The Scheherazade Project

November Theme - Randomness

2007-11-01T16:36:00.000-07:00

I know that the last two months have been relatively 'heavy' themes and it would probably make sense to make November's theme a little lighter......

I tried. Honestly I tried.

I figured I'd pull two songs at random that I have saved on my XM and use their lyrics as the theme. So I pulled up my List, closed my eyes and scrolled.

The two winners?

Poison by Alice Cooper
&
Trying To Love You by Beth Nielsen Chapman

Not exactly light. But pick one and have fun with it.

October Theme - You, the Killer

2007-10-01T06:23:00.000-07:00

First of all, I want to say thanks for the absolutely powerful entries from September. There was some writing there that really represents the best of what the Scheherezade Project can be. I was honestly overwhelmed by the honesty and visceral soul-searching. I know you guys didn't owe me anything, so I really appreciate you coming through like that.
Even though that month has past, feel free to finish anything else that you may have started and drop in in there.

So for October, let's write (hopefully) fictional stories about you killing somebody else. It could be accidental. It could be deliberate. It could be a complete stranger. Or it could be someone that you're intimately familiar with.

Thanks in advance for your help with the Project.

September Theme - Things We Don't Allow Ourselves To Want

2007-09-12T17:59:00.000-07:00

I've been a big fan of the Scheherezade Project for a long time. I think it was an inspired notion of Trista's to establish a forum where people of all ages, pursuits, ideologies, etc can put their own unique spin on a common theme. Most of the time, we surround ourselves with the same people/ideas/convictions/emotions. It was brave of Trista to put something together that would challenge that.
But now her baby has started to languish a little bit. I'm just as guilty as anyone - I'll read the monthly theme and make a mental note to write something up. But then...?
Nothing.

So I'm going to do something about it. I'm going to hound each and everyone of you until you contribute. I'm going to beg, plead, pester and even blackmail. You'd be surprised how much I can degrade and humiliate myself to get what I want.

And I'm going to ask a lot from you.

If you're going to contribute, I need it to be personal. I need it to come from a place you don't show to even the people closest to you.
If that's too much for you to post, you can email it to me and I'll post it anonymously (no speculation as far as whose is whose shall be permitted).

August Writing Prompt

2007-08-08T15:48:00.001-07:00

Write about a time that you thoroughly embarrassed yourself.

July Theme: Harry Potter Mania

2007-07-06T06:22:00.000-07:00

This month's theme comes to us courtesy of Soleil. With Harry Potter Mania upon us--the 5th movie releasing on 7/11 in the U.S. and the last book making its appearance on 7/21--it seems appropriate to do something related to the Harry Potterverse.

You can write your ideal ending. You could do a 'ship story. You can do a detailed character sketch of one of your favourite characters. Go wild. Have fun.

June Theme

2007-06-04T05:59:00.001-07:00

Find a photograph of someone in a magazine, or in the newspaper. Find a news story that intrigues you, but doesn't tell you many details. Or do some people watching while you're having lunch or getting coffee.

After you've picked a person, flesh out a character sketch or a short story or a poem about that person.

If your source of inspiration is from an online news story or photograph, be sure to link to it. And when you've finished writing, come back and leave a link for your item so we can all ooh and aah at how marvelous you are!

May Theme

2007-05-04T06:57:00.000-07:00

We haven't used a photograph as a writing prompt in a while. There's not going to be a drawing or anything, but you'll still find plenty to write about when you start with this poignant photo.

I've been hard at work on a project for MoMentuM about the murders in Juarez, and I found this photograph one day when I was doing some research. There are hundreds of photographs like it--photographs of pink crosses have become the standard symbol when one is talking about the murders in Juarez. I feel like I should apologize for posting a photograph on such a somber topic. But the stories need to be told. These women need a voice. I hope that as you give them a voice you can connect with them for at least a little bit. It's been an amazing project to be a part of.

April

2007-04-09T15:15:00.000-07:00

Ok. April is Poetry month. Now, I know that most of y'all here don't write poetry. But, still, it's poetry month. I think that should count for something, you know?

So. I want you to take a poem, any poem you like, and re-write it as prose. Twist it if you like. Bend it completely out of shape if you must. But make it have SOME connection to a poem in it's inception... even if it's just that they both start with the same word.

Come back here and leave in your comments a link to your piece, and to the original poem so we can ooh and ahh at your cleverness.

Yes. There will be a random drawing. No, I don't know what for yet.

Now, go.

And the Winner Is...

2007-04-02T10:40:00.000-07:00

The often imitated, never duplicated----

Clew!

If you haven't read her entry yet, you seriously don't want to miss it. She did a fabulous job inserting herself into an old James Whitcomb Riley poem, updating it and twisting it so that it still accomplishes its original intent of frightening children to death. Well, perhaps not quite to death, but it's dang scary.

Thanks also to Jess and Izzybella for participating. It's been a delight reading what you have come up with, and I'm looking forward to more this month when Trista tells us what we get to write about!

What Makes You Tick?

2007-03-31T06:01:00.000-07:00

In years of writing and the creation of characters, I have learned that every character I create is me. Just as Gustave Flaubert said, "Madame Bovary c'est moi," so could I say Geoff Ryker is me.

But let's take it a step further. Fictionalize yourself. Find a poem or a short story or something that moves you, and insert a fictional version of yourself. Show us how it changes the dynamics of the story or poem. What unique qualities or features are you bringing to the situation? What things about you will alter the outcome? Or is the outcome even altered?

This month's prize is a $10 Amazon gift certificate, to be e-mailed to the winner of the drawing. You'll get one entry to the drawing for each item you submit. So get writing!!

This entry will remain on top throughout the month of March. If you want to know who won February's prize, scroll down.

???

2007-03-27T07:17:00.000-07:00

Okay, fine, if nobody wants to win a $10 Amazon gift certificate, fine, I'll just give it to myself.

Sniffle.

But it's not that difficult a writing assignment. It was actually kind of fun, to insert myself into a fairy tale, and I was really looking forward to seeing what everyone else came up with.

So if you'll excuse me, I'll just go sit in a corner and eat worms. Bit fat juicy ones, long skinny slimy ones, and woolly ones, too, because apparently nobody likes me.

Sniffle.

WINNER

2007-03-14T10:26:00.000-07:00

ok, ok, I'm still behind on everything I was supposed to do since I got back from vacation... I still feel like it's just barely March, but really March is half-way done!

Anyway, without further ado...

PLIMCO is the winner of the lovely journal. Did you read her post? It was really good. I truly enjoyed it. But that's not why she won. It was a totally random drawing. I liked all the S Project entries that I read. I did. You people are all such liars, I can't believe it. Good thing I'm so unbelievably honest.

And The Winds of Change...

2007-02-28T23:59:00.000-08:00

This post is going to stay on the top through the end of February... scroll down for new stuff...

Ok. Hi. It's me. Trista. Remember me? Well, Faith has kicked my ass back in gear and I'm here, with bells on, ready to participate again.

Here's the deal... things are changing.

New theme every month instead of every two weeks. Each month we'll take all the participants and put their names in a drawing for a monthly prize. For each separate piece of creative writing you contribute to the Scheherazade Project you'll get an additional entry in the drawing, up to three.

This is February's prize.

My photography sucks, but it's an Italian leather journal in brown and shiny shiny gold. And this beautiful baby can be all yours...

And now, February's theme:

Lie

Lie on that table. Sing sweet lies in my ears. Spin a web of lies with your looks and your dancing. Heck, dip me in lye if you want to take it that far. Make me believe it or make it so outrageous you couldn't fool a child.

Just lie to me, baby. You know you want to.

On Creation

2007-02-07T08:14:00.000-08:00

Writing is creation, pure and simple. That seems like a "duh" statement, but it really is.

Think about your favorite books as a kid, the ones you read over and over and over. For me it was Anne of Green Gables, Eight Cousins, and although I blush to admit it now, Pollyanna. I had no doubt that there was a place somewhere that I would meet those people. Part of me, many years later, is still convinced that Anne Shirley Blythe exists.

When my sister and I wrote our first novel together, we delved so thoroughly into the backgrounds of our major characters that there aren't many questions you could ask us about them that we couldn't have answered. Virtually none of that information made its way into the novel, but that's not why we needed to know it. We needed to know that about our characters so that we could understand what went into making them who they were, why they acted the way they did, why they thought what they thought. It made them complete.

When I was 19 or 20, I remember trying to write a Twilight Zone type story. It involved a doll that was possessed by a demon, and the story's been written dozens of times by better writers than I. But I made that doll come to life. I got part of the way through my story, and was tired and lay it down so I could go to bed. But I could not sleep for anything. It was like the doll itself was sitting on the table waiting for me to go to sleep so it could rip my throat out. I tossed and turned for a while, and then got up and took the story downstairs. I tried again to go to sleep, but just knew that damn doll was going to come upstairs and get me as soon as I went to sleep. I finally gave up in disgust, ripped up the story and threw the bits of paper in the trash bin outside. Some stories are not meant to be written, at least by me, because some things are not meant to be brought to life by my hand.

I keep a notebook of ideas for books. I'm obsessed with Chaucer, and will spend the rest of my life telling the Canterbury Tales in one way or another. But aside from that, I want to tell my own stories. So I have this notebook of things that I've dreamed, or overheard, or flashes of inspiration from my muse. Most of them I'll probably never write. Some I've written a few pages, where I've written a few chapters of others. Some I realize that while they may be fantastic tales, I'm not capable of bringing them to life, for various reasons.

If I'm going to write a novel, or even a short story--and I really struggle with my short stories--that means I'm going to spend a lot of time with my characters. They're going to become real to me. I will know everything about them. I will be their creator, their deity. I cannot make them do anything against their will, as they will act as they will, regardless of my desires. And I just got another flash right there, another idea for a story that I may write someday.

Writing is creation. Be careful what you create, because it will be real, to you, even if to no one else!

Watch this space!

2007-02-02T09:17:00.000-08:00

There are going to be some fun changes coming soon to the Scheherazade Project. Be sure to check back on Monday, February 5th, to make sure you don't miss out.

In the meantime, it's not too late to get some writing done on the last prompt. This woman has the kind of face you could look at all day, and never figure her out. I know I could write several different stories about her; I'm still dissatisfied with what I finally wrote, despite changing it several times and spending more time than I care to admit working on the story.

Enjoy your weekend, and write! Write! Write!

Theme - 1/22/07 - 2/5/07

2007-01-22T13:15:00.000-08:00

Let's see what you make of this--surely it will inspire some creativity amongst you!

I did keep my promise and write on the cars theme, although I was still late posting a new theme. I hope to see more of you back here writing. And I finally got around to getting my calendar purchased, so I'll try to be more timely about getting back here and getting the new themes posted. (Or perhaps Trista will get back here, as she seems to be better than I about coming up with intriguing themes!)

Write away, everyone!

New theme: 1/3/2007 - 1/16/2007

2007-01-03T07:31:00.000-08:00

Here in my car I feel safest of all. I can lock all my doors. It's the only way to live: in cars.

Huh? What? Oh, sorry--you caught me singing along to Randy Numan. Okay. Well, first of all, I should apologize for being so extremely tardy with posting a new theme. And then I should apologize for not writing anything for the last theme. If Trista were here, I'm sure she'd apologize as well. She's been really, really, really, really busy, and there's been trauma and all kinds of things going on in her life.

Apologizing. Apologizing. Apologizing. Profusely apologizing.

Okay. Done with the apologies.

Now, write a story, a poem, a whatever you want to write. It has to have something to do with cars. It can be about your favorite car. It can be how you lost your virginity in the backseat of a car, or how you didn't lose your virginity in the backseat of a car. It can be about wrecking a car. It can be about anything you want it to be about, as long as it has something to do with cars.

And I promise I'll write this time.

Theme 12/7/2006 - 12/19/2006

2006-12-07T08:49:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I know this is late. Sorry 'bout that, she says unrepentantly.

Let this picture inspire you to much writing.

HIATUS

2006-11-14T12:10:00.000-08:00

Hey, everybody--Faith here, just popping in to say that The Scheherazade Project is officially on hiatus during the month of November. Yeah, I'm late, sorry about that. Anyway, for those of you who are more successful than I at NaNoWriMo, Trista and I didn't want to add to your burden. For those of you who, like I, are 10,000 words or more behind at NaNoWriMo, we didn't want to add to your guilt. Either way, check back here on December 4th for a new theme. Until then, write on!

Theme 10/24/06 - 11/7/06

2006-10-24T17:51:00.000-07:00

Think about the worst blind date you've ever had. Remember every excruciating, agonizing detail. Where you went, what you did, what s/he wore, said, smelled like. Now write about it.

From the perspective of your date.

And if by some freak circumstance you've never had a blind date--lucky!--use your imagination and enchant us all. Or else leave us rolling on the floor laughing hysterically as you make it painfully clear that you've never had a blind date.

And remember that answering personals ads count as blind dates.

Have fun! Because something good has to come out of that awful experience, right?

theme 10/10/2006 - 10/24/2006

2006-10-10T06:24:00.000-07:00

I ripped this off from The Writer's Block, a fun book of writing prompts, and Trista was nice enough to say she liked it and thought I should post it. So here you go:

Invent a character who sees a phone number on a restroom wall. Describe what happens when he or she dials it.

theme 9/26/06 to 10/9/06

2006-09-26T08:40:00.000-07:00

A slow sort of bad

Now go. Write.

Theme for 9/12 -9/24/06

2006-09-12T11:21:00.001-07:00

Have I mentioned how much I suck at leading things? An intrepid leader I am not. So I'm late with the theme, I hope you're still all out there...

Anyway, I also changed the rules. That's the cool thing about being the leader is that I get to change the rules.

Here's the change. (I posted them already in the How To Play post so don't worry about that). The change is that I am too busy to put up a list of participants. And you all put your story urls in the comments anyway. So, from now on, look in the comments to see where the action is at. And then come back here and discuss.

Ok. That last part's not a rule. But still a nice thing to do, don't you think?

Ok, this week's theme...

Someone suggested "What exactly IS a bergamot, anyway?"

And then I came up with the simply fabulous idea of: someone confronts a hard truth.

So pick which one you want. And come back here and fill us in...

And, if you've got better ideas for themes, um, let me know, ok?

Theme for 8/28/06-9/10/06

2006-08-28T08:34:00.000-07:00

8/26/06
Originally uploaded by lake monsters real.

Well, I mostly chose this picture because I really like the dress...

Theme for 8/14-8/28

2006-08-14T09:03:00.000-07:00

The Ravages of Time
Originally uploaded by L of TL.

Ok, back to pictures. At least for now. Hey, if any of you have any ideas for themes, email them to me, K? I'm not promising that I'll use them, but I'll at least think about using them...

For this week I give you a decrepit house. A real fixer-upper. Let's see what you make...

Participants (newest on top)

A sentence by Naive-no-more
"Tumble Down" by Trista
"Fly on the Wall" by the Contrary Goddess
"For Sale By Owner" by Milfie(Hot Brownie)
"Quickie" by RC666
"Ravages of Time" by Dick the Boomer
"Ravages of Time" by Sam Wright
"Ravages of Time" by Spin_Doc
"Dreaming of Yesterday" by Faith
"Starlight" by Izzybella (Liz)