Muses are myth. To idle in the hope that inspiration will suddenly strike is a craven waste of time. Words will not appear on the page by some heavenly compulsion. No; when you can’t write, the only thing to do is write.
What, then? Good question. Sometimes there are just no ideas.
But fear not: Mason’s Road is here to help. We feature writing exercises to help you avoid that demon Futility.
The theme of our current issue is “Settings”; as such, our first writing exercise will reflect the same. Try this prompt on for size (special thanks to Da Chen for the inspiration):
Think of a place, any place, and write about it from the perspective of an 8 year-old boy on the morning his best friend has moved away. Then write about the same place from the perspective of a woman who has been laid off from a job she held for 30 years. Let the perspective inform the writing, but remember that the focal point is Setting. Limit yourself to 250 total words for both halves of the exercise.
Throughout the duration of our current issue on Settings, Mason’s Road is accepting your writing exercise submissions; just see our Submission Guidelines. We will run our favorites here:
Try our writing exercise out for yourself. Use the Comment field below to share, and we will choose our favorites to feature. Let’s exercise our craft skills together!
Causeway Lit 