Self-deception

This week's prod is: Self-deception:

Who do you know that's guilty of self-deception? Nearly everyone is guilty of self-deception at one time or another. This facet of our personalities can be a wonderful tool for humanizing characters and rounding them out.

Remember: show, don't tell. For example, don't write: “George was ugly. But he constantly annoyed the women around him by flirting with them.”

Flesh it out, like in this (admittedly outrageous and stereotyped) example:

George leered at the waitress. “Bring me a beer. And if you're quick about it I might decide I like you enough to take you out tonight.” The waitress froze momentarily, mouth open, then turned away quickly. George scratched the wart on his nose, and leaned back in his chair. The buttons strained across the bowling ball shape that was his belly. He scanned the room quickly. Not much talent here. Not at all. That little waitress might have to do, though she was a brunette. Blondes, tall, with long legs were his preference.

This example is the cheap and easy way out. Write 200 words about a character that is fooling themselves. Bonus if you can arrange the scene so that the reader realizes the truth late in the scene. Let's see what you've got.

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Quick Note about Copyrights

I just added a copyright notice to my site. You'll see it at the bottom.

That only applies to my own work.

The copyright for any posts made will remain with the post author, with the exception that you will grant me limited right to display your post. Anything else, it's all yours.

Economy

This week's prod is economy:

Write a story in 100 words or less. Pay attention to characterization, atmosphere, tone, and description.

To do this right, you must be efficient. You want words that can do double duty, describing and providing tone at the same time, or can characterize while describing.

Good luck.

Post your stories here.

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About this blog........

Sometimes you need a new challenge in writing. You need a challenge that will make you work hard, think, and solve problems, yet not take too much time from your real writing.

Sometimes you just need a diversion, some quick project to take your mind off the main focus of your work.

Here, you won't find advice about writing, or personal war stories about the process, or even thoughts on writing. What you will find is a series of brief challenge projects - about 1 a week - to make you think about writing in a new way, with my ideas (for what they're worth, I'm not a published writer) of how the challenges relate to your writing. They won't take long; the idea is to make them less than a few hundred words so that it distills the essence of the writing to the essentials, and doesn't take time away from the writing you want to do.

You'll also find a showcase for your work via the challenges. If you take the challenge, post your entries in the comment section. Show how you approached the challenge, inspire others, and read other people's work.

If I'm doing my job correctly, maybe I can get you to think about your writing in a new way, giving your creative energy a little jolt - like a cattle prod.