Writing Prompt: Changing Genres

 Greetings! I hope all of your writing projects are going well! If you need a creativity boost or are struggling with writers block, try this writing prompt to help you put some words down on paper. Sometimes we need a writing challenge to help us break out of our predictable writing patterns and restart our projects with a fresh voice and new energy. 


This writing prompt has multiple challenges involving the lake pictured above. Complete as many as you can even if you work on these over several days instead of in one sitting. (And remember, you are just writing a first draft. Don't stress about spelling or grammar with these writing prompts. You can go back and edit later if you decide to use something you wrote in one of your own writing projects or for a writing contest.)

Challenge one: In at least 500 words (or try for 1000 minimum), write a short story about two brothers who grow up vacationing on or living near this lake. Tone: positive, lighthearted, joyful. This story will reveal a happy childhood for the brothers and share their lake adventures with readers. 

Challenge two: In at least 500 words (or try for 1000 minimum), write another short story about the same two brothers who grow up either vacationing on or living near this lake. The difference: this story will include a mystery. You can decide how intense the mystery will be. This can be a lighthearted story with mysterious things happening or an intense tale with a darker side. 

Challenge three: In at least 500 words (or try for 1000 minimum), write another short story about the same two brothers who grow up either vacationing on or living near this lake. For this challenge, add something tragic to the tale. The tone should be somber. Along with a glimpse of sadness, there should also be moments of fear. How do the characters react to the fear? 

Changing genres helps us to think about our descriptive language and the importance of the setting reflecting the tone in story. We also have to work on our dialogue writing skills with each genre change. 

Have fun writing! Share your stories with someone!


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