCYR had ever hosted and it was well attended by over 100 writers from all over Southern Ontario including Patricia and I.

We started the day in the atrium of the Newmarket Town Hall with coffee and muffins and received a great new folder to take notes in. After a few brief words from on of the coordinators, we broke into groups for our chosen morning sessions.

Our first session was with romance novelist Zoe York, author of more than 50 romance novels. She discussed Marketing for Genre Fiction. A lot of writers in the room were either looking to publish a novel or had published 1 or 2 novels. The one thing I found most interesting were the questions she gave us to think about no matter where we were at in our journeys.

1. What genre do you want to be writing and what type of books do you want to write? ie. genre, heat level, setting, tone, etc.
2. What are the next 5 books you want to write?
3. Can you group thematically or do they exist in the same world? Explain that world in a common theme in a sentence or two. ie. small town romance with sexy cowboy.
4. On a blank piece of paper, list all of your work to date, published or unpublished, finished or in draft/dream stage.

One of the other things they offered throughout the day were 20 minute Blue Pencil Meetings. The opportunity to sit with a fellow writer or editor (including our own Marilyn Kleiber) and ask them questions as well as getting feedback on their novel. I passed on the chance for this conference, but Patricia was very happy with the feedback she received.

Lunch was simple, soup and sandwiches along with some yummy chocolate chip cookies for dessert. While we ate, we were also able to purchase raffle tickets and enter them to win several beautiful baskets donated by sponsors, including the writing group I belong to. Draws were made at the end of the day. I didn't win any, but Patricia did!

After lunch we were treated to a keynote speech from Terry Fallis, author of The Best Laid Plans and two-time winner of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. He is a huge fan of being a Plotter when he writes his books. In fact, he plans them in great detail before he writes something I don't think I could ever do! I'm part plotter, part pantser. One thing he said that surprised many people in attendance was that he still works full time. After writing seven novels and receiving many awards, he still must hold a 9-to-5 job.

I was a bit concerned about the afternoon session. The handouts we'd received the week before suggested a very academic-style of session. Luckily, Kate Freiman, author of romantic fiction, was entertaining and the whole afternoon was more interesting than I expected. She discussed blending genres and story structure. Hard to believe I was the only self-professed mystery writer in the room.

Back in the main banquet room afterward, winning tickets were drawn for the gift baskets then my friend and I left. On the way out the door, we received a swag bag with some bookmarks and the like as well as three books. These were mine!

1. Lac Athabasca (a play) by Len Falkenstein
2. Doc Christmas by Neil Enock
3. Mad Men and Philosphy, which is an anthology.

Yay! More new-to-me authors!

I have one year until the next (fingers crossed!) York Writers Conference. I may do some searching and find a couple more I can fit into my schedule. 

In the meantime, I won't quit my day job, but I won't stop dreaming and writing either!

Looking for more New-to-You authors or familiar authors? Visit my blog every Sunday for Escape with a Writer Sunday at https://dbator.blogspot.com/

Feel free to check out my books at http://bookswelove.net/authors/bator-diane-mystery/

Diane Bator

author of Wild Blue Mysteries, Gilda Wright Mysteries, and Glitter Bay Mysteries.

Meetings October 5th and October 20th

October 5, 2019

Virginia informed us that the anthology is too short. Some people only gave one submission. You are able to submit more than one piece of writing so if you have more, please forward them to Virginia. We have extended the deadline to December 31st. If we still don't have enough pages to make a book we will hold it over until next year.

Marilyn is holding a free workshop on self-publishing at the Orangeville Public Library on Saturday, November 9th from 10am-2pm. Register with Shannon McGrady at smcgrady@orangeville.ca.

On Wednesday, November 6, 2019, at 7pm, join the library for An Evening with Maureen Jennings. Maureen is the creator of The Murdoch Mysteries. She will be discussing her new book Heat Wave.

Prompts

The Trouble with Turkeys and Other Table Terrors

1. The trouble with turkey is....

2. Never make a pumpkin pie with the insides of a Jack O' Lantern.

3. My mother-in-law finally gave me her recipe for stuffing. Now I know why they can't get enough of it.

4. How was I supposed to know candied yams weren't made with candy?\

5. I thought it would be great to pick up some fresh corn from the stand outside the farm, but when I peeled back the husks, I was shocked at what I found.

6. Usually I open a can and let gravity pull out the gelatinous mold we know as cranberry sauce, but with my son bringing his gourmet chef girlfriend for Thanksgiving this year, I knew I had to step up my game.

7. Gravy can usually cover a multitude of culinary sins, but this year I was going to have to make mine using holy water.

October 20, 2019

Diane has HWG mugs available for purchase.

Prompts

1. While driving my car, I noticed....

2. When I was a teenager, all I wanted was....

3. What the hell are you doing here?

4. When the judge looked at me I prayed for the first time in many years.

5. When I awoke on the couch this morning I didn't know where I was.

6. The rain came on so suddenly I couldn't...

Next Meeting is Sunday, November 3rd

1:30pm to 3:30pm

Writing Prompts

Writing Prompts from the past 3 meetings:

August 18th

1. ABCDFEGMNRWY - write a piece using words in sequence beginning with these letters.
2. Repeat as above using letters in reverse order: YWRNMGEFDCBA,.
3. Repeat exercise 1 using the letters from the word HIPPOPOTAMUS.
4. Repeat as in exercise 2 using the letters SUMATOPOPPIH.
5. Use words generated in exercises 1-4 in any order to write a short story. You may throw in words of your own choosing to be creative in this part of the exercise (try to include as many of your words as possible).


September 8th

1. I don't know how to tell my friend that I'm imaginary.
2. Jim receives a note under the door and is intrigued, especially because it's the closet door.
3. She packed the box carefully.
4. He was great at starting things, but not so good at finishing them.
5. She pushed the cart through the automatic doors and steeled herself for the task ahead.
6. All the world is a stage.


September 28th

1. Think of one of your favourite possessions. Do one of the following:

1. Write about why it is special to you.
2. Make up a story about its history.
3. Imagine you are from another planet and found this item while exploring. Write about the item from that point of view.
4. Imagine you are an archaeologist in the future and find this article in a dig. Write about your observations and conclusions.
5. Imagine that in a time experiment gone wrong, the article was sent back to prehistoric or ancient times. Write a story about someone living at that time finding it.

2. I never believed in love at first sight until it happened to me.

3. Grace had mixed feelings about going to her high school reunion. She had few happy memories of her teenage years. But she was curious how her classmates had turned out.

4. When I was a kid, I was afraid of the dark. That's when the monsters came out. My dad told me there was no such thing as monsters. "See?" he said, turning off the light. "No monsters." He couldn't see them, even while they were reaching for him. He didn't see them as they followed him down the dark hall. He didn't notice when they turned around and came back toward me.

5. May people dream of exotic holidays, cruising down the Rhine or around the Caribbean, exploring the streets of Rome or Paris, tramping through the Scottish Highlands or the jungles of the Yucatan. Yet if they looked, they would find at their own doorstep sights to attract the most fervent tourist.

Next Meeting

Sunday, October 6th, 1:30-3:30pm

Meeting Updates

I know I haven't posted meeting notes for the past few meetings so I am going to try and summarize what has been discussed at the last few meetings.

We have created a coffee mug of The Headwaters Writers' Guild for promotional purposes. If you are interested in purchasing a mug, we need to order at least 10 of them to keep the price down to $10. We will not order unless we have 10 orders. Pictures of both sides are below:

Please contact Patricia at hwg5.writers@gmail.com to add your name to the list.

The CBC Short Story Contest deadline is drawing near. The deadline is October 31st. Here is the link: https://www.contestshub.com/cbc-short-story-contest-2019.html

The Caledon Public Library will be accepting submissions from October 1st to October 31st. The link is here: http://caledon.library.on.ca/adult/short/story

THIS SATURDAY, September 28th, 1:00pm to 3:00pm, The Orangeville Public Library as part of their WOW program is holding a Crime Writers Panel. Please come out and support if you can.

The Orangeville Public Library has 3 writing workshops this fall. Marilyn Kleiber will be the instructor for the Saturday, October 5th workshop (10am-2pm). This workshop is called "Building Words: Make your stories possess life and entertain your readers". Please register at the library at www.orangevillelibrary.ca.

Two more workshops take place on Saturday, November 9th, 10am-2pm, "Self-publishing: Difficult to find a publisher to accept your manuscript? Learn how to do it yourself - professionally." And the third on Sunday, November 24th, 1:30pm to 3:30pm, "Writing is a Contact Sport: Good writing doesn't happen in isolation. A writer needs to get out and explore and connect with themselves, the world and the things we can't always see."

As we continue to work on producing our new anthology, discussion was brought up about possibly creating a writing prompt book with space for writing, and possibly producing a new one every year. It was decided that we would focus on our current project and reconsider another book next year.

Prompts from the past 3 meetings will be in a separate post.

Our Next Meeting is

Sunday, October 6, 2019, 1:30-3:30pm

Write-a-thon for Charity

Ok. Just sending out a feeler here. If I were to organize a 12-hour write-a-thon for charity in the late spring of next year (details to be determined and announced), how many of you would be interested in participating? Please email me at harryposner@rogers.com, if you're intrigued and excited by the idea. Cheers, all!

Meeting Sunday, July 14th, 2019

There was continued discussion about the anthology's cover, title and a foreword. Submissions should be emailed to Virginia in a word document by September 1, 2019.

Judy shared some of her Haiku poems with us before providing us with the following details and prompts:

A haiku is a short poem - just three lines long - that uses language to capture feelings or images. Haiku poetry was originally developed by Japanese poets. The poems are often inspired by nature, a moment of beauty, a poignant experience, etc.

THE STRUCTURE: A haiku poem is only three lines long.
The first line has five syllables
The second line has seven syllables
And the third line has five syllables
These limitations will actually help you find just the right words to capture the essence or mood of the subject of the poem

BRAINSTORM SOME IDEAS AND DIVE IN

OR

1. After she died, I slept with her little yellow pyjamas under my pillow, and sometimes I'd see her scamper through my dreams, an arm's length ahead of me.

2. She tried not to lose herself in infatuation, but being with Darren took her away from the cloud of uncertainty and unrest at home.

3. When she looked at the house from the driveway, unease scuttled through her.

4. Like all teenagers, I was embarrassed by my mother - the way she dressed, her weird friends - and I was afraid of what my friends might think of her.

5. She loved going to Aunt Florence's house when she was a child - it was like a museum, every piece of furniture, every painting was like a story yearning to be told. But now she had inherited it, all of it, and something did not feel right, and then there was the dream she had, where Aunt Florence, all in a dither, seemed to be trying to warn her...

Next Meeting:

Sunday, August 18th, 2019

1:30pm

Meeting June 23, 2019

Diane had sent out an email last week advising the group of a Writers Conference in Newmarket on October 26th, 2019, from 8am to 6pm. Information can be found here: https://wcyork.ca/conference/.
The group decided to contribute a prize basket to the event as representation of the Headwaters Writers' Guild. Any published authors who would like to contribute one or more of their works to this basket should contact Patricia or Diane. Patricia will be contacting the Orangeville Public Library for a contribution of one of their book bags to use as the "basket".

Further discussion was had regarding the upcoming anthology. Virginia is still searching for an appropriate cover photo, however, a different title was suggested which would change the picture. The new proposed title is: "What Prompted That?: An Anthology of Writing Prompts". We are considering all possibilities so if anyone has an idea, please let us know. The deadline for submissions is September 1st, 2019. It was agreed that we would stick to our group's colours of gold and blue.

Writing Prompts

Prompt Lottery

1.         Pick a number between 1 & 10                      _____

2.         Pick a number between 11 & 20                    _____

3.         Pick a number between 21 & 30                    _____  

4.         Pick a number between 31 & 40                    _____  

5.         Pick a number between 41 & 50                    _____  

Pick your numbers before continuing.

Pass the page to the person on your left.

Turn the page over (list is below) and fill in the blanks below. Your winning numbers are:

1.         Main character:                      _________________________

2.         Location:                                _________________________

3.         Object:                                    _________________________

4.         Secondary character:             _________________________

5.         Goal:                                       _________________________

Write a story using those elements. The goal action may be applied to the object, secondary character, or something else altogether. The secondary character may help, hinder, or do anything you wish. Go wild. But use all 5 elements in some way.

Main character:

1. Prospector                                6. Carpenter

2. Hunter                                      7. Pirate

3. Cop                                           8. Executive

4. Mayor                                       9. Farmer

5. Teacher                                       10. Explorer

Location:

11. Shack                                     16. Mine

12. Garden                                   17. Forest

13. Basement                               18. Beach

14. Observatory                           19. Tower

15. Cliff                                        20. Library

Object:

21. Chest                                       26. Map

22. Instrument                               27. Gun

23. Lantern                                    28. Envelope

24. Trophy                                     29. Calendar

25. Star                                          30. Hat

Secondary character:

31. Artist                                        36. Extra-terrestrial

32. Any bird or animal                   37. Witch

33. Angel                                        38. Mythological creature

34. Time traveller                           39. Literary hero

35. Neighbour                                 40. Twin brother or sister

Goal:

41. Find                                            46. Destroy

42. Save                                            47. Create

43. Hide                                            48. Help

44. Thwart                                        49. Capture

45. Appease                                      50. Rob

Next Meeting: Sunday, July 14th, 2019, 1:30pm

Judy is scheduled to lead

(Note: we are only meeting once in July and once in August)

Take advantage of both the free page to stage workshop, and the drop-in writing mentorship program. Exploit me!

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

Joint Book Launch at BookLore

Marilyn Kleiber and M.J. Moores held a joint book launch at Booklore on Saturday, April 27th, coincidentally (not) Canadian Independent Bookstore Day.

Booklore, Orangeville's number one Independent Bookstore.

This display of books at BookLore consists solely of local authors.

M.J. Moores launched "Final Year". Marilyn Kleiber read from "The Healers" the second book in a series she is writing under the nom de plume J.M. Tibbott.

M.J. Moores and Marilyn Kleiber, authors extraordinaire.

3rd Annual Open Mic Night

The 3rd Annual Open Mic Night took place on Tuesday, April 23rd at the Orangeville Public Library. We maxed out at 15 participants again and had a good crowd.

Dufferin County's Poet Laureate Harry Posner hosted and shared some of his poetry.

Linda Rebhan read some of her poetry

Emma Pink works at Mochaberry, a local coffee shop. "Words have the power to change lives," she said as she spoke on the coffee and words connection.

Clare McCarthy read from his latest work, "Growing Old Isn't For Wimps", a reflection on aging.

M.J. Moores read from her steampunk novel "Shadow Phoenix".

A rapt audience.

Marilyn Kleiber read from "The Healers", the second book in a series of myth/fantasy novels written under the name J.M. Tibbott. The first book is called "The Arrival". Book 3 of a possible 7 books is currently in the works.

Matt Griffin was his usual peculiar but very entertaining self. His impersonations of Jimmy Stewart and Kermit the Frog were on point.

Winston Utenbogaart read from his book of poetry "Leaves O'er Weathered Stones". We heard "From My Heartfelt Store", "By The Table Lamp" and "Dusky Evenings".

Eight-time published author of cozy mysteries, Diane Bator read from the first of her new series of Glitter Bay Mysteries, "All That Sparkles".

Dancer, choreographer, director and writer, Roland Kirouac entertained us with details of his memoir "Message From a Fool".

Andrew Welch read from his first book "The Value Crisis - from dollars to democracy, why numbers are ruining our world". He shared with us Chapter 8 - Numbering Our Days.

Healer, author and motorcycle enthusiast, Liz Jansen read from her memoir, a collection of stories, "Women, Motorcycles and the Road to Empowerment".

Jenn Crole read the poem "Current", inspired by the beauty in all things.

David Mcguinn shared his poetry on meditation and nature.

Judy Zarowny read three poems on the topic of relationships. "The Argument", "Fix Me", and "Forfeit".

Our talented group of writers!

See you next year!

HWG Meeting Sunday, April 28, 2019

Eden Mills Writers Festival is September 6-8th. The writing contest deadline is May 31st.

Prompts

Clare had us take a few minutes and do each of the following prompts. We came up with some interesting and entertaining results.

1. Write a paragraph or poem using words beginning only with either of the following letters: a, b.

2. Repeat exercise one using only words beginning with the letters w, s, r, t, m.

3. Repeat exercise one using only words beginning with the letters of the word antique.

4. Repeat exercise one using only words beginning with the letters of the word owl.

5. Fit the words together generated by any two of the exercises above.

6. Homework: Write a story generated by THE WISE OLD OWL (a large ceramic figurine Clare displayed).

Next Meeting is next week - Sunday, May 5th

HWG Meeting April 14, 2019

Upcoming events (now passed) were announced.

Anthology submissions are due to Virginia by September 1, 2019.

The Crime Writers' Panel at the Orangeville Public Library occurs Saturday, September 28, 2019, from 1pm to 3pm.


Prompts

1. Mondays are for fresh starts.

2. Things will get done when they get done.

3. The full moon was in three days and she knew what lay ahead.

4. Be nice to your hairstylist because what's to keep them from plucking one of your hairs and planting it at a crime scene?

5. If you were in my novel, you'd be dead by now.

6. Remember, most of your stress comes from the way you respond, not the way life is. Adjust your attitude and most of that extra stress is gone.

Come on out to both events! Join in the open mics! Have poetic fun for the whole day! See you there.

Meeting, Sunday, February 24, 2019

We have decided to proceed with an anthology of writings from group writing prompts. This will be in e-book format for the time being at no cost. Virginia has offered to prep this book but each submission should be edited. Deadline for submissions is September 1, 2019.

Prompts:

Headwaters Writers’ Guild

February 24, 2019

Third Person Point of View

Third person POV is used when your narrator is not a character in the story. Third person uses the "he/she/it" narrator and it is the most commonly used POV in writing.

There are 3 main types of Third Person POV:

Third Person Limited: Limited means that the POV is limited to only one character. Which means that the narrator only knows what that character knows. With third person limited you can choose to view the action from right inside the character's head, or from further away, where the narrator has more access to information outside the protagonist's viewpoint.

Third Person Multiple: This type is still in the "he/she/it" category, but now the narrator can follow multiple characters in the story. The challenge is making sure that the reader knows when you are switching from one character to another. Make the switch obvious with chapter or section breaks.

Third Person Omniscient: This point of view still uses the "he/she/it" narration but now the narrator knows EVERYTHING. The narrator isn't limited by what one character knows, sort of like the narrator is God. The narrator can know things that others don't, can make comments about what's happening, and can see inside the minds of other characters.

Taken from:

http://www.thebeginningwriter.com/2012/03/look-at-different-types-of-point-of.html

Prompts

Tell a story of a new relationship from both people’s perspectives. Here’s the catch: there should be no scenes between the two of them. You can only use descriptions to other characters, diary entries, thoughts, dreams, and anything else that doesn’t involve contact between the two main characters. 

The forest at Eryn’s End has a history of paranormal activity. Most recently, a young couple has disappeared while on a day hike. Write a story using either the perspective of one person from the couple, the perspective of one person of the couple and one of the potential rescuers or the perspective of the forest as an omniscient voice.

A vacationing family comes across a lone building called “Curiosities and Collectibles” while driving from the big city to the remote cabin they have rented for a week. Inside they find an elderly man tending the shop that looks strangely like an older version of the father/husband.

Write a story using the perspective of the father/husband and the old man.

Jennie and Matt go on a double date with Jennie’s best friend Clara and her new boyfriend Jake. Tell a story using one of the third person points of view.

Four co-workers, who have worked together at the factory for years, finally have their numbers come up in the Super 8 Lottery. Tell the story using one of the third person points of view.

It’s Bill and Carol’s wedding day! Write a story from the point of view of the bride, the groom and the priest, who has known them both since they were children.

Five siblings gather for the reading of their widowed mother’s will. Choose one of the third person points of view to tell the story.

Maggie Magee wants to skydive for her 60^th birthday. Her daughter is horrified and her husband is elated. Tell the story from each person’s point of view.

The Manor on the Hill is an old Victorian home that has been converted to a bed and breakfast and is haunted by several ghosts and one malevolent spirit intent on burning the place down. Choose a third person point of view to tell a story of how the ghosts and/or their living guests attempt to get rid of the “Fire Starter”.

Next Meeting: Sunday, March 10th, 1:30pm

Judy is leading.