Content Creations

This weeks creative writing prompt is a fun one. I will set up the scene and you write about it. If you come up with a story you really like, please put it in the comments, I would love to read them.

After coming home from work you glance over your mail but before you toss the junk mail in the trash an envelope catches your eye. It doesn’t have a return address and the cream colored paper is thicker than normal, like what a birthday card would come in. You open the letter inside and read the following “You have twelve hours from the time you read this message to solve a murder. Your own, good luck”. Is it some kind of sick joke or are you living on borrowed time?

Have fun and have a good weekend!

This principle can be an effective tool for marketing but it is not a principle I would recommend you practice. I think it is underhanded but it is still a component of persuasion so use it at your own risk.

Basically it is an example of Newtons Law: A body in motion stays in motion. Once we have made a commitment toward a course of action, we are likely to see it through, even if the terms have changed.

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This is the simplest and most powerful persuasion technique. It may vary from person to person but this principle has gotten me to buy more products than any other. Since I love video games I will use that as an example.

A few weeks ago, I saw a new video game for the Xbox 360 that looked interesting but I wasn’t sure I wanted to buy it. I went into the local game store to look around and decide if I should spend the money.

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This may not be a typical creative writing prompt but it acts as one for me. I learned it from a book on writing by David Morrell. He is a genius and that one book had more insights and helpful advice than entire classes I have taken on the subject.

Here is the trick, you have a conversation with your computer or typewriter. It sounds silly but it will bring out details about your story that you have not fully realized yet. It can act as a loose outline and if your interest starts to lag halfway through the story, you can reread it and recover your excitement.. For instance, I have been toying around with an idea for a supernatural action book and this is how I would use the technique.

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Have you ever thought about the essence of writing? Probably not but I recently gave it a whirl. I came up with the theory that the foundation of writing is persuasion.

1. If you are a copywriter, your job is to persuade people to buy the products or services you are writing about.
2. If you are a fiction writer, you have to persuade people that the world you are describing is real.
3. If you are an educator, you want to persuade the reader that you or your version of the facts are right.
4. If you are a freelance writer, you want to persuade people that you are the best person for their writing assignment.

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Have you ever sat staring at the blank white paper in front of you and froze? The grand idea and creativity that you had a moment ago has dissolved into a slobbering incoherence. Well, your not alone. That blank page is the leading cause of brain freeze in our country but there are treatment options available!

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You and your friend have gone camping on an island just off the coast. No vehicles are allowed on this island so the night is quiet as you walk to the deserted ruins of a civil war plantation. The moon is shining brightly in the cloudless sky but the thick canopy of limbs and hanging moss obscures the light. You begin to see the outline of the large house in the clearing down at the end of the dirt trail. Just before you step out into the moonlight your friend asks , “Do you believe in ghosts?”.

You take it from there. If you come up with a good story, post it in the comments or send me an email.
Have a good weekend!

I have been trying to optimize  my website for a while now.  So, I have been reading all kinds of business blogs as research and asking my colleagues for advice. Christopher Duncan, a fellow writer and owner of Practical Strategy Consulting went out of his way to help me fine tune my blog and as a consequence gave me the idea for this post. Many people start a blog to help spread the word about their company but a lot of them fall victim to the same mistakes.

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Many writers, myself included, try to get out of the office and write at the park or the coffee shop. If we don’t get regular doses of sunlight and human interaction, we are prone to getting a job as a caretaker at a winter lodge and chasing our family with an axe. So the question becomes, what should we use? I made a list of what I would need in a device: long battery life, easy to read screen, comfortable keyboard, compatible with popular writing software and applications, and I didn’t want it to break the bank.

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Well that depends, is it for business or for personal use?  That may sound like a no brainer but many people use the same picture on their Linkedin account that they did on their Myspace account. As a general guide for a business profile picture:

1. No pets
2. No anime or comic book characters (No matter how cool)
3. No enigmatic shots of inanimate objects or strange locations
4. No group shots

The following YouTube video is not only very funny but illustrates many more picture types that you don’t want associated with your business. View it here.

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